The other 9/11, how the CIA destroyed democracy in Chile

Many Americans and Europeans will remember 9/11 as the day the WTC towers in New York were attacked and destroyed. 9/11 was the start of major imperialist attacks on nations and people's. In only 10 years; 200.000 people in both Afghanistan and Iraq would die as a result of US invasions and occupations. The attacks on 9/11 in New York shadow the other 9/11, the day that the American government destroyed democracy in a nation called Chile. Here the conservative military under CIA influence staged a coup. President Salvador Allende ( a reformist socialist president ) was killed during the coup, that would destroy freedom of speech for almost 17 years. After the return of democracy, the right-wing military junta was never trialed. Dictator Augusto Pinochet never spend time in jail!

The Central Intelligence Agency supported the military coup. Like their criminal KGB counterpart, the CIA criminals wanted to destroy democracy in Chile. Latin America was a very right-wing continent in the 70's. Most nations were under dictatorial control, either by corrupt capitalist presidents or military junta's. The USA supported these anticommunist nations and provided weapons and tools in order for them to fight leftist guerrilla groups!

Salvador Allende was leader of the Socialist Party of Chile. In 1967 the socialists became more radical and adopted anti-capitalist positions. For the presidential elections in 1970, the Socialist Party of Chile created the Popular Unity coalition with the Communist Party of Chile and other leftist forces. Allende was elected because he also got the support from the christian democrats. But the right-wing of Chile would not keep him in power for long!

The USA hated the new leftist president of Chile. Allende said that he was a Marxist and that the Republic of Chile was to become a socialist nation. Now the USA was on full alert, the last thing they wanted was another socialist nation in their backyard. Cuba claimed to be socialist since 1961, the Americans had tried to invade Cuba with 1500 anticommunists but failed. Now Chile was becoming socialist too. The ruling class of America wanted to end socialism before it could begin. They were supported by the conservatives of the Chilean military. Most generals and officers hated leftism. They were deeply Roman Catholic and politically conservative to the core. The CIA knew how use their anticommunism against Salvador Allende and his radical socialists!

When elected, the Socialist Party of Chile wanted radical changes, even so radical that the Stalinist; Communist Party of Chile, asked the president to be more moderate. The stalinists were supported in this by the moderate social democrats of the Radical Left Party. Because social democrats do not like the idea of expropriate wealthy capitalists. Soon they and the christian democrats would oppose the Popular Unity coalition and in the end, betray the president!  

We revolutionary socialists find it so ironic that the stalinists were the ones who asked the president to be less revolutionary and more moderate. President Allende was however detriment to build socialism and as the ruling class of Chile feared for their profits, the CIA made plans for a coup that would end democracy!

Social spending was dramatically increased, particularly for housing, education, and health, while a major effort was made to redistribute wealth to poorer Chileans. As a result of new initiatives in nutrition and health, together with higher wages, many poorer Chileans were able to feed themselves and clothe themselves better than they had been able to do before. Public access to the social security system was increased, while state benefits such as family allowances were raised significantly! 

The redistribution of income enabled wage and salary earners to increase their share of national income from 51.6% (the annual average between 1965 and 1970) to 65% while family consumption increased by 12.9% in the first year of the Allende Government. In addition, while the average annual increase in personal spending had been 4.8% in the period 1965-70, it reached 11.9% in 1971!

All these social programs were paid by nationalizing big business. By 1972, the christian democrats had enough of Salvador Allende, who's radical socialist politics were now destroying their electorate. Allende and the christian democrats tried to forge a compromise. The Party of the Radical Left represented the UP coalition in negotiations. The radical minister of justice Manuel Sanhueza held talks with the Christian Democratic Party over regulations of nationalized firms, but ultimately failed, as the socialist minister of economy Pedro Vuskovic boycotted the negotiations and carried out more radical expropriations. As a result, the Radical Left Party left the UP coalition and joined the capitalist opposition!

The conservative ruling class of Chile asked the christian democrats to windrow support. They did and left the Popular Unity alliance. The parliamentary elections in March 1973 gave the capitalist opposition the control over the parliament  But only because former allies of president Allende joined them. The social democrats of the Radical Left Party and the christian democrats were able to use the anticommunist media against the president. Also they were able to rally the upper class and the middle class against the forced expropriations. So the capitalist opposition won the elections, leaving Salvador Allende with a pro-capitalist parliament!

Between March and September 1973, the president was in many conflicts with the now pro-capitalist parliament.  The right-wing attacked the president of many fronts, most of the accusations were about the government disregarding the separation of powers, and arrogating legislative and judicial prerogatives to the executive branch of government. 

President Allende responded by saying: 

''Chilean democracy is a conquest by all of the people. It is neither the work nor the gift of the exploiting classes, and it will be defended by those who, with sacrifices accumulated over generations, have imposed it . . . With a tranquil conscience . . . I sustain that never before has Chile had a more democratic government than that over which I have the honor to preside . . . I solemnly reiterate my decision to develop democracy and a state of law to their ultimate consequences . . . Parliament has made itself a bastion against the transformations . . . and has done everything it can to perturb the functioning of the finances and of the institutions, sterilizing all creative initiatives'' 

Adding that economic and political means would be needed to relieve the country's current crisis, and that the Congress were obstructing said means; having already paralyzed the State, they sought to destroy it. He concluded by calling upon the workers, all democrats and patriots to join him in defending the Chilean Constitution and the revolutionary process!

But Allende made also mistakes in his presidency. For three years he kept the bourgeoisie and the conservative military intact. The ruling class and their military supported were not eliminated. Also the working class was not armed, the president believed so hard in the bourgeois democratic state and all of its institutions. Salvador Allende never thought that the ruling class would use the state institutions like police and armed forces against him. Although a radical socialist and was still reformist and wanted to reform the Republic of Chile into a socialist nation though reforms and not by revolution. For three years he did his best to reform the nation. He was successful in raising the living standards, but that made the ruling class very angry!

The role of the CIA in Chile was clear. Anticommunists were paid millions of dollars to spread anti-government propaganda. Most media outlets in Chile were right-wing and the newspaper El Mercurio was supported with CIA money. Black propaganda was used by the CIA and their anticommunist allies. Lies and misinformation were told to the Chilean people to weaken Allende's government. The wealthy and the conservatives supported the anticommunist propaganda machine and were able to convince many people. Fear of atheism was also used, since most Marxists are atheists. The Republic of Chile is a Catholic nation and the Roman Catholic Church was not in favor of the radical socialist Allende and his progressive politics!

