A Fourth International capable of leading the revolution can come together and immediately begin revolutionary work against the Netanyahu government. For instance, a takeover of power plants and water treatment facilities by Israeli workers that restores power and water to Gaza would gain the workers’ revolution allies immediately throughout the region. This depends on advanced Israeli workers overcoming the final obstacles in their consciousness for the need of a Fourth International government and therefore a Fourth International Party and Congress. This has historical precedence in the history of the socialist movement. After the Russian Revolution, Communists around the world formed the Third International out of varied, separate groups who would never have united if not for the element of force applied by the post-revolutionary Russian government. A similar element of force exists already and in much purer form than that produced by the ruling bureaucracy formed by Bolsheviks with privileges who sought to use the Comintern to stabilize their own government through separate deals with imperialism. We do not have a massive state bureaucracy like the Third International that unites everybody with its official decisions. We have a tiny Fourth International Nanobureaucracy that unites everyone against itself providing for a higher unity the moment we form a free congress or at least the occasional free discussion.

We must say the Fourth International is necessary in order to combat two reactionary forces of capitalism: nationalism and revolutionary party and state bureaucracy. The Bolshevik government did not form after any formal, written agreement with the Tsarist government or even the liberal constitutional Kerensky government. It began with workers organizing independently of the unions, the capitalist parties, and all those centrists who claimed public allegiance to Marxism but sought such a deal from a kingmaker among the Tsarist and liberal imperialist armies. The people have a right to occupy the Knesset and all government buildings in the capital and transfer power to an emergency election committee that bans all pro-occupation and anti-socialist parties. The old parties have no legitimate claim to power, relying only on treaties with imperialist thieves with their stolen gold and their banned weapons and tactics. The U.S. and Europe do not have superior societies but depleted savings due to almost limitless support for oligarchy and privilege.

To one extent or another, the Israeli Left requires work to bring its leaders and public personas over to that revolutionary perspective. The leaders of the demonstrators who plead with Netanyahu gave up on reversing undemocratic laws, giving Netanyahu immunity from prosecution even as he traps Israel in a genocidal war for apartheid. We cannot waste another moment organizing with Labor, Meretz, or any parties who claim that there can possibly exist a left apartheid. Ofer Cassif may be a real fighter for socialism and so we benefit from a wider audience for his views, but the compromises he made to earn a seat in the Knesset disqualify him from revolutionary leadership. Just as Lenin and the Bolsheviks replaced the corrupt Kautskyist Second International, so will Israeli workers need to look for leadership in a revolutionary faction that struggles for independent political representation over the course of the revolution itself.

Here are the groups and writers we uncovered working in Israel who must make every effort to unite to show the workers, in Israel and Palestine but also internationally, a socialist government with peaceful relations with the Palestinians is not only possible but urgently necessary to prevent the deaths of Israelis by the thousands if not the tens of thousands or more. If they prioritize their separate deals with imperialism over unity with socialist revolution, then that provides us and those who organize with us first the moral and political right to lead the socialist revolution in Israel and against imperialism everywhere. To the extent that this fact forces them to the table with us, as it did with Ofer Cassif after his expulsion from the Knesset, we have to raise our critical faculties all the more so as not to allow them to lead us into the same trap of parliamentarianism without armed insurrection (something we cannot describe in detail because it depends on the form taken by the collapse of the capitalist order) or revolutionary terror without power over the capital first through establishment of a revolutionary government and army. Cassif’s expulsion may be the first step of a longer war against him to turn him towards terrorism or socialist pacifism.

