Basics,
Part 10a
William and Celia Pomeroy
Political and Military Struggle
Presuming that we have by now established that we are not
pacifists, but are revolutionaries who intend, by all means necessary, to
assist the working class to expropriate the expropriator bourgeois class; Then
why can we not move with speed, and without any restraint, towards an armed
overthrow of the oppressors?
Why are we bothering with democracy? Are we not being
“stageist”????
The late William “Bill” Pomeroy started his essay “On the
Time for Armed Struggle” (linked below) from exactly this point of departure,
as follows:
“Because of the decisive results that can
follow from an armed smashing of the main instruments of power held by a ruling
class or a foreign oppressor, some of those who acquire a revolutionary outlook
are eager to move to the stage of armed struggle; and their concept of it as
the highest form of revolutionary struggle causes them to cast discredit upon
other forms as 'less advanced', as amounting to collaboration with or
capitulation to the class enemy.”
But:
“Too often the aura of glory associated with
taking up arms has obscured hard prosaic truths and realities in the interplay
of forces in a period of sharp struggle.”
And later:
“The experiences of the revolutionary
movement in the Philippines offer an interesting example of the complex, varied
and fluctuating processes that may occur in a liberation struggle.”
Pomeroy writes that “analysis
and understanding of the revolutionary experiences of others is indispensable”.
He proceeds to offer some of his own rich and extraordinary experience as a
military combatant and revolutionary.
Pomeroy’s main lesson is that the military must never think
that it can cease to be subordinate to the political power. His writing and his
advice helped the ANC in the exile years, when Pomeroy was exiled in London. It
is important that younger comrades read these things and understand some of the
problems that had to be negotiated.
William Pomeroy passed away on 12 January 2009 and Celia
Pomeroy passed away on 22 August 2009.
- The above is to introduce the original reading-text: On the Time for
Armed Struggle, 1974, Pomeroy.