On 11 September 1973, the plans for a coup were put into action. General Augusto Pinochet led the military uprising that would take power. Around 7:00 am, the Chilean Navy captured the port city of Valparaíso. By 8:00 am, the Army had closed most radio and television stations in Santiago city; the Air Force bombed the remaining active stations; the president received incomplete information, and was convinced that only a sector of the Navy conspired against him and his government!

All military commanders supported the coup. President Allende hoped that some would remain loyal to him. But the army, navy and air force had joined with general Pinochet. Two hours after the start of the coup, all of Chile was under military control. The new junta told Salvador Allende to surrender. He refused and gave a final farewell speech to the Chilean people. Air force planes then bombed the presidential palace. When the soldiers finally took the palace, president Salvador Allende was death. He killed himself with an AK-47, a gift from Cuban president Fidel Castro. For the militarists this was ''proof'' that Allende wanted to turn Chile into a ''communist'' dictatorship!

Workers and poor people wanted to defend their democracy, but because of Salvador Allende's believes in the state institutions, they were not match for the soldiers. Had the working class been armed, then they could have regrouped and attacked the militarists  But no workers militia's were created. Allende trusted the police, army, navy and air force. He trusted Pinochet and the other generals. His believe in a bourgeois state became his downfall, as the militarists did not cared about democracy or human rights!

Soon the military junta started their white terror against leftists. More then 133.000 people were arrested and jailed. Between 1973 and 1990, the military junta of dictator Pinochet would murder 3.000 people. Most of these victims were socialists, communists or other leftist minded people. Members of the Socialist Party, Communist Party of Chile, trade unionists and progressive democrats were forced underground. The conservatives, christian democrats and all anticommunists supported the military junta!

Augusto Pinochet was a true capitalist dictator. He said that the government had nothing to say about the economy. A golden age for capitalists began in Chile. Trade unions were banned, workers were not allowed to fight for better wages. Western capitalists loved this and they praised Pinochet for his economic politics. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were among the supporters of Augusto Pinochet. Their criminal support to the Chilean military junta proofs their hostility to democracy. Reagan and Thatcher were so anticommunist, they supported all dictatorships that arrested, tortured and murdered leftists!

The capitalist revolution caused poverty that is still visible today. Although the military junta was removed from power after 1989, its legacy is still here. Pinochet abandon power when the ruling class said that a democracy would be better for Chile. As a supporter of capitalism, the military dictator agreed. Thanks to 17 years of anti-leftist propaganda, the right-wing were able to use the anticommunist climate to win the first democratic elections. Christian democrat; Patricio Aylwin became the first democratic president since 1973. He was a supporter of capitalism, but made some reforms to aid the poor!

A new Solidarity and Social Investment Fund was set up to direct aid towards poorer communities, and social spending  increased by around one-third between 1989 and 1993. A new labor law was also enacted in 1990, which expanded trade union rights and collective bargaining, while also improving severance pay for workers. The minimum wage was also increased, as were family allowances, pensions, and other benefits. Between 1990 and 1993, real wages grew by 4.6%, while the unemployment rate fell from 7.8% to 6.5%. Spending on education increased by 40% while spending on health increased by 54%. The incomes of poor Chileans increased by 20% in real terms (above the rate of inflation) under the Aylwin Government, while increases to the minimum wage meant that it was 36% higher in real terms in 1993 than in 1990!

The Socialist Party of Chile and the Communist Party of Chile were legalized and allowed to participate in politics. The ruling class was forced to allow some social reforms in order to keep the socialists and communists out of government. But they had nothing to fear from the socialists, as the Socialist Party of Chile was no longer the radical party of Salvador Allende. The fall of the USSR and the massive anticommunist wave of propaganda in the 90's, turned the socialists to the capitalist side. The party no longer opposed capitalism. They were now social democratic in nature, supporters of a social capitalist market economy!

Ricardo Lagos became the first social democratic president. During Lagos' presidency, Free Trade Agreements were signed with the European Community, the United States, South Korea, the People's Republic of China and New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei (though some of his supporters in the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy consider that these agreements may have negative effects on the country); the incidence of extreme poverty was significantly reduced; the legal workweek was reduced from 48 to 45 hours; improvements were made in infrastructure and transport; an unemployment insurance scheme was created; as well as the AUGE health program guaranteeing coverage for a number of medical conditions; the Chile Barrio housing program; the Chile Solidario program; compulsory schooling was extended to 12 years; the first divorce law in Chile was approved; monetary compensation to victims of torture under the Pinochet regime identified in the Valech Report was authorized; and, recently, a recast constitution was signed. He finished his six-year term with historic approval ratings above 70%!

The first female president of Chilean became Michelle Bachelet. In 2006 she was elected president as a member of Allende's Socialist Party of Chile. Many hope for a more leftist direction. But the Socialist Party of Chile was loyal to capitalism and did not changed the nature of the bourgeois state. Former dictator Pinochet was never trialed for his crime. He died on 11 December 2006 at the age of 91. The Chilean state had 16 years to put him to justice, but because of bureaucratic mismanagement and conservative rule, the former leader of the military junta never served jail time!

On 11 September 2013, there was violence on the 40th anniversary of the coup. The current right-wing president and billionaire; Sebastián Piñera has said that he opposed the 1973 coup, but he also understood why the military took over. This led to violence as leftists started to demonstrate against his words. Also the students of Chile are still protesting against the poor education system. A remnant of the Pinochet era. Education in Chile is privatized  leaving students of working class background, with little change of getting a good education. Students have struggled for good education since 1990, but the capitalist government of Chile, has not changed anything yet. Capitalism still rules supreme since 1973. Only between 1970 and 1973 it was challenged by the Allende government. The ruling class has shown its true color on 11 September 1973. With CIA support a democratic government was eliminated. 133.000 people were jailed and 3.000 murdered, all thanks to US imperialism who organized it all! 

President Allende and Pinochet before 9/11/1973!

Salvador Allende's trusted in the democratic believes

of his military. This mistake led to his death!

The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, a very long name for a bizarre dictatorship. From 1977 till 2011, Libya was called ( ''The Great'' was added in 1986 ) Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The person who invented this name for Libya was Muammar Gaddafi. In 1969 he and some officers of the Libyan Royal Army, took power. They removed king Idris and proclaimed the Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi was a young idealist, 27 years old and a supporter of Egypt's president Nasser. After Nasser's death in 1970, the young Gaddafi saw himself as the next great leader of all Arabs. But after seven years of disagreement with the Arab leaders, he abandoned Arab-nationalism and created his Islamic-Socialist Jamahiriya! 

In this socialist document we talk about the period 1977-2011. The period of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Mummar Gaddafi had worked on his Jamahiriya since 1973. His book called the Green Book, was released in 1975 and was the blueprint for this new society. Gaddafi wanted Libya to become a ''state of the masses'', a nation win out presidents and parliaments. Huge people's congresses with thousand of members were to be the legislation of the new Jamahiriya!

