The Spring 2003 edition of the Asian Marxist Review has recently been published and we are here making available to our readers the Editorial Statement on the coming war in Iraq.
The vulgar war rantings of US imperialism and its poodle, “not so Great” Britain presents a ruling class gone berserk. It is the expression of a social and economic system in terminal decay and which has become historically obsolete. Here we see how truth has become the casualty of war even before it has begun.
The stance and the state of the so-called “world community”, the United Nations and the Arab rulers are pathetic to say the least. The farcical “inspections” and the extreme hypocrisy being exhibited in the club of the rulers, e.g. the UNSC, reveals the social, ethical and moral degeneration of the ruling class around the globe.
The domination of the financial oligarchy
The crushing domination of the financial oligarchy, the multinational corporations and the oil cartels has never been greater. Out of the 40 largest economies in the world 26 are dominated by the Multinational Corporations. The exploitation and drudgery imposed upon the vast majority of the human race is unprecedented. The avarice of the present day ruling class has outdone that of any of its predecessors. This lust for profits has become so intense that it is leading to a degree of madness and hysteria never seen before in history.
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But it is not just a question of oil. It is also not simply an economic question. A whole range of factors have emerged from the intensifying capitalist crisis that is responsible for this imperialist belligerence and bellicosity. Similarly Bush and his coterie in Washington are the products of a system which demands human blood for its survival and continuation. That is where capitalism has brought human civilization. As Lenin had said long ago “capitalism is horror without end”.
At the present time this horror of imperialist aggression haunts the people of Iraq. But the Iraqis are not the first and certainly won’t be the last people to be drenched in blood and depleted uranium in order to prop up capitalism.
But one thing is sure: this imperialist aggression, apart from the devastation that it will inflict in the region, will also unleash unprecedented instability and turmoil far beyond the frontiers of Iraq.
In the wake of all this perspective how helpless and frail the ruling classes around the globe appear. In the last analysis they are all worried about their own economic interests. Sitting at the helm of a capitalist state and system these rulers as inextricably linked to imperialism, and hence bound to follow its dictates.
All the military might of US imperialism is there only to protect corporate capital and profits of the ruling class. Hence none of these ruling castes will ever come to the rescue of the people in the Iraq. They dare not, for if they did otherwise crisis-ridden imperialism would strangle their lifeline of profits and accumulated wealth.
The rumblings and frantic diplomatic gimmickry of the governments of France, Germany, Russia and China are desperate attempts to secure their share of the post war Iraqi oil. That is, if there is any left because nobody can really envisage the scale of destruction and devastation brought on by the ravages of this war.
Although there are material reasons for the differences between the various imperialist states, these are not determined by the desire for peace, or by concerns about human rights, democracy etc. The contradictions that have emerged between the different imperialist states are also an expression of the greed for markets and the effects of the deepening crisis of capitalism. The First and Second World Wars were also due the explosions of similar contradictions between the imperialist powers.
The Bush administration is taking a Christian fundamentalist stance by putting forward positions that hark back to the Middle Ages with its talk of “crusades” and “clash of civilizations” etc. The lunatics of the Osama bin Laden type and other Islamic fundamentalists are responding to them in kind. George Bush’s reactionary fanaticism suits them for it helps them to whip up support on a reactionary religious basis. Their methods of terrorism are as bad as those of imperialist terrorism that are being perpetrated by the bloodthirsty and greedy clique in the White House. In reality they are two sides of the same coin.
UN cannot solve the crisis
Then there is the question of war and peace. The capacity of the UN to keep the peace has been laid bare by the aggravation of this crisis and by the role it has played in the numerous conflicts over the last 57 years. The diplomatic farce being played out by the ruling class has been exposed. Peace under capitalism has proved to be a facade. Even in so-called “peace time” millions perish through hunger, poverty and disease. Thirty five million people die every year due to hunger starvation and diseases that could easily be prevented. The misery and agony of life itself has intensified at the dawn of the new millennium.
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Just take the case of Palestine, in the so called “peace period” every Israeli government since 1948 has unleashed a continual barrage of terror. Torture, illegal detention, assassinations, assaults against civilians with missiles, helicopter, gunships and jet fighters, annexation of territory, transportation of civilians from one place to another for the purpose of imprisonment, mass killings (as in Cana, Jenin, Sabra and Chatila to mention only the most obvious), denial of the rights to free passage, education and medical aid, the use of civilians as human shields, humiliations, the punishment of families, house demolitions on a mass scale, the destruction of agricultural land, expropriation of water, economic pauperization, attacks on hospitals and ambulances to name only the most outrageous abuses.
And this is not happening just in Palestine. From Columbia to Kashmir and from Indonesia to the Congo, where has humankind not suffered these brutalities? This has all happened during the so-called post war era of “peace”. In reality more people have been killed during this so-called peace than in the two world wars combined.
Such is the state of affairs of the capitalist ruling classes internationally that they can no longer maintain the peace and have to go to war. They destroy and pillage whole societies. Then they use the devastations of war to create markets for their profits under the pretext of “rebuilding the nation”. So long as capitalism exists this vicious cycle of dreadful wars and exploitative peace will continue. And with the aggravation of the present crisis this cycle is becoming more and more vicious and catastrophic.
The epoch of world class struggle
But whatever the Bush administration may think, this epoch is not the era of the “crusades” and of the “clash of civilizations”. It is the epoch of class struggle, and to end these imperialist wars, the root cause, i.e. capitalism has to be abolished.
The movement against the war has exhibited an unprecedented fervour and enthusiasm for struggle on the part of the masses, especially the massive protests and demonstrations in Europe and United States. On Saturday February 15, more than 30 million people marched in 600 cities against the war around the world.
For the first time since the World War II there are mass protests against the war taking place before rather than during the war. Despite the complicity of a mass media that has supported the rush to war, these mass protests are the most formidable tools of human resistance.
This ocean of mankind on the move against war is the only saviour and hope for the people of Iraq and other oppressed masses around the world, but this solidarity has to be more united, integrated and organized if it is to defeat imperialist war. The only basis on which this unity can be achieved is the class basis.
The advances of technology and telecommunications have brought the working people much closer to each other on an international scale. One of the positive aspects of this paralytic globalization has been the development of a closer thinking and unity of people beyond the shackles of the nation state. But we must go beyond this and understand that in order to put an end to wars and this bestiality of imperialist aggression capitalism has to be overthrown. Hence a class war is necessary to defeat imperialist war, and this class war can only be victorious through the world socialist revolution.
History is witness to the fact that revolutions have erupted from the ashes of war. This can happen today in the Middle East even from this impending war. A successful socialist revolution in any of the major countries in the Middle East or elsewhere would also be a beacon of light for the working masses all over the world.
“Workers of the world unite”!
Class war to defeat imperialist war!