NIETZSCHE, Friedrich (1844-1900)
German reactionary philosopher and irrationalist. His ideology
was in many ways a forerunner of fascism.
See also:
Philosophical doggerel about
Nietzsche.
NIHILISM
1. [Ethics:] The theory that no moral views are valid or justifiable, and that morality is
therefore irrational or meaningless. Turgenev originated the term in his novel Fathers and
Sons (1862). Obviously this is just a “sophisticated” excuse for acting according to one’s
own selfish interests.
2. Political nihilism is the theory that society is so corrupt and despicable that its complete
and utter destruction is necessary, which means that even the wildest and most aimless eruptions
of violence are justified and appropriate. Such views are generally popular only amoung those
who have no idea how to go about changing society; i.e., a few disillusioned students of
bourgeois or petty-bourgeois origin.
NINE-ELEVEN ATTACKS
“Nine-Eleven”, more commonly written in numerals, “9/11” or “9-11”, is shorthand for the date
of the al Qaeda terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington,
D.C. which occurred on September 11, 2001. Four passenger airplanes were hijacked by 19 al Qaeda
members. Two of the airliners were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in
New York City which caused them to burn and collapse. The third plane was crashed into the
Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. military, which led to the partial collapse of the
western side of that enormous building. The fourth plane, which was also headed for Washington,
D.C., crashed into a field in Pennsylvannia after a struggle between the passengers and the
hijackers. The attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others. The cost of the
damage to buildings and infrastructure exceeded $10 billion.
The motives for the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda
and its leader, Osama bin Laden, were to pay back U.S.
imperialism for its long and huge support of Israel and Zionism
and the consequent ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people; as well as
in response to the first U.S. war against Iraq and the succeeding sanctions that harmed or
killed hundreds of thousands of Arabs; and to intensify a war previously underway in a quite
limited fashion against American imperialist military forces in Saudi Arabia and other parts
of the Arab and Muslim world.
The U.S. government reacted just as bin Laden
expected, and launched its “War on Terror” (which actually
involves increased terror on both sides, but far more widespread and powerful terror on the
part of the U.S. in its military attacks—often on civilians—in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia,
Yeman, Syria and other countries in the Muslim world. From bin Laden’s perspective, the 9/11
attacks were a huge success, and have led directly to the current long-term war of attrition
between the U.S. and the Arab world which he sought to bring about.
“On September 11, 2001, while the world lamented the deaths of innocent
people in the United States, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization reported that the
daily mortality rate continued: 36,615 children had died from the effects of extreme
poverty. This was normal in the age of ‘economic growth’.” —John Pilger, Freedom Next
Time (2007), p. 1.
[While we Marxists of course do
not support or approve of the terrorist strategy of al Qaeda in their struggle against
U.S. and other foreign imperialism in the Muslim world, it is important to remember that
every single day the imperialists kill far, far more innocent people in the world than
al Qaeda and similar groups ever do. The capitalist-imperialist system is by far the
greatest enemy of the people of the world. —Ed.]
NINJA LOAN (or MORTGAGE)
A mortgage or other loan which is issued by a bank or financial corporation even though the
applicant has “No Income, No Job or Assets” (hence “NINJA”). Why would any company issue such
a loan? Simply because they get a large initial commission and plan to soon sell the rights to
collect on the loan to someone else (perhaps in the form of Collaterized
Debt Obligations) and therefore really don’t themselves care if the loan will ever be
repaid or not. In other words it is part of a fraudent scheme run by financial institutions to
cheat investors. Moreover, most people without any job, or income, or assets, would never even
think to apply for a mortgage if they were not strongly encouraged to do so by predatory banks
or financial companies. These poor people generally end up losing their home, find their
credit rating ruined and are unable to get a mortgage or other loan in the future.
NKVD [Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del]
Russian initials for the Commissariat (Ministry) of Internal Affairs in the Soviet Union during
the Stalin era, and which most notoriously included the secret police agency named OGPU, later
renamed the NKGB, and eventually the KGB under the revisionist clique
that took control after Stalin’s death. However, during most of this period the secret police
were usually referred to as NKVD rather than OGPU or NKGB.
The NKVD was used to monitor and quell
counter-revolutionary activity; however, it also instilled a significant amount of fear in the
general population, and arrested, imprisoned, tortured and even killed many thousands of
innocent people. No one was allowed to feel safe in Stalin’s USSR, not even close friends and
allies of the revolution, many of whom were arrested or killed on suspicion of being either
agents of foreign imperialism or of conspiring to overthrow the Soviet government. Much of this
was the direct result of Stalin’s own paranoia following the uncovering of coup plots from
within the state apparatus (and not just something emanating from some pathology of Stalin’s,
as is often claimed or implied in bourgeois accounts of the Great Purges). Two heads of the
secret police were themselves eventually executed (on charges of killing innocent people, among
other crimes), but surely the primary blame must be placed with Stalin, who, through staggering
irresponsibility, allowed and even encouraged this organ of the state to be bestowed with
almost limitless power to arrest anyone it simply deemed to be a threat. Obviously, such a
situation is extremely given to corruption and abuse (as indeed happened, and it is clearly
mind-boggling that anyone can fail to understand this from the outset).
Over-reliance on “administrative” methods
(repression) shows a fundamental failure to implement the mass
line, and must eventually lead to a situation where the masses lose faith in the very party
that is supposed to represent their interests. It is therefore clear that an organization like
the NKVD (in the manner in which it existed in the USSR) cannot exist in a genuinely
Marxist-Leninist regime, which must always, as Mao said, serve the people, listen to them and
learn from them. Communists must ensure at all costs that the organs of the revolutionary state
that emerges after the overthrow of capitalism all serve the masses with unfailing diligence
and sincerity. —L.C.
See also:
SOVIET UNION—Security Agencies,
OKHRANA,
SECRET POLICE,
COINTELPRO,
FBI
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