When the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was created on 2 March 1977, Gaddafi became Secretaries-General of the General People's Congress. But this post he only had for two years. Because in 1979 he gave up all political positions ( in theory ). Gaddafi only became the ''guide of the revolution'' and was called the ''dear leader''. This was unique since most dictators remained official leaders of their nation. Gaddafi however was not president or prime minister. Since 1979 he did not held any official position!

Abdul Ati al-Obeidi was elected Secretaries-General of the General People's Congress after Gaddafi. In theory he was the head of state and leader of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. But in reality colonel Gaddafi and his officers remained the true leaders. The General People's Congress could not do anything if Gaddafi opposed it. He was the person who had the final saying in everything. Only a few times did the General People's Congress opposed their ''dear leader''. This was when Gaddafi wanted to abolish all schools. He believed that home schooling was better for children. The General People's Congress opposed this and Gaddafi choose to agree with their opposition!

Although the people were supposed to be the rulers of the Jamahiriya, the tribal nature of Libya remained unchanged. Muammar Gaddafi belonged to the Gaddafa tribe, this tribe is home to the city of Sirte. It was here that Muammar was born in 1942. Back then Libya was a colony under Italian control since 1911. The Italians were colonialists who brutally exploited Libyan oil. They were removed in 1943 with the collapse of the German Africa Corps during the Desert War!

Libya then fell under the British Military Administration of Libya until 1951. Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was put on the throne as absolute monarch, because he aided the British during World War 2. He was a member of the Senussi tribe, this tribe was based in Benghazi and it was here that King Idris was to led Libya. The new Kingdom of Libya became an absolute monarchy, political parties were banned and the Libyan Royal Police would arrest anyone who opposed the king!

Many ordinary Libyans remained very poor. King Idris was a classic Arab monarch with little regards to the need of working class people. Western imperialism choose to ignore the Kingdom of Libya until oil was discovered in the 1960's. Then Libya became a player in the international oil market. With the profits from the oil, Libya started to modernize itself. But politically it remained an absolute monarchy like Saudi-Arabia. Young Libyans hated the monarchy, its flag and its king. Their icon was Nasser, the president of Egypt and Arab revolutionary leader!

When Gaddafi took power many young Libyans supported this 27 year old officer. When he proclaimed the Jamahiriya in 1977, many Libyans believed they were truly in power. People were told to call themselves ''comrades'' and this led western media outlets to belive that Gaddafi was a secret communist. Although some Arab leaders had great sympathy for the communist movement, but most Arab-revolutionary leaders were anticommunist!

Like Nasser in Egypt, Gaddafi was an anticommunist. He opposed the atheist nature of Marxism and he was no secularist. Islam was a part of his Jamahiriya. But unlike other Islamic nations, Gaddafi said that Islam was a personal matter and should not be enforced as an dogma. Still Islam was part of the Jamahiriya. This was seen in the new green flag, in Libya's anthem called ''Allah is Great'' and in Islamic morality that was enforced. Jamahiriyan law was based on Islamic Sharia law. Although Gaddafi used Islamic morality, the only law in Libya until 2011 was the law of himself!

Like every dictatorship a state bureaucracy was needed to spy on people. But unlike the KGB or CIA, Gaddafi choose the Cuban method. The ''Revolutionary Committees'' were to keep the people in line with the Green Book. The RC's were created to keep an eye on the people, they spied on people and reported all ''counterrevolutionary'' activities. It was this body of the government that was hated the most by Libyans. They were to meet in special buildings created in every city and town. Between 10% and 20% of all Libyans worked/spied for these ''Revolutionary Committees''. During the Libyan civil war in 2011, most of Gaddafi supporters came from the members of these ''Revolutionary Committees''!

Although Gaddafi and his family would enrich themselves in luxury during the last 10 years of the Jamahiriya, this was less the case in the period before the capitalist reforms. Between 1977 and 1999, Gaddafi was quite moderate. We saw him driving all by himself in the 70's. Tomas Sankara was very inspired by Gaddafi, because he was so moderate and drove himself. This stood in total opposition to other Arab leaders, who drove luxurious cars and all had chauffeurs!

Libyans may not realize this today. But in compare to the other Arab states, the Libyans had the highest living standards. In the 80's, Libya was not a poor nation. It's GDP was higher then Egypt, Syria and much closer to that of Saudi-Arabia. All because of the Libyan oil which Gaddafi also shared with the population. Gas prices were very low, the cost of living was also very affordable. But because of Gaddafi's revolutionary dogmatism and his ban on private enterprises, most educated and entrepreneurial Libyans fled. This forced the nation to seek help in building their planned economy!

Elements of workers self-management were presented in the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. But since 79% of all economic activities of Libya are based on the winning of crude oil, workers had little to say in reality. The workers councils could not do anything that stood against the authority of the ''Revolutionary Committees''. By 1999 the first market elements were introduced. Soon Libya was leaving the planned economy for a capitalist market economy. For a new class of entrepreneurial Libyans, the capitalist reforms gave them a change at wealth and prosperity. But for ordinary workers, the capitalist reforms were not good. Like in Russia, many lost their job and income. Poverty rose for the first time since 1969!

Muammar Gaddafi became famous for his support to terrorist groups. Militant organisations like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine got their weapons and training in Libya. Also Gaddafi gave weapons to the Irish Republican Army, who fought against the British Unionists in Northern Ireland. The USA called Libya a ''terrorist'' nation and Ronald Reagan started a campaign to isolate Libya. Also Gaddafi had tried to unite the Arab world against Israel and US imperialism. For Reagan, Gaddafi was a ''mad dog'' that had to be killed. After the Rome and Vienna airport attacks, which killed 19 people and wounded  140. Gaddafi said that he would continue to support the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, and the Irish Republican Army as long as the European governments supported anti-Gaddafi Libyans. The Foreign Minister of Libya also called the massacres "heroic acts", this fueled hatred in the American ruling class! 

On 5 April 1986, Libyans agents bomb a West-German nightclub in West-Berlin. The attack killed two US soldiers and one civilian. This was the act that US imperialism needed to attack Libya. Ronald Reagan ordered the US Air Force to kill Gaddafi in Tripoli by bombing it. Ten day's after the bombing, 45 aircraft took off from US carriers and attacked the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. One American plane was shoot down, killings its two pilots. The Americans hit Gaddafi's home, but he was warned by an Italian politician minutes before the bombs fell. Americans fighters killed 40 soldiers and destroyed five Il-76 transports and 13 MIG-23 fighters!