1. Socialist Struggle: (https://socialism.org.il/maavak/%D7%9E%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%A0%D7%95)

While written in Hebrew, the Google translate option works very well. This group associates with the International Socialist Alternative: (https://internationalsocialist.net/en/)

International Socialist Alternative is the party of Alan Woods, who famously met with and supported bourgeois nationalists Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, as well as the party of Kshama Sawant, the well-known Seattle City Council Member who recently announced that she would step down without losing an election and as senior member of the city council of a major city. She will not run for any other office. #Democratic_Power opposed this decision, since we need every possible official seat within capitalist democracy with which to reach the capitalist press and the propagandized working class, under control of the corporate media, by the millions. Whatever criticism Alan Woods had for Chavez and Maduro did not change their perspective, and he did not warn Latin American workers that such a nationalist revolution based on military officials and without Fourth International leadership organically cannot turn the means of production over to the working class. Not only will the ruling class not hand over power willingly, but they will also want to lead our revolution and never allow us to take the reins.

Furthermore, Kshama Sawant arguably betrayed basic socialist principles as a member of the council by regularly voting with the Democratic Party on the council. Revolutionaries never provide a yes vote for any initiative of any party of the ruling class, labor, left reformist, or otherwise. Irish revolutionaries do not even take their seat in the British Parliament, a position known as abstentionism that has existed for over a century internationally. One might argue this only applies to a national parliament, but Seattle is home to both Amazon and Starbucks among other large corporations affecting not only Seattle but the entire world.

For that reason, advanced workers who put their hopes into an ISA-led revolution will arrive at nothing but disappointment. Advanced workers who place hopes in themselves and in overcoming the corrupt Nanobureaucracy of millionaires and Nanobureaucrats can build a faction within or around these groups and win support for a revolutionary perspective.

2. Yoshi Schwartz of the SWL allied first with Spartacists then with Grantists of IMT:

Not perfectly stated, but a valid argument.

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-viewpoint-us/julaug_08/julaug_08_34.html

The IMT or the SEP may have changed water from solid to liquid to gas, but they have not brought about any revolutionary changes to society, only new ways of defending the same underlying social structure. Also, electricity which changes the nature of any object it passes through, has oppressed society into staying exactly the same.

3. Jabra Nicola

In 1963, Nicola was elected to the International Executive Committee of the Fourth International, for which he wrote many articles and pamphlets, and translated Marxist classics into Arabic.^[1] His most important theoretical essays were Theses on the Revolution in the Arab East ) (1972) ^[4] and Arab Revolution and National Problems in the Arab East (1973), written together with Moshé Machover.^[5]

“But in our view, the chances for a successful integration of this kind will be considerably increased if the decision about it is left to the Israeli Jews themselves. Conversely, denying them the right to self-determination will tend to strengthen their separatism and create a problem of an oppressed national minority struggling for separation. The task of struggling for integration is primarily that of the revolutionaries of the national minority. The revolutionaries belonging to the national majority should not try to enforce a decision on the minority.”

This does not coincide with Marxist theory or the history of anti-colonial revolution. Division is defeat for the new revolutionary power, and the task of revolutionaries in Israel is to unite their people under the protection of the new revolutionary power. We support national separation from imperialist powers on every occasion, but an all-Arab or regional revolution would produce the first steps towards socialism and invite imperialist aggression. A small, isolated state like Israel would again fall under imperialist influence and again threaten the whole region with division and war. An effective war against imperialism would begin with an oil embargo. This would lead to an imperialist invasion. Israel must not serve as a base for the British, French, American, Russian or Chinese empires but use its powerful army to repel their attacks.

Furthermore, imperialism has had decades to defend Israeli culture and nationality, which to this day always seems on the brink of collapse. If the Arab revolution has freed the region from oppressive regimes, that will also free them from the anti-Semitism imposed on to them by the imperialist powers. They will offer far greater protection for Israel since they will offer equality rather than the extension of empire and genocide. For that reason, Israel can only benefit from such an association and the extra protection it provides not only from foreign threats, but right-wing demagogues empowered by foreign-owned and controlled corporate media with no democratic accountability to Israel’s captive public. A new socialist federation would create democratically controlled media corporations that must elect their leaders from their audience and from their rank-and-file media workers. Media imported from imperialist countries would face severe restrictions.

