ESTADOS UNIDOS   

Aspectos silenciados sobre de la realidad norteamericana

Comrade Thomas,

Here is another previous article

   Lenin tells us that "It is natural for a liberal to speak of 'democracy' in general; but a Marxist will never forget to ask:  for what class?"  He then says that "If we are not to mock at common sense and history, it is obvious that we cannot speak of 'pure democracy' as long as different classes exist; we can only speak of class democracy."

   Lenin also tells us that "Bourgeois democracy, although a great historical advance in comparison with medievalism, always remains, and under capitalism is bound to remain, restricted, truncated, false and hypocritical, a paradise for the rich and a snare and deception for the exploited, for the poor.  It is this truth which forms a most essential part of Marx's teaching..."  Then we are told that "...the ruling party in a bourgeois democracy extends the protection of the minority only to another bourgeois party, while the proletariat, on all serious, profound and fundamental issues, gets martial law or progroms, instead of the "protection of the minority."  the more highly developed a democracy is, the more imminent are progroms or civil war in connection with any profound political divergence which is dangerous to the bourgeoisie."  (Lenin's emphasis)

   It would appear that Lenin is sitting opposite to the fascist Bush on the former Bill Mahr program "Politically Incorrect"!!! How relevant is his words today as he describes exactly the situation in the US.

   The hypocrisy of Bush's bleating about protecting our rights and democracy is bound up in the demagoguery of bourgeois class interests by violating constitutional law with the purpose of establishing martial law and progroms against the American people as well as the world's people.

   "There is something addicting about a secret."
                                             J. Edgar Hoover

   "During the ten years that I was on the U.S. Intelligence Board...never once did I hear anybody, including myself, raise the questions: "Is this course of action which we have agreed upon lawful, is it legal, is it moral and ethical?"  We never gave any thought to that realm of reasoning, because we were just naturaly pragmatists.  The only thing we were concerned with was this:  Will this course of action work, will it get us what we want, will it reach the objective we desire it to reach."

                                                                        William C. Sullivan
                                                                        former FBI Assistant Director
                                                                        Domestic Intelligence Division

   Covert police methods have been used against progressive social movements since the US was founded.  Through most of its history, progressive activists have faced the blatant brutality of hired thugs and right-wing vigilantes supported by government troops.  As the US became more industrialized and a "more highly developed democracy," newly formed police forces came to play a greater role as the servant of the State - local police forces began conducting "pogroms" of massive anti-union busting in collaboration with the Pinkerton's and other private detective agencies.

   In 1917, the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation which was the predecessor to the FBI coordinated combined activities with the American Protective League which was a right-wing vigilante group with a membership of 250,000.

   Both of these organizations conducted nation-wide raids, arrests and prosecutions of thousands of draft resistors, labor activists and destroyed the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World).

   Due to the successful October Revolution, the Bureau created the hysteria of the "Red Scare" in 1919-1920.  In this pogrom Hoover directed the Palmer Raids that resulted in thousands of progressive immigrants being rounded up, jailed, brutalized and deported, however, public outrage resulted in the Bureau being forced to resort to more covert methods of oppression.

   As a result of Hoover's "War on Crime" and with the capture of infamous gangsters like John Dillinger, the "free press" made "heroes" out of the FBI and Hollywood canonized Hoover and his G-Men.  This elevation of status resulted in the FBI becoming the US state political police once again where it received secret authorization to again target "subversive activities in the United States."

   During WW II, the FBI expanded its operations and acquired new covert technology and after the war, the US bougeoisie identified the Soviet Union as its newest enemy.  The FBI established its role as an accepted institutionalized necessity and institution.  It was during this period that the Senate Intelligence Committee determined that "the domestic intelligence programs of the FBI...became permanent features of government."

   Two of the most prominent and active supporters of the FBI was Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon who assisted the FBI's "Cold War" witchhunts in the 1940's and 1950's.  In this era of anti-communist hysteria, the FBI moved freely against a broad range of domestic political movements that eventually resulted in the purge of an entire generation of "radicals" from US political and cultural life.  Anoth FBI supporter was an active FBI informant known as "Confidential Informant T-10 - the up and coming fascist Ronald Reagan who collaborated with the FBI to undermine and throw out "leftists" from the Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood film industry.

