No to imperialist invasion!
Statement by the Bureau of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International cover on the US pitious for the American operation.
GRENADA The landing by US marines on Grenada on October 25 is a counterrevolutionary aggression. Its aim is to wipe out the revolution that has been going on in this small Caribbean island since the overthrow of the. dictator Eric Gairy March 13, 1979.
This invasion follows in the bloody tradition of US crimes in the region from the occupation of Cuba at the beginning of the century to the expedition by 40,000 marines to Santo Domingo in April 1965, and including the massive and prolonged interventions in Central America since the 1930s.
By using more than 3,000 men of the military forces of the most powerful imperialist country in the world to suppress the aspirations of the 110,000 inhabitants of Grenada for independence, democracy and social change, Ronald Reagan wants at the same time to make this expedition a show of strength and a warning to peoples in struggle.
The American imperialists intend to demonstrate to all the peoples of the Caribbean and the Latin American continent, who are exasperated by the crisis, poverty and hunger, that the United States will make them pay dearly for every serious attempt at national and social emancipation. In four years, the revolutionary regime of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) had improved standards and conditions of life for the workers, developed health and education services, and stood up against the threats from imperialism. Such audacity and bravery - which could become contagious in a region that the US consider their "backyard' - in their eyes required an exemplary punishment.
The marines' aggression is also a signal to the revolutionaries of Central America and Cuba to forewarn them of the scope of military means that the US is prepared to use to prevent the consolidation of new revolutionary regimes and the extension of revolution in this region. The landing on Grenada thus constitutes a direct warning to the Salvadoran revolution, Sandinista Nicaragua, and the Cuban workers state.
The United States acted with the greatest cynicism, and without the least diplomatic pretext usually used in these circumstances. Undoubtedly Reagan also wanted to put his own allies to the test, and test public opinion nationally and internationally on other major military actions in the region. The 300 soldiers of Barbados and other Caribbean islands, International Viewpoint 14 November 1983
US troops out!
kept out of the fighting, are not going to confer a 'multinational' force. On the contrary, the imperialist manipulation of Caribbean states in its attempts of the same type of manipulathe Central American states against Nicaragua.
the US spokesand straightforwardly explained their intention - stating that wanted to punish those that they called 'leftist thugs' and 'bandits'. This is exactly the same process which led Nixon to bomb the North Vietnamese dykes, by treating the North Vietnamese as 'international bandits'.
there was nothing improvised or makeshift about the American landing. It had been planned well before the events that led to its being put into
From the time that the New Jewel Movement took power, the United States was hatching its criminal plot, organising a veritable economic blockade of the island, and increasing its military
The United States cannot stomach the idea that a people in the region may take their fate into their own hands, after decades of imperialist domination. US could not forgive Maurice Bishop's government for having opposed a salvage operation for Somoza in July 1979 within the Organisation of American States
Several times, including last March, Maurice Bishop put the island's population on the alert against the US preparations for aggression. But it was then still very difficult for Reagan to find justification whatsoever for his imperialname of the struggle against totalitarianism, while the revolutionary Grenadan government had mass support among the population, paring a democratic constitution, foresaw the election of a national popular assembly. This was at the same time as the US supported regimes like that of 'Baby Doc' in Haiti and supported arms length the murderous dietatorships in Guatemala and El Sal-
Reagan therefore had to wait, and seize the first weakening of the Grenadan revolution to throw his marines into an assault on the island. The confrontations within the NJM, the overthrow and then the execution of Maurice Bishop and several of his ministers by the military on October 19, created confusion and disarray within the Grenadan masses, pro-
The popular demonstrations in defence of Maurice Bishop had been repressed, the people's militias disarmed, the masses demobilised and paralysed by the curfew.
Faced with these events, the Cuban leadership condemned the execution of Bishop and his comrades, decreed three days mourning in their memory, and took its political distance from the Revolutionary Military Hudson Austin, while maintaining economic collaboration with Grenada.
The Council of State and the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) stated on October 20 that, 'No pretended revolutionary doctrine, principle or position can justify proceedings as atrocious as the physical elimination of
The circumstances of the death and his companions must be And, if they were executed in the guilty must receive a worthy punishment. While we are profoundly shocked, we will take the interests of the Grenadan people into consideration above everything else as far as our economic and technical collaboration is concerned, if that turns out to be pos-
But our political relations with the new leaders in Grenada will be subject to serious and deep analysis.'
This declaration also made clear that, 'now, imperialism will try to use tragedy and the grave errors made by the revolutionaries in Grenada, to try to sweep aside the revolutionary process.
Despite the American military might put into operation, relentless fighting took place for several days in different points in the country. The United States has maintained a black-out on information, and the number of victims is not known. The 3,000 marines landed represent the equivalent of 3 per cent of the local population, that is one for thirty-
This is a considerable operation, equivalent to landing 300,000
However, the step by step resistance around the points where the marines landed (the two airports), in the mountains, and in the capital St. George's, show that the 'pacification' of this small island will not be as easy as expected, and the American troops will have some difficulty in putting a 'made in USA' government into the saddle.
In order to re-establish in Ronald Reagan style the sort of 'democracy' Washington claims was "trampled under
This defeat is the heavy price that a small revolutionary party on a tiny backward island paid for "political mistakes" referred to in the October 27 Cuban communi-
Under direct threat from the overwhelming, ruthless power of US imperialism, the Greandian revolutionists did not have the time to learn from their mistakes and correct them quickly enough to avoid a grave defeat.
foot, the US troops will have to silence a people who have in fact had a taste of democracy during the last four years, to dissolve or bring to heel the mass organisations, and install a puppet team at the head of a pro-American regime.
The military resistance of the Grenadan revolutionary fighters increases the political price that imperialism will have to pay for its crime by a little more every day, and shows that the imperialist proof 'normalisation' assured of success. speeches of the Reagan administration and its local stooges "liberty and democracy." demonstrates that the other imperialist interventions projected in El Salvador, Nicaragua or Cuba will have to confront a still more relentless resistance. termination of the revolutionary fighters in Grenada is a contribution to the liberation struggle of all peoples, and contion policy imposed by imperialist exand the International Monetary Fund in the negotiations on the foreign debts of these countries.
example of Grenada fundamental conflict beinterests of these popular masses and those of imperialism. Tens of thousands of workers have shown they understand this by demonstrating against US intervention in Mexico and Santo and Nicaragua are the only governments that have called for mass mobilisation while a first response in the streets was organised in Europe, and the United States at the initiative of the Central American solidarity committees, revolutionary organisations and Communist Parties. ternational mobilisation must continue and broaden to demand the immediate
Grenada, under whatever name they are multinational force, marines, or Commonwealth and oppose the threat of American intervention in Central America.
In this framework there must also be recognition for the rejection of any puppet government that may come out of the imperialist intervention and be installed in St. George's.
No to the occupation of Grenada,
US troops and their supporters out!
No recognition of a government installled by imperialism!
Immediate freedom for prisoners of war, and democratic freedoms for the
Grenadan masses!
Total support to the Salvadoran
Hands off Cuba and Nicaragua!
Bureau of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International withdrawal of imperialist forces from October 29, 1983 most pressing appeal for stitutes the international solidarity. To finish off this the marines are undoubtedly quite capable of going as far as a massacre.