4. Michel Warschawski,

5. Matzpen principles #3:  “In becoming globalized, capitalism has created an imperialist system that enslaves and exploits the masses in the ‘third world’ and aggravates its material backwardness compared to the developed countries.” (https://matzpen.org/english/about-matzpen/basic-principles/)

Europe still suffers from the effects of World War II, and Americans still suffer from the ongoing “Cold War” with Russia. Imperialism enslaves the working class of the imperialist countries as well, bringing poverty, misery, and war. They hide these products of imperialism from public view using a labor aristocracy that even in the richest countries will not include more than 20% of the working class. Reactionaries produced in the US military in colonial wars like Iraq and Afghanistan come back to the United States as police, scabs, and privileged labor aristocrats to help oversee the miserable, exploited slaves. All this means, however, to the real revolutionary in the U.S. and throughout the world, is that this force must be temporarily disabled, sidelined, or pinned down as just one more obstacle to our inevitable victory.

6. Matzpen principle #8: “The role of the revolutionary organization is not to seize and hold on to power, but to work to the best of its ability for the seizure and retention of power by councils elected by the masses. Seizure of power by such councils is the hallmark and decisive step of a socialist revolution.”

The above principle not only contradicts history, since the Bolshevik party seized the power at the head of the councils, with their approval but by their own organizational initiative. A party organized for the seizure of power will do just that, but a party only seeking to “achieve revolutionary consciousness” will stop there and go no further.

“Since the mass of workers, though predisposed by their condition to achieve revolutionary consciousness, do not achieve it automatically or at the same pace, it is incumbent on socialists in every country to combine in revolutionary organizations in order to disseminate revolutionary consciousness among the masses.”

Is that really revolutionary consciousness or simply a lack of intelligence? Without a state to defend it, without at least the purpose of establishing a new state in place of the old, a revolutionary party can only die out over time under pressure from the imperialist state. A party that defends its right to rule by decree can divide the allegiance of the old state, which can depend only on the loyalty of the most corrupt, the spiritually dead, and the bankrupt.

7. Matzpen principle #10: “The struggle against the regime goes together and merges with the struggle of members of the Mizrahicommunities – who for the most part belong to the exploited social strata – against economic, social and cultural discrimination; and with that of members of the Palestinian people in Israel – who for the most part constitute the most exploited stratum – against racist discrimination and national oppression by the present regime.”

This anti-Marxist conception leads directly to chauvinism, war, and the permanent sabotage of the revolution. As Marx, Lenin, and other great Marxists have always argued, not the struggle but only the actual achievement of national liberation can lead to the struggle for the liberation of the working class. The existence of an “exploited stratum” allows the capitalist ruling class to draw from older forms of ruling class oppression and treat the working class like slaves, industrial soldiers, prisoners, or excess population. That eliminates any possible progress towards a shorter working day, higher wages, or meaningful improvements to the conditions of life.

8. Matzpen principle #11: “We regard Zionism as a colonizing project, carried out at the expense of the Arab masses (primarily the Palestinian Arab people), under the aegis of imperialism and in partnership with it.”

Zionism, like South African Apartheid, threatens the entire region with never-ending expansion and extermination. This has an added benefit for imperialism because they can then back antisemitic dictators who rob their own people while turning their anger against Israel. It furthermore arms a small minority with nuclear weapons, threatening the revolutionary unity of the Middle East under a federal government with the worst forms of destruction.

9. Matzpen principle #11: “In this united and liberated Arab East, recognition will be granted to the right of self-determination (including the right to a separate state) of each of the non-Arab nationalities living in the region, including the Israeli-Jewish nation.”

The right to a separate state under imperialism is an illusion. The right to make war for self-preservation is turned into its opposite: a never-ending war until the final demise of the nation. Any “independent” state, due to international finance, multinational corporations, and big banks will immediately turn into a vassal state, its military a private security firm for the extraction of valuable resources behind the backs of their people. Yet from among the people, imperialism will always find its willing servants who demand a separate nation only so they can fleece their own. Only socialist federation can halt the erosion of all national identity by the monocultures of imperialism. As the American colonies now forming the United States realized during their revolution and the British invasion, it is “unite or die” for the colonies, despite all differences of race, language, culture, or religion. It is only through unity by agreement that differences between groups can be celebrated instead of rooted out by force.