Yet Muammar Gaddafi survived. He claimed to have won the battle, but his so called ''victory'' speech was much less bombastic. Gaddafi changed the name of Libya from Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The attack was condemned by many countries. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 15 April 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law!

In the 90's, Libya lost their Soviet allies as stalinism collapsed. But it also gained new friends. Gaddafi had supported the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela. When Apartheid came down in 1994, Gaddafi was viewed as a hero among South Africans. It was then that the ''dear leader'' started to build alliances with African leaders. It would be the first steps in his grand plan to creation of an African Union. International he was still isolated, because Libya supported terrorist groups and said it would build weapons of mass destruction!

The African Union was created in 1999, in Gaddafi's home town of Sirte. It was huge victory for the ''dear leader'' as he was now an African nationalist. This was reflected by his clothing style, which was more African then Arab. African leaders called Gaddafi a true African leader, a big departure from his Arab-nationalism. It was Africa were the ''dear leader'' would find many allies. In recognition of his work for Africa, the kings of many African tribes crowned him ''King of Kings''. One of Gaddafi's African supporters was the young Thomas Sankara, who became president of Burkina Faso in 1984. Sankara studied the concept of Jamahiriya and Burkina Faso could have become the second Jamahiriya had Thomas Sankara not been murdered in 1987!

After US imperialism attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, Gaddafi choose to surrender to the forces of capitalism and imperialism. In 2003 he gave up his support to terrorist groups and he also abandoned Libya's nuclear program. Western leaders forgave Gaddafi and were ready to work with the man they once called a ''mad dog''. Capitalist reforms were swift. It made the Gaddafi family wealthy and rich. His sons and only daughter knew to how life their lives in luxury. Ayesha Gaddafi is the only daughter of Muammar Gaddafi and is now 36 to 37 years old. Ayesha Gaddafi was appointed as the United Nations Development Program National Goodwill Ambassador for Libya on 24 July 2009, primarily to address the issues of HIV/AIDS, poverty and women's rights in Libya, all of which are culturally sensitive topics in the country. In February 2011 the United Nations stripped Ayesha of her role as a goodwill ambassador because she supported her father's regime in killing Libyans!

The ideal of Jamahiriya died out. By 2011, little was left of the revolutionary ideal of direct democracy as the Green Book claimed Libya was. The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was by now a state-capitalist nation. Gaddafi and his family were still in power and enjoyed the fruits of their capitalist reforms. But many Libyans felt the pain of poverty as many parts of the Libyan economy were privatized. As a result most Libyan companies started to work on capitalist principals. Those workers could not meet the demands of the market were fired. Suddenly profits and making as much money as possible was the new economic law. Workers councils were replaced by market based state institutions. This was very clear when Libya opened its first stock market in 2007. Western capitalists could now buy Libyan stocks!

29 western businesses were operating in Libya after 2007, but capitalism was still complying about state regulations. They found a friend among the Gaddafi family who was seen to be the successor of Muammar Gaddafi. Saif-Al-Islam Gaddafi is the second son of the late Libyan dictator. He is an educed man and western nations saw in him a reformer. Like Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, the western ruling class hoped for more capitalist reforms in Libya under Saif-Al-Islam. This could have happened as Saif was very well liked by the upper class of Europe, because of his charisma!

Libyan workers hated the luxurious life style of the Gaddafi family. A new generation of young Libyans grew up knowing only the poverty caused by the market economy. Also because of internet they learned about the true nature of the Jamahiriya. They knew it was a lie and they hated the old face of Muammar Gaddafi and his bombastic military uniform. On February 17 of 2011, the youth of Benghazi rose up against Gaddafi. As the ''Revolutionary Committees'' told army and police to open fire, the anger among the people was exploding. Very soon the city of Benghazi liberated itself from the Jamahiriya. The banner of the former Kingdom of Libya was adopted as ''revolutionary'' flag by the youth. A very poor choice as it would rally many anti-imperialists to Gaddafi's side. Also the hypocrite actions of the rebel leadership would lead to a NATO intervention! 

Muammar Gaddafi saw the rebels as ''Agents of Al-Qaeda''. He was unable to understand that these rebels were young people, who had enough of his regime. Gaddafi was 69 years old and seemed to have lost his understanding of events. But his sons made sure that the elite forces of the Jamahiriya would strike back. Khamis Gaddafi was the youngest son and led an elite army against the rebels. In March the Libyan Armed Forces ( Green Army ) attacked the rebel Libyan People's Army around Benghazi. Now the rebels stared to panic. They were not able to fight the tanks and artillery. The tanks of the Green Army killed many innocent civilians!

Western nations feared that the rebels might lose. Most European nations had giving support to the uprising since February. Now the Green Army of Gaddafi was using tanks and artillery against the rebel city of Benghazi. NATO forces choose to intervene. British, French and Italian planes would fly many missions between March and October 2011 against the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Soon the Libyan Air Force was destroyed on the ground as few planes were able to intercept the western jet fighters. Thanks to western air support, the rebels drove the Green Army away from Benghazi. By Augustus it was clear that the rebels were winning the civil war!

In only twenty days, rebel forces took all coastal tows ( with the exception of Site ) between Benghazi and Tripoli. The final battle for the capital lasted 8 days. It ended with the capture of Gaddafi's compound and the final surrender of green soldiers. During the last battles, many crimes were committed by both the rebels and the greens. Rebels killed many innocent black workers, as they believed that black mercenaries were used. After the civil war it became clear that Gaddafi never used mercenaries from Africa!

The former buildings of the ''Revolutionary Committees'' were burned. Many who were members of these ''Revolutionary Committees'' were hunted down and arrested. Since there was no law and order, many rebels choose to play for judge and executioner. The rebels were not saints and many acted not noble. Also a part of the rebel army was Islamic fundamentalist. These Islamic rebels hoped to create an Islamic Emirate of Libya!

After the liberation of Tripoli, the rebels found the luxury of the Gaddafi family. Rebels entered their homes and saw how their leaders had enjoyed the fruits of capitalism. Ayesha Gaddafi owned a huge villa with an underground swimming-pool. Mutassim Gaddafi owned a palace, that was set on fire after rebels found it. Mutassim was the fourth son of Gaddafi and was his National Security Advisor from 2008 until the end. When Tripoli fell to the rebels, Muammar Gaddafi and his fourth son Mutassim fled to Sirte!

In the capital the crimes of the Green Army was exposed. Many innocent Libyans were tortured and jailed. Burned corpses were found, victims of the green soldiers. Gaddafi's criminal regime had murdred and burned many people in the capital. This only angered the rebels who showed little tolerance towards captured green soldiers. After 42 years of dictatorship, torture and killing by the Jamahiriya, the Libyan rebels wanted revenge!