   Although in the 1960's it was recognized by the numerous activists that blatant FBI and police harrassment, surveillance and infiltration was suspected, the concept of CIA-style covert action against domestic political dissidents was simply shrugged off as paranoia" because of a lack of true class understanding of bourgeois democracy.  The Constitution "guaranteed" the people certain rights:  freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to redress grievances against government policy.  The bourgeois reformist mentality believed that these Constitutional rights were "inalienable" - incapable of being surrendered or transfered to the ownership of another." Today's new militants are following in the same mistakes of bourgeois reformism because of a failure on the part of the sectarian Marxist-Leninist movement that has failed to identify with the proletariat as they are overwhelmed in their petty-bourgeois squabbles.  Once again, and needlessly, the militants of today are learning the hard way who Constitutional rights really belong to.

   This myth of "paranoia" became reality in March 1971 when the "Citizen's Committee to Investigate the FBI" broke into the Media, Pennsylvannia FBI office and took their secret files and gave them to the "free press."  These files contained FBI secrets of an unconscionable program called COINTELPRO.

   Then followed the publication of the Pentagon Papers in September 1971 that exposed years of systematic lies about the US governments role in Vietnam.  In retaliation, government thieves broke into Daniel Ellsbergs psychiatrists office in order to discredit him for having leaked these top-secret papers to the media.  It was these very same thieves who were caught burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee the very next year.  It was discovered that the trail led right to  Attorney General Mitchell and President Richard Nixon, where the FBI was also implicated in trying to cover up what we know as the Watergate Scandel.

   At this same time, congressional hearings had revealed that the US Army had infiltrated domestic political movements which is a violation of Constitutional law under the Posse Comitatus Act.  It was also revealed that illegal domestic CIA activity was being conducted which is a violation of the Constitution as well as the CIA's own charter prohibiting it from domestic intellegence activity.  Also, it was revealed that the CIA was not only destablizing legitimate and democratically elected governments but that it was in fact engaging in the assassination of political state officials.  This is a far cry from an organization whose responsibility was only intended to collect and desiminate intelligence information!

   By 1975 both houses of Congress began formal inquiries into government "intelligence activities."  Lawsuits based the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) forced the FBI to publicly reveal their documents...even though Nixon tried to veto this procedure.

   Although the FBI was allowed to edit their files and even withhold some, the pressure to at least give the appearance of genuine reform was so great that the FBI was forced to divulge numerous accounts of its domestic covert activities.  The FBI did manage to destroy many of their files and according to retired FBI Special Agents Arthur Murtagh and Wes Swearingen, they reported that the most repulsive and embarrassing actions were never committed to writing (U.S. Intelligence Agencies and Activities: Domestic Intelligence Programs; Hearings before the Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives, Part 3).

   Most revealing is the National Lawyers Guilds documentation that officials with a broad knowledge of COINTELPRO have been silenced.  The most prominent of those silenced is the above William C. Sullivan.  It was Sullivan who created COINTELPRO and was directly responsible for conducting it in the 1960's.  In 1977, Sullivan was "killed" in a "hunting accident" that was never investigated.  He was murdered just after giving extensive information to the grand jury that was investigating the FBI.  Ironically, he was murdered before he was scheduled to testify publicly!

   COINTELPRO is a euphemism for "Counterintelligence Program."  However, the US governments targets are not enemy spies.  According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, "Under COINTELPRO certain techniques of the Bureau had used against hostile foreign agents were adopted for use against perceived domestic threats to the established political and social order."  (Book III, Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, U.S. Senate (94th Cong. 2d Sess. Rep. No. 94-735)).

   The most intense COINTELPRO operations were directed against the Black Movement and in particuar the Black Panther Party which was the result of institutionalized racism of the police and FBI.

   However, COINTELPRO was not just limited to Black militancy but extended to other activists engaged in political struggle that opposed US intervention abroad or was fighting for racial, gender and class interests in the US.  COINTELPRO's targets also included clergy and organizations that were supposed to be "protected" by the Constitution; First Amendment (freedom of speech) such as teach-ins, progressive bookstores, independent filmmakers and alternative newspapers.

   Because of the turbulence of the public exposures of COINTELPRO and other government abuse "sacrificial lambs" were sacrificed on the bourgeois reformist alter of "democracy."  Nixon resigned the presidency because of his impeachment proceedings while his cronies were prosecuted and imprisoned only to go on the speaking circuit making thousands of dollars.

   The FBI "shutdown" COINTELPRO in April 1971 but while they disbanded this program overtly, FBI Memorandums of 4/27/71 and 4/28/71 provided for future covert action to continue "with tight procedures to ensure absolute security."