For Ofer Cassif:

1. Which is more important, opposition to Hamas or to Netanyahu? Can we support a Hamas government until we are free from the Netanyahu government? A centrist position against Hamas and Netanyahu as we see from your situation creates an impossible situation from both ends.

2. If Israel is an illegitimate fascist coup state, should Israelis leave Israelis leave Israel and attempt to form a new government with the help of foreign powers?

3. If there is evidence that the Israeli government knew the attacks were coming, participated in the planning, and allowed the attackers to act in order to justify a war, should that evidence be shown to a court and Israeli leaders prosecuted? Do you think Israeli courts are capable of organizing such a trial?

4. If the fascist coup failed, why were the anti-democratic laws passed before the attacks?

5. “It’s too harsh to believe in something like that.” That “lunatic and fanatic” IDF generals refused the release of hostages so as not to interfere with the ground invasion. #Democratic_Power strongly disagrees, and we see Ofer Cassif as too kind to the forces of fascism and imperialism. German Stalinists believed Hitler’s coup and tyrannical rule “too harsh to believe.” They wanted Hitler to take the power, supposedly so that he would lose popularity through misrule and then lose an election to the Communists. Instead, he banned their parties, and the Stalinists defended that too believing the measures temporary. Only an uncompromising revolutionary party can stand up to the capitalists. As Marx said, “capital comes [into the world] dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.”

6. How can the Palestinians have an “independent state” if Israel tells them that Hamas cannot lead the new state when they won the elections in 2006 (and in Egypt with Morsi in 2012.) Do you think the Egyptian coup in 2013 was justified because Morsi reached out to Hamas and other parts of the Muslim Brotherhood? U.S. opposition to Muslim Brotherhood shows the importance of this group in bringing an end to U.S. imperialism in the region and the establishment of representative governments that do not massacre their own people with the military.

7. To think of the judicial reform as a means to an end for the Smotrich Plan is take the problem completely out of context. The entire world is run by capitalist corporations and banks whose main interest is to maximize profit. Once every inch of territory is divided among them, their only means of growing is to destroy each other. In order for profit to continue to grow, world capitalism must export weapons to those willing to use them. If Israel does not perform these bombings for American capital, they lose not one contract but many future business contracts. Those contracts can go to any number of countries, most notably the Ukraine. Also, look at the example of Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen. Israel is competing with the Ukraine and Saudi Arabia for American and NATO weapons to use on the formerly colonized or formerly socialist people of the world and prevent economic development and create economic dependence. It is no wonder the Minister of Finance also plans these military operations. Israeli Nationalism blinds Ofer Cassif to the big picture of imperialist war between the U.S. and NATO on one side and Russia and China, along with a growing number of BRICS countries on the other.

8. We may say some of Cassif’s reformist and nationalist positions have their basis in Parliamentarianism. Cassif can present a socialist program to a wider audience, but he needs to argue the “crazy and fanatic” leaders would never be so harsh as to allow an attack on their own people. He cannot argue that they are driven by a machine with no feelings except an insatiable hunger for destruction on the largest scale. Harshness of military plans are not a matter of anybody’s personal taste or preference but arise from the demands of a capitalist system on the brink of collapse. Smotrich rose to power as part of the functioning of that machine, which produces fascist catastrophe today no differently than it did in Europe. Even still, the United States Congress had its 9/11 Commission, which led to no arrests but did expose clear government involvement in the attacks.

9. About the U.S. “Shame on that administration.” Cassif’s view that the U.S. can intervene on the side of peace and equality does not fit with his statement just before describing U.S. police-backed terrorism in the South.

10. “I am unpopular in Israel”: Obviously not, if he was elected by a majority. The war and the government are unpopular but anti-democratic laws and rigged elections prevent the opposition from using the state’s own rigged elections to take the power from the puppet regime for a very popular revolution.

11.