Following the success of issue #1 of International Marxism, the new political journal of ISA, Issue #2 is going to press around the world as we speak! Click here to buy/subscribe today.
This issue is titled “Capitalism Means War – Build a Movement Against War & Imperialism”, and it is not necessary to write many words to explain why.
Articles include:
- The Urgent Need for a New International Anti-War Movement
- How Can the Palestinians Win Liberation?
- Ukraine: A War That Defined an Epoch
- Africa: The Forgotten Land of Permanent War & Conflict
- When Workers’ Struggle Stopped Wars
- The Most Dangerous Arms Race in Human History
- The U.S. Ruling Class & the “Afghanistan/Iraq Syndrome”
In anticipation, we publish below this issue’s editorial below.
Escalating War, Militarism, and the Rising Tide of Resistance
It does not take much to understand why war and militarism is the subject of issue #2 of International Marxism. Headlines worldwide are dominated by reports of new escalations in conflict zones, horrific images of starving children and flattened buildings, and deepening climate devastation fueled by militarization and war. While this issue was being drafted, new developments have continued to unfold including the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace, and deadly strikes by the United States on Venezuelan civilian boats allegedly transporting drugs. More escalations are all but guaranteed to take place after this journal goes to print.
From Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan and beyond, wars rage on and “red lines” set by ruling classes are crossed time and again. As Marxists we don’t study these developments as an academic exercise, but rather to understand the world we live in in order to change it. Crucially, bloody escalations of conflicts have not been the only recent developments. The antiwar movement has also taken a qualitative step forward with workers’ action in multiple countries including the massive general strikes in Italy linked to the global Sumud flotilla to bring aid to the starving people of Gaza. International Socialist Alternative has been active in the movement against genocide in Gaza and struggles against all imperialist wars and military buildup worldwide. We also bring with us lessons from history—of workers’ struggles and movements that stopped wars—something that is desperately needed today.
War and Militarism Today
This issue will take a more in-depth look at the major wars that are taking place globally and crucially the development of and need for working-class struggle in opposition to them. The epoch-defining war in Ukraine is raging on after more than three and a half years, despite promises by Donald Trump to end it on day one of his presidency. The ceasefire deal in Gaza, while a welcome relief, offers no genuine peace for the Palestinian masses or the working class of the region more broadly. Trump has paraded around being celebrated for the deal, despite the fact that U.S. imperialism has backed up Netanyahu’s genocidal campaign all along and the catastrophic conditions and occupation in Gaza have not gone away.
The wars with the highest death tolls, often the least covered in the media, are on the African continent. These conflicts bear the marks of colonialism and imperialism which has devastated vast sections of the globe. Aside from the “major” wars unfolding today, there are a number of other wars and conflicts not even covered here including the recent war between India and Pakistan, the conflict on the border between Cambodia and Thailand, and clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The backdrop of these conflagrations is the simmering conflict between U.S. and Chinese imperialism, two powers seeking a redivision of the world. In what is essentially a battle between two cornered animals, both regimes face their own internal weaknesses and crises. The Trump regime is undertaking a dramatic campaign to discipline the working class and prepare to take on China. The recent military parade in China is only a taste of the type of war propaganda that is taking place, one element of ongoing war preparation.
Around the world right-wing governments have won election after election. They are beating the drums of war, and reactionary ideas are being re-packaged as new and anti-establishment. Rising militarism is linked to the reassertion of “traditional” gender roles, sexism, homophobia, transphobia as well as to nationalism and racism. It is the working class that pays the price for wars, in some cases with our lives outright but also through the consequences of austerity.
A generalized movement opposed to all imperialist war and militarism is urgently needed. However, while this type of movement has not yet developed and war propaganda does have an impact, the ruling classes globally do not have a blank check for their war-mongering. There is still substantial opposition in many countries to direct intervention by their governments into conflicts. The populist right, including Trump, have been parroting a fake antiwar message in part due to the fact that a section of their base, up until now, will not tolerate overtly pro-war messaging. As this issue explains, the U.S. ruling class is still dealing with the legacy of the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, similar to the “Vietnam syndrome” and opposition to foreign imperialist adventures following the loss for U.S. imperialism in the Vietnam War.
Mass Resistance
This is a new era of war and militarism, but it is also an era of resistance. The movement against the genocide in Gaza has been the most substantial global movement of recent years. Opposition came not only from far flung places, but also from within Israel itself. In the face of intense repression against the antiwar movement in many countries, its sustained and international character has been striking.
A new phase of the movement has now opened up, with the working class and the left playing a more decisive role. In September, 100,000 came out in the streets of Berlin to a demonstration called by the left-wing party, Die Linke, against the genocide, the largest Palestine solidarity protest in the country’s history. The global Sumud flotilla was a spark that helped to further ignite the movement, linking courageous action by activists from around the world to broad mobilization in the streets in the Spanish state and Italy. Action by dockworkers in a number of countries, and, most importantly, the massive strikes in Italy point the way forward for the development of the antiwar movement. These actions could be built on with a new aid flotilla—backed up by a general strike across Europe and the Middle East—to break the siege and urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Mass resistance and working class action are the only answers to the rising threat of war.
The history of workers’ revolts that successfully ended wars—including the Russian Revolution and the movement against the Vietnam War—offer crucial lessons for the antiwar movement today. To be successful, the movement must utilize methods of mass struggle and include the active involvement of the organized working class. The antiwar movement must take an independent position that rejects all imperialist powers and “solutions” imposed by capitalist forces. Ultimately, the outcome of wars will not be decided on the battlefields alone. What is necessary is a political struggle against the ruling class that sends working-class people off to slaughter.
Ending War Means Ending Capitalism
International Marxism, the political journal of ISA, has been launched because of the urgent necessity to grapple with monumental questions facing the workers’ movement today. Full-scale, bloody, “hot” wars are not a thing of the past, they are reality in the here and now. The necessity to end the devastation of war that threatens all humanity and the environment is abundantly clear. Rather than bringing “progress” or raising living standards, capitalism delivers unprecedented destruction that poses an existential threat to humanity. We have entered a new era in the history of capitalism characterized by sharpened inter-imperialist conflict and growing militarism. The insatiable drive for profit and growth inherent in the capitalist system, leads to the division and re-division of the world. The struggle to end militarism and imperialist war necessarily must be a struggle against capitalism itself and for a socialist world.
