9. The Colonial Revolution¶
Core Argument¶
The American war in Vietnam exposed the brutal contradictions of US imperialism in the post-war era. What began as a covert operation to sustain the repressive Diem regime escalated dramatically after his assassination. President Johnson exploited the fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident to justify bombing North Vietnam, unleashing more explosives on the country than in all of World War II, alongside 18 million gallons of chemical defoliants such as Agent Orange. Yet the world’s mightiest military power suffered its first defeat against a barefoot army. By 1967 the war consumed $20 billion annually, and over 500,000 US troops were deployed by 1968. The Tet offensive shattered Johnson’s claims of impending victory, ending his political career.
The anti-war movement radicalised American society from within. Student protests erupted nationwide; Martin Luther King’s assassination sparked riots in 100 cities; the Black Panthers rose to prominence. US troops themselves became demoralised and mutinous, with widespread “fragging” of officers. A presidential commission described America as “a nation on the edge of chaos.” The author contends that US imperialism was defeated not in the Vietnamese jungles but on American streets and campuses, and that a revolutionary party could have capitalised on this volatile situation.
This pattern of intervention extended across Latin America. In Guatemala, the CIA overthrew the democratically elected Arbenz in 1954 to protect United Fruit Company interests. Cuba endured US economic domination under Batista until the 1959 revolution. Castro’s initial program was national-democratic, not socialist, but US companies sabotaged land reform, forcing Havana toward Moscow. Washington imposed an economic blockade, refused to buy Cuban sugar, and denied petroleum sales. Cuba responded by nationalising US businesses, abolishing capitalism almost overnight. The Bay of Pigs invasion, planned under Eisenhower and executed by Kennedy, was routed in three days—a humiliating defeat for imperialism. In Chile, the CIA destabilised Allende’s elected socialist government, culminating in Pinochet’s bloody 1973 coup. The Sandinistas overthrew Somoza in 1979 but failed to expropriate capitalists; US-backed Contras eventually brought down the government. Washington supported brutal juntas in El Salvador and Argentina, and repeatedly attempted to undermine Hugo Chávez in Venezuela despite his electoral victories.
Trotsky predicted US imperialism would emerge from World War II with dynamite in its foundations. Unlike Britain during capitalism’s ascent, the United States now polices a declining global system. The Iraq War alone cost $1 billion weekly. Overextension and instability in Latin America will eventually affect the US itself, where a large Hispanic population may be radicalised by continental revolution.