The War Against the Working Class

by Will Podmore

  35. See Richard Aldrich, GCHQ: the uncensored story of Britain’s most secret intelligence agency, Harper, 2010, p. 277.

  36. See John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, p. 177.

  37. See John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, p. 177.

  38. CIA Memorandum of June 1962, cited p. 195, William Blum, Killing hope: U.S. military and CIA interventions since World War II, Black Rose Press, 1998. For more details of the British government’s involvement, see Paul Lashmar and James Oliver, Britain’s secret propaganda war, Sutton, 1998, pp. 4-10.

  39. Cited p. 190, John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006.

  40. Cited p. 176, John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006.

  41. Cited p. 209, John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006.

  42. Cited p. 62, David Easter, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  43. All quotes cited from the Observer, 17 May 1998, p. 32. See John Dumbrell, A special relationship: Anglo-American relations in the Cold War and after, Macmillan, 2001, p. 69.

  44. FO Telegram of 8 October, cited p. 63, David Easter, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  45. Cited p. 63, David Easter, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  46. See David Easter, p. 57, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  47. See David Easter, p. 63, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  48. See John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, p. 269.

  49. See John Roosa, Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th Movement and Suharto’s coup d’état in Indonesia, University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, p. 174.

  50. Cited pp. 59-60, David Easter, ‘Keep the Indonesian pot boiling’: Western covert intervention in Indonesia, October 1965-March 1966, Cold War History, 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 55-73.

  51. Cited p. 181, Gabriel Kolko, Confronting the Third World: United States foreign policy 1945-1980, New York: Pantheon, 1988.

  52. See John Prados, Lost crusader: the secret wars of CIA Director William Colby, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 155-6 and 356-7.

  53. See Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000, p. 414.

  54. See John Dumbrell, A special relationship: Anglo-American relations in the Cold War and after, Macmillan, 2001, p. 69.

  55. Cited p. 274, Lloyd C. Gardner, Imperial America: American foreign policy since 1898, New York: Harcourt, 1976.

  56. Cited p. 79, Bernd Greiner, War without fronts: the USA in Vietnam, Vintage Books, 2009.

  57. See Bernd Greiner, War without fronts: the USA in Vietnam, Vintage Books, 2009, p. 79.

  58. Cited p. 332, Nicholas Turse, Kill anything that moves: the real American war in Vietnam, Metropolitan Books, 2013.

  59. Cited p. 382, Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000.

  60. Cited p. 347, Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000.

  61. Cited p. 319, Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000.

  62. Cited p. 349, Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000.

  63. Thomas L. Ahern Jr., Vietnam declassified: the CIA and counterinsurgency, University Press of Kentucky, 2012, p. 360.

  64. Cited p. 198, Ho Chi Minh, Down with colonialism! Verso, 2007.

  65. Cited p. 19, Christian Appy, Patriots: the Vietnam war remembered from all sides, Viking, 2003.

  66. Ziad Obermeyer, Christopher Murray and Emmanuela Gakidou, Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the World Health Survey Programme, British Medical Journal, 2008, Vol. 226, pp. 1482-6.

  67. Cited p. 22, James Blight, The fog of war: lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

  68. Fredrik Logevall, Choosing war: the lost chance for peace and the escalation of war in Vietnam, University of California Press, 1999, p. 412.

  69. Cited p. 81, Nicholas Turse, Kill anything that moves: the real American war in Vietnam, Metropolitan Books, 2013.

  70. Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix program, Backinprint.com, 2000, p. 90.

  71. Cited p. 192, David Milne, America’s Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War, Hill & Wang, 2008.

  72. William Shawcross, The quality of mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and modern conscience, Andre Deutsch, 1984, p. 78; see also his p. 27.

  73. New York Times, 3 July 1981.

  74. For more on the British government’s policies, see Stephen Dorril, The silent conspiracy: inside the intelligence services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, pp. 393-4.

  75. Cited p. 393, Stephen Dorril, The silent conspiracy: inside the intelligence services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994.

  76. See Chris Bramall, Chinese economic development, Routledge, 2009, p. 396.

  77. See Michel Chossudovsky, The globalization of poverty and the new world order, 2nd edition, Montreal: Global Research, 2003, Chapter 12, The post-war economic destruction of Vietnam, pp. 167-88.

  78. Cited p. 35, Bill Hayton, Vietnam: rising dragon, Yale University Press, 2011.

  79. See Bill Hayton, Vietnam: rising dragon, Yale University Press, 2011, pp. 164-6, 170-2 and 169-70.

  80. See Bill Hayton, Vietnam: rising dragon, Yale University Press, 2011, pp. 48, 173-6, 179-80 and 227.

  81. See Bill Hayton, Vietnam: rising dragon, Yale University Press, 2011, pp. xv, 3-4, 6-7 and 17-25. On the systemic corruption, see his pp. 33-4, 41-2 and 103-4. On the corruption of the party, see his pp. 3, 22, 24, 104, 106 and 108-10.