   After Hoover died in 1972, two other Directors failed to halt the criticism and "reform" the FBI until President Carter appointed William Webster the chore of cleaning house and to build a "new FBI."  However, this was only a front as domestic covert action did not end in the 1970's but in fact received a new face in the 1980's where it has persisted and has become a permanent feature of the US government.  Inspite of the bourgeoisie's feable attempts at reforms, it was COINTELPRO that gave the FBI and police the capability to eliminate militant leaders as well as Constitutional rights.  It has accomplished this with the intent to preserve the image of the US as a democracy, complete with free speech and the rule of law by discrediting activists as criminals and "terrorists."

   The continued domestic covert action is kept concealed because in 1980 under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, full government secrecy was restored.  Although the Senate Intelligence Committee denounced COINTELPRO as a "sophisticated vigilante operation aimed squarely at preventing the exercise of First Amendment rights of free speech and association, and the CIA was prohibited by law from engaging in "internal security functions," Reagan openly embraced the use of covert domestic operations.  This fascist endorsed, legalized, sponsored and raised the level of such criminal actions to the level of patriotic virtue.

   The activities of COINTELPRO deemed unlawful by the Senate Intelligence Committee and other congressional hearings was legalized by Reagan's Executive Order No. 12333, 12/4/81 as well as his Attorney General's "Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Domestic Security/Terrorism Investigations, 3/7/83. Reagan's E.O. 12333, S2.9, has for the first time in US history, officially sanctioned government infiltration "for the purpose of influencing the activity of" domestic political organizations.

   This executive order authorizes the CIA to conduct "special activities" (covert operations) anywhere "in support of national foreign policy objectives abroad" in S1.8(e), S3.4(h).  It further legalizes "counterintelligence activities...within the United States" on the part of the FBI, CIA, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines in S1.8(c), S1.12(d).  Then in S2.6(c), "Specialized equipment, technical knowledge, or assistance of expert personnel" may be provided by any of these agencies "to support local law enforcement."

   Reagan also legalized all of these organizations to conduct, without warrants, electronic and mail surveillance as well as "unconsented physical searches" more commonly refered to as "breakins" something the average citizen would go to jail for!  The decision for this criminal action is made by the Attorney General, the highest law enforcement officer in the US, if he believes such action is "directed against a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power" according to S2.4, S2.5.  Of course this means that any group or person who protests against US foreign policy, shows solidarity to a nation or movement that is opposed by the US bourgeoisie, will be repressed as "an agent of a foreign power," in other words, he will be labeled as a "terrorist with international connections."

   It was the fascist Reagan who revived the complete illegal activities of the FBI and CIA. He gave the US governments seal of approval to officially restore secrecy to the conduct and activities of these organizations, to circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act and once again covert activity has been legalized and endorsed at the highest levels of bourgeois "democracy."  The recent terrorist attacks have even reopened the "pandora's box" of HUMINT to which the Reagan shadow fascist Bush is giving his approval.  HUMINT will once again give official overt approval for the FBI and CIA to openly assassinate those who are deemed "threats to bourgeois democracy...the ambiguous "national security" - anyone who opposes and acts against US policy foreign or domestic.

   The proletariat must understand that these types of illegal operations are not designed to protect them from "terrorists" but are designed for "protection of the minority" because the bourgeoisie sees the proletariat as the terrorist threat to their class democracy, therefore the proletariat is subjected to "martial law or pogroms" because of the proletariat's "profound political divergence which is dangerous to the bourgeoisie."

   Since capitalism is a social order of the bourgeois minority that is based on the inequality of wealth and power...bourgeois democracy must be based on political repression in order to control the overwhelming proletariat majority that is deprived of that wealth, power and democracy.  It becomes a necessary requirement of the bourgeoisie to establish covert activities in the "homeland defense" in order to "maintain their existing social and political order."

   This war, the "homeland defense" is the responsibility of the US federal government which must appear to be democratic while at the same time it seeks to condition the proletariat in its need to accept conditions for their continued security, freedom and democracy.  The truth of bourgeois class democracy "under capitalism is bound to remain, restricted, truncated, false and hypocritical, a paradise for the rich and a snare and deception for the exploited, for the poor."

   In this the highest stage of capitalism - imperialism - the US capitalists in their endeavor to acquire and maintain their dominance and control over world markets and resources, they must at the same time project the image of the US as the leader of the "free world" complete with free speech and the rule of law.  If the proletariat sees and believes that the US government is not acting in the interests of the people but is seen as being repressive of their "interests", especially within the borders of the US, then the bourgeoisie will have trouble keeping the allegiance of US citizens.