The rebel leadership was made up of former state bureaucrats and military leaders. Their leader was the former Jamahiriyan Minister of Justice; Mustafa Abdul Jalil. Like many bureaucrats he was loyal to Gaddafi and worked under him. But his loyalty ended when Gaddafi ordered the army to shoot at the youth who started the revolution in Benghazi. Together with a few generals and diplomats he created the National Transitional Council or NTC. After Muammar Gaddafi fled Tripoli, Mustafa Abdul Jalil became the new head of state. He asked the UN to change the name of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to Libya. Later the official name of the nation became the State of Libya! 

Between 28 August and 23 October, the rebels drove the last remnants of the Green Army back to Sirte. This city was the new capital of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya since Tripoli fell to the rebels. Gaddafi spend his last month traveling from house to house. At his side was Mutassim and his bodyguards. Gaddafi was famous for his all female bodyguards called the Amazon Guard. But these females were not at his side in his last day's. The Amazon Guard fell apart after the rebel victory at Tripoli. Many choose to hide, yet some were found by the rebels and brutally executed!

Rebel forces attacked Sirte on 15 September. A brutal battle started that would last until 20 October. 16.000 rebels fought against 2.500 green soldiers who defended Sirte. After 25 days of fighting and killing, the city was in ruins. Like Berlin in 1945, Sirte was almost completely destroyed. The birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi, a city that was the crown-jewel of the Jamahiriya was reduced to rubble. Muammar Gaddafi and his son tried to flee, but their convoy was attacked by NATO planes. As they tried to hide, rebels found them. Gaddafi's body guards were killed and he was captured by a group of rebels. The ''dear leader'' himself was completely in shock and seemed to plea for his life. But the angry mob was not about to let the dictator live. After the rebels paraded Gaddafi around, he was shot in the head. Muammar Gaddafi was executed and died!

Gaddafi's fourth son Mutassim was also arrested by the rebels. Unlike his father he was not arrested by an angry rebel mod and paraded around. Mutassim Gaddafi was filmed alive and seeing drinking some water. Later You-Tube video's shown him wounded and dying. Mutassim Gaddafi died of his wounds, his death body and that of his father were displayed for rebels to see. The British tabloids loved the pictures of the two death Gaddafi's. Later it was also reviled that the youngest son of the dictator, was killed in a bombing raid of NATO around 29 August 2011!

With the executions of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim, the Jamahiriya died. It lived for 34 years. We revolutionary socialists never supported Gaddafi. But some Stalinist leftists choose to support the dictator. For them Gaddafi was anti-imperialist and the rebels they called ''NATO rats''. Unlike Syria the civil war ended after only a few months. This prevented Islamic extremists from hijacking the revolution. But this does not mean that Libya is stable. What is needed today is a workers party on a socialist program. A united workers movement is needed against the pro-capitalist ex-rebel leaders, who want to build a capitalist Libya on the ruins of the former ''Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya''!

The Libyan coat of arms used between 1977 and 2011. 

Gaddafi choose to keep the eagle of the former Federation of Arab Republics. 
Under the eagle in Arabic you could still read ''Federation of Arab Republics'' 
the only remnant of Gaddafi's Arab-nationalism in the 70's!

Dictatorships supported by the USA

The land of the free and the home of the brave. This is what the US propaganda machine has printed into the minds of 300 million Americans. Freedom and democracy are terms most American politicians use. Those who oppose the ''American Dream'' are called anti-patriotic and anti-American. Meanwhile those who claim to support freedom and democracy, are in reality servants of the ruling class. Republicans and Democrats, all support the rule of the capitalists. From George Washington to Barack Obama, all presidents have served capitalism and US imperialism. Here we present a document of DICTATORSHIPS outside the USA, that were supported by the US government. Some of them are gone by 2013 and some are still alive!

Most dictatorships supported by the USA served US imperialism very well. Latin America was a pro-American continent for many years. Military dictatorships rule with iron fist and used American tanks and machine guns to hunt liberation movements. In Colombia, the corrupt capitalist government is still hunting for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC-EP. This rebel movement is founded in the 60's as a resistance army against the Colombian ruling class. US imperialism is still supporting the corrupt Colombian government. Thanks to FARC-EP crimes against the people of Colombia, the right-wing political parties has been able to win elections, by calling the left-wing of the nation, pro-FARC and anti-democratic. It is also not save for revolutionary socialists to work. Many trade unionists and leftists are still getting murdered in Colombia!  

The Republic of Venezuela was a loyal friend of US imperialism until 1999. Carlos Andrés Pérez was a capitalist president who used anti-capitalist rhetoric to win the presidential elections, only to turn capitalist again to rule for 4 years. In 1993, Pérez was finally forced out of office because he embezzlement more the 250 million Bolivar ( 39 million U.S. dollars ) from the presidential fund. Carlos Pérez first refused to stand down, but the National Congress of Venezuela voted him down and he was jailed for 28 months! 

In 1998, Pérez was prosecuted again, this time on charges of embezzlement on public funds, after secret joint bank accounts held with his mistress, Cecilia Matos, were discovered in New York. Before the trial, he was elected to the Senate of Venezuela for his native State of Táchira, on the ticket of his newly founded party, Movimiento de Apertura y Participación Nacional (Apertura), thus gaining immunity from prosecutions. However, as the newly approved 1999 Constitution of Venezuela dissolved the Senate and created a unicameral National Assembly! 

Hugo Chavez became the president of Venezuela in 1999 and was reelected president until his death in 2013. His first three years in office were moderate and not radical leftist at all. But the ruling class of Venezuela and their powerful media, hated and feared his socialist rhetoric. So on April 11 of 2002, anti-Chavez military personal arrest Hugo Chavez. Right-wing businessman; Pedro Carmona became the new head of state. The USA recognized the new regime as an ally against the rising leftist movements in Latin America! 

Mainstream Venezuelan media outlets such as El Universal, El Nacional, El Nuevo País, Globovisión, Televen, CMT and RCTV supported the new right-wing regime. At the same time, only the anti-Chávez point of view was reflected in the news reports of international media agencies and organizations to portray Hugo Chavez as a bad leader!

But the people of Venezeula fought back. They rose up to defend Hugo Chavez and the military was forced to abandon the coup. Pedro Carmona fled to the USA along with the military leaders who started the coup. Thanks to the people of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez was freed and resumed his presidency. The failed right-wing coup was a huge victory over the forces of capitalism and imperialism. It was also a defeat for the capitalist media in the USA and Venezuela. Because all major television networks supported the coup, Hugo Chavez would never trust them again. The anti-Chavez news-station RCTV lost its broadcasting licence in 2007, because of its support to Pedro Carmona and the generals who wanted to destroy democracy! 