  82. Quoted by Michael Peel, Cambodian Rolls-Royce elite highlights wealth gap, Financial Times, 19 July 2014, p. 5.

  Chapter 11 Cuba, to 1990

  1. Cited p. 60, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  2. Cited p. 55, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  3. See Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009, pp. 55-63, 71-8 and 85-6.

  4. Both cited p. 36, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  5. Cited p. 101, Arnold August, Cuba and its neighbours: democracy in motion, Zed Books, 2013.

  6. Cited p. 61, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  7. Cited p. 47, Keith Bolender, Cuba under siege: American policy, the revolution, and its people, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

  8. See Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina
Press, 2009, p. 53.

  9. Cited pp. 53-4, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  10. Cited p. 53, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  11. Cited p. 47, Keith Bolender, Cuba under siege: American policy, the revolution, and its people, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

  12. Cited p. 54, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  13. See Salim Lamrani, The economic war against Cuba: a historical and legal perspective on the U.S. blockade, Monthly Review Press, 2013, p. 19.

  14. New York Times, 19 April 1959.

  15. Cited p. 70, Aviva Chomsky, A history of the Cuban revolution, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

  16. Cited p. 3, Aviva Chomsky, A history of the Cuban revolution, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

  17. Cited p. 19, Salim Lamrani, The economic war against Cuba: a historical and legal perspective on the U.S. blockade, Monthly Review Press, 2013.

  18. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, Volume VI, Cuba (1991), p. 885.

  19. Cited p. 144, Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009.

  20. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, Document No. 499, 1960, cited p. 107, Arnold August, Cuba and its neighbours: democracy in motion, Zed Books, 2013.

  21. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, Document No. 607, 1960, cited p. 107, Arnold August, Cuba and its neighbours: democracy in motion, Zed Books, 2013.

  22. Cited p. 58, Keith Bolender, Cuba under siege: American policy, the revolution, and its people, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

  23. Cited p. 347, Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, Khrushchev’s Cold War: the inside story of an American adversary, W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.

  24. See Lars Schoultz, That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban revolution, University of North Carolina Press, 2009, p. 186.

  25. See John Prados, Lost crusader: the secret wars of CIA Director William Colby, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 243-4 and 302.

  26. Cited p. 299, John Prados, Lost crusader: the secret wars of CIA Director William Colby, Oxford University Press, 2003.

  27. Cited p. 329, Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and the Cold War, 1959-1980, Chapter 16, pp. 327-48, in Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, editors, The Cambridge history of the Cold War, Volume II Crises and détente, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  28. D. W. Greig, International law, Butterworth, 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 341 and 343. See his excellent discussion, pp. 339-43.

  29. Quincy Wright, p. 553, ‘The Cuban Quarantine’, American Journal of International Law, 1963, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 546-65.

  30. See Andrew Zimbalist, p. 91, Cuban industrial growth, 1965-84, pp. 83-93, in Andrew Zimbalist, editor, Cuba’s socialist economy toward the 1990s, special issue of World Development, January 1987, Vol. 15, No. 1.

  31. Cited pp. 193-4, Sandor Halebsky and John M. Kirk, editors, Cuba: twenty-five years of revolution, 1959-1984, Praeger, 1985.

  32. See Andrew Zimbalist and Claes Brundenius, The Cuban economy: measurement and analysis of socialist performance, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, p. 5.

  33. See Haleh Afshar and Carolyne Bennis, Women and adjustment policies in the Third World, Macmillan, 1992.

  34. Steve Ludlam, p. 543, Cuban labour at 50: what about the workers? Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2009, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 542-57.

  35. James K. Galbraith, Inequality and instability: a study of the world economy just before the great crisis, Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 287.

  36. See José L. Rodríguez, p. 31, Agricultural policy and development in Cuba, pp. 23-39, in Andrew Zimbalist, editor, Cuba’s socialist economy toward the 1990s, special issue of World Development, January 1987, Vol. 15, No. 1.

  37. See Martin Carnoy, Amber Grove and Jeffrey Marshall, Cuba’s academic advantage: why students in Cuba do better in school, Stanford University Press, 2007, p. 142 and passim.

  38. Erwin H. Epstein, review of Children Are the Revolution by Jonathan Kozol, Comparative Education Review, October 1979, p. 456.

  39. Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins and Michael Scott, No free lunch: food and revolution in Cuba today, New York: Grove Press/Food First, 1986, pp. 189-90.

  40. Piero Gleijeses, Visions of freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991, The University of Carolina Press, 2013, p. 29.