   The only way the bourgeoisie can maintain its "humanitarian" image is to marginalize or eliminate domestic political dissent and to do this the bourgeoisie must make the victims of its violent repression appear to be the aggressors...the "terrorists."  It creates the hypocritical image of domestic political repression as a necessary response of "patriotism," therefore, patriotism becomes a nationalized acceptance of a racist and militarist jingoist chauvinism - fascism - to be displayed against anyone foreign or domestic who would threaten the bourgeois class democracy or freedom.

   Domestic covert action thus becomes "the protection of the minority" with the proletariat majority being subjected to "martial law, progroms and civil war" because of their "profound political divergence which is dangerous to the bourgeoisie."

   If we sum up all of the political beatings, shootings and vandalism by the police, FBI and CIA as well as their support by right-wing groups, their provocation and incitement of brutal attacks on the proletariat, and not to mention their outright assassination of the proletariat, it is clear that the bourgeois agents of the police, FBI and CIA are the primary source of all political violence in the US as well as around the world.  It is the bourgeoisie and their agents who systemmatically and aggressively initiate the use of force and intimidation to achieve political ends.

   Under the pretense and masquerade of fighting the "War on Terrorism" the police, FBI and CIA as agents of the bourgeoisie are the real terrorists and the bourgeoisie's secret use of force and fraud to quell political opposition is the exact inverse of "democracy."

   Under COINTELPRO the FBI Director in 1967 sent a letter to all field offices and secretly instructed them to conduct operations that would "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" specific political activists and groups.  These FBI agents were instructed to maintain all such activities in complete secrecy "such that under no circumstances should the existence of the program be made known outside the Bureau and appropriate within office security should be afforded to sensitive operations and techniques."  On 4/3/68 an Airtel COINTELPRO message was sent to the FBI Director from its San Francisco Field Office which stated that "The Negro youth and moderates must be made to understand that if they succumb to revolutionary teaching, they will be dead revolutionaries."

   The FBI, CIA and police continue to conduct themselves as a secret police.  They have taken the law into their own hands to "protect the minority" and to silence "free speech and assembly" without any due process of law.  Their covert actions have provided them a means by which they subvert the constitutional rights of the proletariat and thereby protect themselves from any genuine democractic accountability.  This is bourgeois class democracy that extends the protection of the minority only to another bourgeois party" while waging war against the proletariat.

   In the US, it is the bourgeoisie and their agents, not the proletariat who pose the threat to democracy and the danger to law and order.  The Senate Intelligence Committee "refused" to accept the official excuses of the FBI for COINTELPRO and stated that this program did not combat domestic violence, espionage or sabotage.  Its real purpose was "maintaining the existing social and political order" of the bourgeoisie in order to prevent a social and political order that is in the interests of the proletariat.

   In 1979, just after he testified before the Church Committee, FBI Agent Joseph G. Deegan who was chief of extremist investigations stated that "We are the only ones who know what is good for the country, and we are the only ones who can do anything about it" at a special security conference in the Los Angeles FBI field office.

   Former FBI Agent Wes Swearingen later stated that "...I knew the FBI had gone off the deep end and had become a secret police state.  I did not know the extent to which J. Edgar Hoover and his agents had gone to control the average citizen's mind, thoughts and actions until I read the files.  Very few citizens know the extent to which the FBI has gone to control our society.  The FBI thinks it knows what is best for the country.
   "Some individuals may think COINTELPRO is all part of the secret police game of intelligence work.  It is not.  It is a threat to our freedom when a police agency in a democracy takes it upon itself to be judge and jury and to decide who should be fired from a job or what newspaper should go out of business.  Such a police agency walks in the shadow of Adolph Hitler's Gestapo when it decides who should be assassinated or framed for murder just to silence his or her political rhetoric."

   The recent terrorist attacks are, by design of the bourgeoisie, a pretext to consolidate the fascist rule of law within the borders of the US.  The promises of the bourgeoisie to protect the peoples freedom and democracy is nothing more than hypocritical demagoguery that validates Marxism-Leninism in "that we cannot speak of "pure democracy" as long as different classes exist; we can only speak of class democracy" and forms "a most essential part of Marx's teaching" that bourgeois democracy is "a paradise for the rich and a snare and deception for the exploited, for the poor."

Fraternally  M.S.

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