A famous dictatorship supported by the USA was the Republic of Vietnam. This dictatorship was founded in 1954 when Vietnam was divided between a Stalinist north and a capitalist south. North Vietnam became the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, while the south took the name Republic of Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem was its only civilian president. He was a Roman Catholic and an anti-communist!

President Ngo Dinh Diem supported French imperialism since 1929. He worked with the French to hunt down peasant uprisings in Indochina. Because of his loyalty he was giving the governorship of Bình Thuận Province and in 1930/1931 suppressed more peasant revolts in Indochina. During the violent events, many villagers were raped and murdered by French colonial forces under Ngo Dinh Diem's leadership!

Since he worked with the French, Diem became a friend of US imperialism after the French left Indochina in 1954. He and the Americans started working on Operation Passage to Freedom. This operation was a huge propaganda victory. During the separation of Vietnam, people were allowed to choose were they wanted to live. Thanks to massive anticommunist propaganda and the fear of Ho Chi Minh's atheism, more then 1.000.000 Vietnamese left North Vietnam. Most of them were Roman Catholics like Diem! 

South Vietnam became a corrupt capitalist nation. Poverty and corruption led many to hate Ngo Dinh Diem. A leftist nationalist group called the National Liberation Front was founded in 1954 and opposed Ngo Dinh Diem presidency from the start. In 1956 the Saigon Newspaper started calling them Viet Cong, this meant Việt Nam Cộng-sản ( Vietnamese Communists ). The anticommunists also called them Việt gian cộng sản ( Communist Traitors to Vietnam )!

Millions of dollars were send to South Vietnam and in 1955, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam was created with American money and weapons. Ngo Dinh Diem also used American money to created a police state, were opponents of his regime were arrested and tortured. As a Roman Catholic he was biased towards Buddhists and the native Montagnard population. He ordered the arrest of many innocent Buddhists. In protest a monk called Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. This self-immolation marked the end of Ngo Dinh Diem who's corruption was not longer approved by the USA and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam! 

On November 1 of 1963, the ARVN staged a coup against their president. Two marine battalions, two airborne battalions and two battalions of the 5th Division attacked the Gia Long Palace in Saigon. Special forces and the presidential guards tried to protect Ngo Dinh Diem. A battle erupted between rebel ARVN and loyalist ARVN troops. In the early morning of 2 November 1963 Diệm agreed to surrender. The rebel officers had a meeting intended to exile Diệm, having promised him safe passage out of the country into an "honorable retirement".

But the plans were changed. Both Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother were put into an armed vehicle and then executed. The CIA knew of the coup and the killings, but their friend had outlive his usefulness. Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother died because the USA needed a new leadership in South Vietnam to fight the NLF. The ARVN choose to led the nation for two years, until general Nguyen Van Thieu became president in 1965. Thieu was a general and a loyalist supporter of US imperialism. Until April 1975, his government would murder 90.000 South Vietnamese. 

Vietnam was not the first nation to be divided between a Stalinist north and a capitalist south. Korea was divided in 1948 between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north and the Republic of Korea in the south. The DPRK was created in the Soviet zone and the ROK was build in the American zone. Korea was part of the Japanese Empire until August 1945. Soviet forces liberated the north, while American soldiers took the south! 

Americans and Soviets soon became bitter enemies. The Americans wanted an anticommunist Korea, while the USSR supported Kim Il Sung and the Workers Party of Korea. It was decided to divide the country. In the north, the Workers Party of Korea created a totalitarian Stalinist state. In the south the Americans allowed the formation of a totalitarian anticommunist state. South Korea was one of the few true totalitarian anticommunist states. Anticommunism was enforced very brutal in the Republic of Korea. School childeren were told to hate communists and the Marxist ideology. 

Syngman Rhee was an old anticommunist and very autocratic. He became president of South Korea with the blessing of the Korean ruling class and the USA. By 1948 he already jailed 30.000 people in special concentration-camps. Most of these Koreans were supporters of the north, liberals and intellectuals. The conservative ruling class gave their full support to Syngman Rhee, allowing the old dictator to start a nationwide witch-hunt against leftists, liberals and stalinists. When North Korea invaded South Korea, more then 100.000 Koreans were jailed in camps by the anticommunists!

As the Republic of Korea collapsed in the first weeks of the Korean War, Syngman Rhee ordered the execution of all prisoners of the Bodo League camps. All 100.000 prisoners were executed and buried in mass graves. The CIA knew of these crimes, but they kept silence. After the Korean War the USA and South Korea, would call the mass murder in the Bodo League a ''communist'' crime. It was not until 2005 when the South Korean government finally told the true. That South Koreans killed those 100.000 prisoners! 

The Republic of Korea remained a totalitarian dictatorship under Syngman Rhee. But students opposed the dictatorship. In 1960 they rose up, forcing the CIA to evacuate the president. Syngman Rhee spend his last years in the USA were he died. The students hoped for democracy and liberty, but the military took over and installed a military junta that would rule until 1987. The USA kept supporting the dictatorship of the Korean military. Never has the American government regretted the support to the dictatorship that arrested and tortured many innocent Koreans!

Another friend of US imperialism was Chiang-Kai-Shek. This anticommunist dictator became leader of the Republic of China in 1927. His first act was a wave of terror against members of the Chinese Communist Party! 70.000 people were murdered by the White Terror of Chiang-Kai-Shek. 50.000 communists were killed. This act of betrayal was the start of the Chinese Civil War that would last until 1949. Shek turned the leftist nationalist Kuomintang into a right-wing anticommunist party!

By 1945 the Second World War was over, but the Chinese Civil War resumed. The Chinese Communist Party had undergo some changes. The party was now led by Mao Zedong and his People's Liberation Army ( PLA ) were popular with poor peasants. Chiang-Kai-Shek was hated by most farmers who opposed the corruption of the Kuomintang. The Republic of China started to lose the civil war to the maoists. Although the USA supplied the right-wing nationalists with weapons, they could not stop the PLA. Chiang-Kai-Shek fled to the island of Taiwan and set up his nationalist government there!

Western nations and the USA did not recolonized the new People's Republic of China led by Mao Zedong. They viewed Chiang-Kai-Shek as the only genuine leader of China. In the United Nations, the Republic of China on Taiwan, remained the representative of China. For Shek it was necessary to build a strong defense. So he armed his army with the latest US weapons. Also the USA would help him to build a mighty economy. Because the Kuomintang was the dominate party, it enforced a capitalist market economy. Leftist opponents were arrested and jailed if they opposed the rule of the nationalist party. The USA did not opposed that, they had no problems with jailing and arresting of leftists! 