  41. Cited p. 338, Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and the Cold War, 1959-1980, Chapter 16, pp. 327-48, in Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, editors, The Cambridge history of the Cold War, Volume II Crises and détente, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  42. See Nancy Mitchell, The Cold War and Jimmy Carter, Chapter 4, pp. 66-88, in Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, editors, The Cambridge history of the Cold War, Volume III Endings, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  43. Cited p. 345, Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and the Cold War, 1959-1980, Chapter 16, pp. 327-48, in Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, editors, The Cambridge history of the Cold War, Volume II Crises and détente, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  44. Henry J. Richardson III, pp. 89-90, ‘Constitutive Questions in the Negotiations for Namibian Independence’, American Journal of International Law, 1984, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp. 76-120.

  45. Piero Gleijeses, p. 290, Cuba and the independence of Namibia, Cold War History, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 285-303.

  46. Piero Gleijeses, Visions of freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991, The University of Carolina Press, 2013, p. 15.

  47. Piero Gleijeses, pp. 296-7, Cuba and the independence of Namibia, Cold War History, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 285-303.

  48. Cited p. 297, Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and the independence of Namibia, Cold War History, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 285-303.

  49. Cited p. 526, Piero Gleijeses, Visions of freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991, The University of Carolina Press, 2013.

  50. See Saul Landau, p. 42, July 26. History absolved him. Now what? pp. 41-4, Chapter 2, in Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk and William M. LeoGrande, editors, A contemporary Cuba reader: Reinventing the revolution, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

  51. On Venezuela, see Arnold August, Cuba and its neighbours: democracy in motion, Zed Books, 2013, pp. 45-59, on Bolivia, see his pp. 59-66 and on Ecuador, see his pp. 66-72.

  Chapter 12 The Soviet Union - counter-revolution and catastroika

  1. Robert Fisk, The great war for civilisation: the conquest of the Middle East, Fourth Estate, 2005, pp. 100 and 69.

  2. US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study, 1986, cited p. 86, William Blum, America’s deadliest export democracy: the truth about US foreign policy and everything else, Zed Books, 2013.

  3. Interview in Le Nouvel Observateur (France), 15-21 January 1998, p. 76. For more on the CIA operation in Afghanistan, see pp. 688-91, Douglas Little, ‘Mission Impossible: The CIA and the Cult of Covert Action in the Middle East’, Diplomatic History, 2004, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 663-701.

  4. Cited p. 461, Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The untold history of the United States, Ebury Press, 2012.

  5. New York Times, 1 February 1980.

  6. D. W. Greig, International law, Butterworth, 2nd ed., 1976, p. 914.

  7. Raymond L. Garthoff, Détente and confrontation: American-Soviet relations from Nixon to Reagan, revised edition, the Brookings Institution, 1994, pp. 1037 and 1074.

  8. See Mike Davidow, Pere
stroika: its rise and fall, International Publishers, 1993, pp. 21-2 and 62.

  9. See Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny, Socialism betrayed: behind the collapse of the Soviet Union, New York: International Publishers, 2004, pp. 141-2.

  10. See Irene Brennan, ‘Dialogue with Janus: the political economy of European Union-Russia relations’, Chapter 5, pp. 93-125, in Vassiliki Koutrakou, editor, The European Union and Britain: debating the challenges ahead, Macmillan, 2000.

  11. Ernest Mandel, Temps Nouveaux, 1990, No. 38, pp. 41-2. My translation.

  12. De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd, 21 March 1990.

  13. See Stephen Cohen, Soviet fates and lost alternatives: from Stalinism to the new Cold War, Columbia University Press, 2009, p. 90.

  14. Cited p. 109, Stephen Cohen, Soviet fates and lost alternatives: from Stalinism to the new Cold War, Columbia University Press, 2009.

  15. Yeltsin supporter Yegor Yakovlev, cited p. 133, Stephen Cohen, Soviet fates and lost alternatives: from Stalinism to the new Cold War, Columbia University Press, 2009.

  16. John B. Dunlop, The rise of Russia and the fall of the Soviet empire, Princeton University Press, p. 267.

  17. David M. Kotz and Fred Weir, Revolution from above: the demise of the Soviet system, Routledge, 1997, pp. x and 129.

  18. Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny, Socialism betrayed: behind the collapse of the Soviet Union, New York: International Publishers, 2004, p. 143.

  19. Peter Nolan, China’s rise, Russia’s fall: politics, economics and planning in the transition from Stalinism, Macmillan, 1995, p. 309.

  20. See Stephen F. Cohen, Failed crusade: America and the tragedy of post-communist Russia, W. W. Norton, 2001, note 89, on p. 325.

  21. Cited p. 37, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, The body economic: why austerity kills, Allen Lane, 2013.

  22. Michael Kort, The Soviet colossus: history and aftermath, 7th edition, M. E. Sharpe, 2010, p. xii.

  23. Jerry F. Hough, The logic of economic reform in Russia, Brookings Institution Press, 2001, p. 231.