FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
	International Communist Workers Party
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In January, we wrote about the fact that the majority of troops in the U.S. military report low morale. Military Times recently published a report that revealed that more than 70% of troops believe that their senior leaders do not have their best interest at heart. The article also exposes such numbers as only 45% rated their health care as good or excellent and only 44% are satisfied with their pay.

So why are the bosses exposing the weakness of their military? What does this mean for us?
Whenever the bosses criticize their own system it is because they are searching for solutions to more effectively oppress us. In this case, it means that they are trying to fix morale so they can be better prepared for future wars. Drawing down on spending or decreasing the size of the military does not mean the end of war. Far from it! The U.S. government has specific plans.
The first plan is to cut the spending because the U.S. can’t afford another expensive war like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Public opinion has been extremely critical of sending troops abroad. However, downsizing creates the problem of limited resources to sustain a large military. Undoubtedly this affects pay and healthcare for thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.  Clearly, the bosses don’t care about them. On the other hand, they still need to have an effective and obedient army.
This brings us to their second plan—relying on the deployment of smaller groups of units around the world. This plan has manifested itself in the creation of Pacific Pathways units: small units that will be ready to deploy in parts of the Pacific for quick response to “emergencies or regional threats.”

This comes at a time when the U.S. is shifting its resources to Asia-Pacific. This strategy creates a permanent presence in the Pacific region, where China is emerging as a threat to US hegemony. Maintaining a close relationship to the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and India is essential to U.S. imperialism as it is ultimately preparing for a military confrontation with China and Russia.
At the same time that they’re downsizing and facing criticism over military spending, it’s becoming increasingly clear that they will need to fight to stay on top. Eventually small wars will lead to world war.
Soldiers and sailors are in the middle of this predicament. We must not take sides with one set of bosses against another. Our allegiance should always be with the international working class. The bosses fill their military ranks with the working class. They rely on our obedience to follow orders as they mislead us into their imperialist conflicts.
One way to increase obedience is to create an illusion that they care about us. This is difficult to do when they’re cutting our health benefits. This is why Obama is eager to grant legal status to undocumented immigrants with the hope that many of these youth will join the military with unquestioning loyalty. That’s also why he used his signature of the suicide prevention bill as a photo op to show how much he cares about the mental health of veterans and active duty personnel.
But we can see through these lies and refuse to obey orders when we are forced to fight the bosses’ wars. We must reach out to the international working class and organize for communist revolution. This means organizing inside and outside of the military.
If they have a plan to recruit working class youth (immigrant and  not) to fight their wars, we must send ICWP members to expose and derail their war plans, and recruit soldiers, sailors and marines to the International Communist Workers’ Party.