In Europe a good friend of the USA, was fascist Spain. This remnant of European fascism was created in 1939 with the victory of general Franco in the Spanish Civil War. The State of Spain was isolated after the Second World War. As a fascist nation it was seen as the enemy in the 1940's. But this changed with the start of the Cold War. Anticommunism was now enough to gain support from the USA. Dictator Franco was very anticommunist and managed to get American support. In 1959, president Eisenhower visited Franco and both leaders greeted each other like good friends. Franco was responsible for the execution of 200.000 anti-fascists in 1939!

Fascist Portugal was also very anticommunist and a friend of US imperialism. The fascist Estado Novo period lasted from 1933 until 1974. António de Oliveira Salazar was the fascist leader of Portugal from 1932 until his death in 1968. Salazar was not a national-socialist like Hitler and less militaristic like Mussolini and Franco. He opposed communism, socialism, anarchism and liberalism. A conservative fascist and very colonialist. Salazar supported Portuguese imperialism by fighting against African liberation armies in Angola and Mozambique!

American money also went to corrupt Asian kingdoms. Like the Kingdom of Laos and the Kingdom of Thailand. These nations fought against communist movements. In Laos the Pathet Lao were fighting to expel US imperialism from Indochina. The Thai monarchy had its problems with the Communist Party of Thailand. Thai Maoists had started a people's war against the monarchist government. In the 1960's the Maoists fought a bloody war, but were not able to defeat the Royal Army of Thailand. Because of Maoist mistakes and intolerance towards peasants, the Communist Party of Thailand lost much support. In the 80's the royal government gave rebels amnesty who would give u p the fight. Many Maoists choose to give up the armed struggle. Today the Communist Party of Thailand is gone, the Maoists have disappeared from Thailand. Only in Laos were they able to win the war. In December 1975, the Lao Democratic People's Republic was founded! 

Many Arab conservative kingdoms are supported by the USA. The Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia and the former Imperial State of Iran got millions of dollars. The USA put Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavī in power, after the Iranian government of Mohammad Mosaddegh was removed in an anti-democratic coup led by the CIA in Iran. Pahlavī was the Iranian monarch and became absolute leader after 1953. This angered many Iranians who still hate the USA because of this. In Saudi-Arabia the people have nothing to say, all political power belongs to the House of Saud. This medieval style kingdom is banning females from driving and showing their hair in public. Like in Iran, females are forced to cover themselves! 

But US imperialism has no problems with Saudi-Arabia, although their government is just as authoritarian as the Iranian government. The reason why the USA is supporting Saudi-Arabia is because of tactical reasons. They need Arab allies against regimes who oppose US imperialism, also Saudi Arabia has something western capitalists always need; OIL. The Kingdom of Libya was also a conservative monarchy, supported by the USA since oil was founded there in the 60's. American and British oil capitalists soon controlled the Libyan oil fields because king Idris was pro-western. Libyans hated their king because of that and in 1969, a group of young army officers staged a coup and removed king Iris. The Libyan Arab Republic nationalized the oil fields and kicked the foreign oil capitalists out!

Modern dictatorships supported by the USA are also ex-Soviet republics. Nations like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are not criticized by the US government. The Republic of Uzbekistan is needed as an ally, because Americans use Uzbeki territory for a military base. From this military base, US bombers are attacking Taliban troops in Afghanistan. It is therefore that the US government is not criticizing the dictatorship in Uzbekistan!

For the United States of America, freedom and democracy are only propaganda values. Its criminal government led by Barack Obama ( also called George W Obama ) cares nothing about the privacy its people. Like the former KGB, the CIA and NSA are spying on the American people. Thanks to American hero's like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, we know the true nature of the US government. Revolutionary socialists knew it, but the revelations of Snowden have also shown to others how criminal the US government is. How little they care about privacy and human rights when it comes to fighting imperialist wars. This is why we oppose any government based on the capitalist system. You cannot change the nature of a capitalist state. A capitalist state must be demolished and rebuild as a workers state by a socialist revolution! 

Five presidents who led the American Empire

From left to right:

Bush ( daddy ), Obama, Bush ( W ), Clinton, Carter

Coalition of the Moderate Left?

The Greek Coalition of the Radical Left ( Syriza ) won 26% of the votes during the last election in Greece. They marched right over the Pan-Hellenic ''Socialist'' Movement, the main social democratic party that betrayed the Greek workers to EU austerity cuts. The Hellenic Republic is still in crisis. Although weaken the ruling class is still in power, thanks to fear and intimidation by the conservatives around New Democracy and the Pan-Hellenic '''Socialist'' Movement ( PASOK ) who spread fear about more poverty, if the Greek people would oppose EU austerity. Syriza is now the biggest left-wing party in the parliament, but their leader Alexis Tsipras is not a revolutionary socialist. He belongs to the reformist wing of Syriza and is about to turn the coalition into a parliamentary party.

Tsipras does not want Greece to leave to European Union and the Euro. But as a socialist he should know that the EU is not friendly towards anti-capitalist  nations. The EU was created for western capitalists to travel between European nations. Under the banner of free trade, most western capitalists moved their means of production to eastern Europe, because the wages and living standards are much lower in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria then in advanced capitalist nations!

The Coalition of the Radical Left ( Syriza ) was created as a coalition. It became a political party in 2012 after their huge victory. But as a political party, they are faced with a major decision. Should they become a moderate leftist party that supports the EU and the parliamentary democracy? Or become a revolutionary socialist party that opposes the EU and parliamentary rule?

Alexis Tsipras started as a member of the Coalition of Left, of Movements and Ecology ( Synaspismos  ). This political party was founded in 1991 by merging Greek leftists parties into a coalition. Much like Syriza today Synaspismos was a coalition at first, but became a political party in 1991. The new party was plagued with conflicts. It was never able to rally workers around them and PASOK was able to present themselves as the only workers party in Greece!

Synaspismos as a political party was not able to rally the working class, because they lacked a genuine socialist program. The party was reformist like the Party of Democratic Socialism in Germany, it never called for a socialist revolution. Beside Greek workers had more choices during elections then Synaspismos and PASOK. The KKE ( communist party ) remains a strong party with a loyal electorate. But what limits the KKE is their Stalinist dogmatism. They have rehabilitated Joseph Stalin and glorify Stalinist states like Cuba. Synaspismos was a new left party in 1991, but not a radical one that could win votes from PASOK. The social democrats had a history of supporting workers since the 70's. Synaspismos score was at its highest in 1996 with 5,6%, but until Syriza victory in 2012, they never won more then 6% of the votes!

