Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Conquest of Tibet: An Act of Imperialist Aggression

The Chinese conquest of Tibet in 1950 was an act of imperialist aggression that is, even today, ignored by Communist organisations throughout the world. Many of these organisations create excuses to justify the invasion - all the while condemning similar invasions by U.S. imperialists (Iraq, Afghanistan).

Sam Marcy, the former leader of the Workers World Party, had this to say:

"The Chinese, we believe, used sound judgment in 1950, when they simply made Tibet an autonomous region within the Chinese Republic. They subsequently signed an agreement with the Tibetan government, which gave the Chinese People's Republic control over no more than the foreign policy of Tibet, and the right to maintain the Chinese Army within its borders."

Marxism-Leninism teaches historical materialism, which is, at its core, objective. The above statement by Marcy is nothing but Chinese propaganda, and not at all objective. The "agreement" was forced on the government of Tibet with the threat of complete military conquest. Giving up foreign policy control, and being forced to maintain a foreign countries military is invasion - not autonomy (Ask the Iraqis!). As such, the "agreement", which was signed under duress, was a lie and is invalid.

Marcy concludes his article with the following:

"The correct answer to the question of Tibet we believe lies in this: that the Socialist rights of 650 million people involved in building a new social order are far greater than the bourgeois-democratic rights of an ancient, ossified, and decadent nobility disguised in the form of a theocracy, even though they may still command the greater portion of the population at this time."

Marcy made several vague arguments about a free Tibet being a magnet for U.S. imperialism, and that justified the Chinese invasion. So much for the Communist concept of democracy. To say that the people of Tibet had less rights - simply because they were not Socialist - is ridiculous to the extreme.

The Red Phoenix - the "news" blog of the American Party of Labor, recently published an article about the meeting of Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. Among the ridiculous assertions made in that article is that the Dalai Lama was a Nazi collaborator. The Dalai Lama, born in 1935 (two years after Hitler came to power), was only 10 when World War II ended. The notion that a little boy had Nazi sympathies is outrageously ridiculous!

A second attempt to link the Dalai Lama to Nazi Germany involved Bruno Beger, a member of the 1938 -1939 Nazi expedition to Tibet. Since the current Dalai Lama was only 4 years old at the time, it is obvious to anyone with a brain that he could not have had anything to do with the expedition, or Beger. In fact, the current Dalai Lama was not even recognised as such until his 6th year - two years after the end of the expedition.

A Nazi Collaborator, indeed!

The Red Phoenix also dredges up the old Chinese chestnut about how much of a despot the Dalai Lama was. China invaded in 1950 - when the Dalai Lama was 15 years old. He was not invested with his authority until he was 16 - the year after China invaded. Tibet was ruled by regents until then, but by that time - China was in control. Most despots have complete and total control over a country. The Dalai Lama had no control - in fact, he spent most of the years between 1941 and 1951 in school.

Mao Tse-tung was enraptured by the mineral and material wealth of Tibet. He wanted Hitlerian style "breathing room" for the exploding Chinese population. He wanted to flex his new found muscle. Tibet, and the Tibetan people, paid the price for his imperialist aggression, and they continue to pay the price.

Sadly, Communists the world over choose to ignore this. The hypocrisy of stating that a Communist nation can invade foreign nations at will, but capitalist nations cannot - is one of the reasons why Communism has lost its credibility.

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