Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I've referred to your hypothetical situation repeatedly in discussions here. As you say, the situation would be very difficult. Imperialism would be our main enemy. As we fought the US and NATO, we'd very likely find ourselves in combat in which the Yugoslav army was our ally and the KLA our enemy. But if the Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitaries were clearing out an Albanian village, we'd very likely find ourselves allied with the KLA and fighting the Yugoslav army and the chetniks. And if neither US/NATO nor Yugoslav/Serb forces were present, we'd probably find ourselves fighting the KLA to stay alive. It seems to me that the key requirements would be political independence and an internationalist, working-class perspective -- plus tactical shrewdness and a lot of luck. You're right. There are historical analogies with WWII Yugoslavia -- and Spain, Vietnam and other places.

Comradely,

I find myself very much in agreement with your intervention on the subject: "self-determination for Kosova -- while refusing to call for arming the KLA".

I think that it may be useful to raise an hypothetical situation to discuss it further: what if in Kosovo there were a nationally integrated working-class grouping affiliated to the Trotskyist movement?

This group would probably have had a hard time so far, being subjected to the twin blows of the Serbian and Albanian nationalists, who, as all good nationalists, can't stand anybody who tries to raise above their narrow nationalistic views.

But assuming, always for the sake of a discussion, that they had managed to establish themselves as a locally respected and solidly based force, what should they then do?

To forestall any attempt to dismiss this as utter fantasy, let's recall that in the course of the Second world war and precisely in Yugoslavia, there was a political organization that managed to somehow rise itself above all nationalisms. The Yugoslav CP, a mainly Serbian grouping under the leadership of a Croatian, Tito, DID fight against the Croatian and Serbian nationalists, and of course against the invasor imperialist powers, Germany and Italy.

Of course the YCP was not Trotskyist, in fact they did repress the Yugoslav Trotskyists. But they were a peculiar sort of Stalinists, perhaps because the situation did not leave much space for a compromise with their enemies...

[begin hypothetical mode] OK, so we are in Kosovo now, with a few hundred hardened militants. They would be most likely some of the best elements among the Serbian and Albanian populations, probably heavily working-class, perhaps with a strong component from Serbs expelled from the Croatian Krajinas. We stand for the self-determination of Kosovo, within which the democratic rights of the Serbians and other minorities have to be defended, of course. And that's also why we are very strongly in favor of a Socialist Federation of the Balkans.

As of late March 1999, NATO begins bombing the whole of Yugoslavia. The KLA is of course quite pleased with this situation, as it gives them a great chance to exacerbate the situation to the point where nobody can reside in Kosovo beside the Albanians, and in fact opens up the possibility of re-unification with Albania, which cannot be done without the ethnical cleansing of all non-Albanians from the region.

Does the imperialist intervention -- and the KLA's total subordination to that -- have an influence of our approach? Who do we fight against? Who are our allies?

I shouldn't think necessary to spell the answers to these questions out, but assuming that there is a fair amount of confusion around, I will. OUR ENEMY IS NATO. The Yugoslav state is our ally at this juncture. The KLA remains our enemy.

[/end hypothetical mode]

In real life, unfortunately, there is no Trotskyist gropuping in Kosovo. In fact, there isn't even a decent bunch of Stalinists.

We, however, are not in Kosovo. We are all (or almost all) in the countries of NATO, where the situation is very clear: THE MAIN ENEMY IS AT HOME! Peter is entirely right on this, let me quote:

There can't be any
progressive solution to the Kosova national question unless and until the imperialists are out.
That makes our call for self-determination for Kosova somewhat propagandist. But that's the reality. Anything we say on that question will be propagandist, so long as the imperialist war continues.

We have got to oppose NATO's intervention, and raise our opposition to it in each country according to the specifics of the situation.

In Italy, for example, which is really at the frontline, the pressure to support the military intervention is extremely strong. I feel this makes us react even more strongly to any notion of somehow sliding into a position which makes us side with our own imperialism.

I believe that a slogan that will become more and more important is: "Military victory to Yugoslavia against NATO!"