In 2004, Synaspismos and other radical leftist parties created Syriza. An alliance of Synaspismos with many leftist groups, some were leftist nationalist and other revolutionary leftist. From Maoist parties to Trotskyist groups, Syriza is a mixture of many leftist ideologies. Some right-wing members of Synaspismos opposed the more radical leftist elements of Syriza and left the coalition in 2010. They created the political party; Democratic Left, a party that would enter the Greek government for a few months, before leaving it again! 

When the capitalist crisis started in 2008, Greece was hit very hard. Right-wing newspapers blamed the ''lazy'' Greek government workers, lies were spread about Greek government workers who all would retire at age 55, a big lie since most Greek retire at age 64. Also the government of Greece was called inefficient, weak and too big. So the capitalist EU said that Greece must undergo major budget cuts. 

When the crisis started, PASOK was the ruling party in Greece. They won the elections after the conservatives were voted out of office. PASOK and New Democracy were used to govern alone. This is also made easy since the winner of the elections would get 30 seats as a bonus in the Greek parliament!

PASOK is a pro-European Union party, their program is social democratic in nature. But like most social democrats they accepted massive budget cuts and started with privatizations of state enterprises. Greek workers soon realized that PASOK was working against them. In May 2012, the elections were a huge defeat for the Greek social democrats, but also for the conservatives of New Democracy. 

For the first time, PASOK and New Democracy were forced by the EU to create a stable capitalist coalition government. But this failed and new elections were held in July 2012. The EU demanded a victory of the pro-EU parties. Many capitalist newspapers wrote that a vote on the radical left-wing would anger the markers and the EU! 

The Pan-Hellenic ''Socialist'' Movement only got 12,26% of the vote and was crushed. The Coalition of the Radical Left became the main left-wing party. Right-wing Greeks all voted on New Democracy. This meant that other conservative parties lost votes to New Democracy. But because of that, they were able to win the election and got their 30 bonus seats. But luck was not on New Democracy's side. They still had not enough seats, so they were forced to talk with PASOK again. A third coalition partner became Democratic Left, the former right-wing of Synaspismos!

New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left, presented the EU with a capitalist government. European leaders demanded swift action and massive budget cuts. Syriza opposed the cuts like the KKE ( communist party ). The Communist Party of Greece and Syriza could unite much workers, if they only would start talking. Syriza is called a moderate left party by the KKE and they claim that Syriza will not abolish capitalism. They are right about the reformist nature of Syriza, but that does not mean that the communist party should avoid working with them. Syriza and the KKE have a lot of supporters. A United Front between Syriza and the KKE on a socialist program could triumph over the parties of the EU and capitalism!

Here comes the reformist wing of Syriza in action. Alexis Tsipras want the new Syriza to become a pro-EU and reformist party. During the first congress as a political party, the right-wing was able to defeat the left-wing. All proposals of the revolutionary socialists were voted down as most party members supported reformism. Alexis Tsipras even said he would work with the Independent Greeks, a centrist capitalist political party. This turn to the right-wing will create much anger among Greek workers, when they find out that Syriza wants to work with the EU and those who force poverty upon the working class!

Also this turn to the right will proof to the Stalinist KKE, that Syriza is no ally of socialism as they see it. Yet many Greeks have voted for Syriza and still have hopes of a future genuine left-wing government under Alexis Tsipras. But like many reformist socialists, Tsipras is building strength not outside the parliament  but within. This is the mistake all reformist socialists make. They believe that social changes can be made by compromises with the bourgeoisie. Dutch and German socialists have also made this error and lost support among working people. Like in Berlin were Die Linke lost 195,463 voters since 2001, because they entered a capitalist government with the SPD ( social democrats )!

If Syriza wants to remain a party for socialism and workers rule, then they must abandon this reformist line. But there are signs that Syriza is to become a parliamentary leftist party. They already opposed a strike of the teachers union, who opposed the firing of many teachers. If Syriza is starting to oppose strikes and workers action, then they will lose votes and cause massive disillusionment among workers and poor people who voted for Syriza!

Alexis Tsipras wants a moderate Syriza,
not a revolutionary party for working people!

German General Election 2013

The Political Compass was established in 2001 as a tool applicable to all democracies, and a way of better making sense of the changing political landscape. Our test itself is not nation-specific, nor driven by current hot issues. Rather, it presents a profile of an individual political personality. Our work has been widely reviewed in the international media, and included in many courses and publications for schools and universities. We’re grateful for the enthusiastic response that we’ve always enjoyed from Germany, both in media coverage over the years, and also in the volume of correspondence that we receive. Our 2005 German electoral chart can still be viewed on our website!

By the Political Compass! 

While we welcome the University of Konstanz's late entry into the field of two-dimensional political charts, an acknowledgment of our long-standing work would have been nice. We do take issue, though, with the identifications that they attach to their social dimension. 'Progressive' and 'Conservative' popularly describe economic as well as social attitudes, blurring the distinctions that the two dimensions are supposed to achieve. We prefer our 'authoritarian' and 'libertarian' social labels. Perhaps the University wished to distance itself from our model, or historic sensitivities might have made them uneasy about identifying authoritarian tendencies in any present day German party. But take, for example, the difference between the arch conservative Theodor Duesterberg and Adolph Hitler. The Konstanz University labels would simply leave Hitler being more 'conservative' than Duesterberg, who, in fact, was closer to the religion-and-tradition conservative character that they describe. Duesterberg can more accurately be described by The Political Compass as a little less authoritarian than Hitler. With the emergence of quasi-fascist parties in some contemporary democracies, the point is an important one.

It is clear to us that social democratic parties in almost all democracies have either reluctantly or enthusiastically adopted the neo-liberal economic agenda in a rightward drift. The ideological divide between the mainstream parties has significantly narrowed — and sometimes even reversed. In Denmark, for example, a social democratic government in coalition with the further left Peoples' Socialist Party has reduced pensions and given tax breaks to the wealthiest five percent. The "Social Democratic" Danish Prime Minister also voiced immediate support for the US intention to attack Syria.

Germany's Social Democrats can similarly no longer be seen as significantly left wing, except in their own self-concept and among their most uncritical traditional supporters. The Greens have also displayed quite conservative economic tendencies. The Left Party, seen as extreme in some quarters, occupies similar ground in many ways to the Brandt-led Social Democrats, reflecting how far the fulcrum has shifted.

The FDP continues to champion the full- throttle free market, while maintaining a more liberal social stance than the CDU.

As always, our projections are based on policy statements, speeches and voting records. The Pirates, contrary to popular opinion, appear to us to be economically centrist. The AFD, which looks strikingly similar to the UK Independence Party,is still too new to determine all its policy positions. The extent to which it might poach those CDU voters with more nationalistic inclinations remains to be seen!

The German political parties in 2013