Communist Struggle against APEC Can Change Consciousness here ♦ US Military Expansion Raises the Stakes here ♦ No Trade is Fair here ♦ Capitalist Trade in Services Intensifies Sexism, Racism here ♦
Communist Struggle against APEC Can Change Consciousness
Trade Cartels: Exploitation & War Preparation
SEATTLE (US), July 10 — “Look at this paper,” said a young activist, Sally, pointing to a pile of Red Flags. She and two friends were checking out “left-wing” papers and notices at a coffee shop. “It’s right up front about communism,” she declared. “It’s awesome!”
“There’s really been a change in consciousness lately,” Sally told comrade Paul.
She remembered talking to Paul on May Day. She introduced her friends. They began reading about the upcoming fight against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade cartel. They are coming to the People’s Summit and the demonstration against APEC.
The damage inflicted by all capitalist trade cartels reaches beyond this one battle. It doesn’t matter which imperialist dominates. Every new trade association subjects the global working class and broader masses to intensified climate disaster, poverty, inequality, and war.
Political economy explains the social relations of production and the system built on them. Trade means buying and selling what workers produce, exploiting workers’ labor. Capitalist political economy underpins every trade cartel. It guarantees the spread of capitalist horrors.
In contrast, communist political economy is built on collective production to serve the needs of our global working-class family. Profits, markets, commodities—even money itself—will not exist. We will recruit and develop a party of masses to make this a reality.
New communist relationships will guarantee the distribution of what we produce to wherever the masses need it. Global distribution according to the need will replace buying and selling of goods and services. There will be no need for trade, let alone trade cartels.
Comrades aim to expand and strengthen communist consciousness in the anti-APEC struggle. The communist revolution we need requires such a change in consciousness. We are sharpening the struggle against reformism, socialism, and other ideologies which only support capitalism.
A communist revolution is the only way to end capitalism’s global destruction.
Capitalist Myths
Sally and her friends agreed that the more people are willing to accept communist alternatives, the more the global ruling classes lie.
The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a prime example. She claims the world needs capitalist trade to overcome climate change, poverty, inequality, and war.
She says trade for profit will shift people and resources into more productive work in manufacturing, services, and agriculture. She fails to mention that forced displacement is how capitalists drove destitute workers to sell their labor power to begin with.
Today, imperialism is expanding its attack on workers and its fight for profits globally. The WTO and every trade cartel accept that strategic competition is unavoidable today.
“In the three-quarters of a century since the world first embraced multilateral cooperation on trade, the trading system has underpinned rising —if still uneven—global prosperity,” asserts the WTO Director General.
That is, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. This is because the world is really based on wage slavery, markets, and robbing the working class to maximize profits.
Policy, Power, Politics and the Economic Base Are Forever Inseparable
A Portland comrade was not about to fall for the WTO Director General’s gobbledygook about trade cartels being a force for equity and poverty reduction. Nor does capitalist trade bolster the fight against climate change, sexism, racism, and xenophobia.
“But how are these cartels connected to war?” he asked.
Imperialism is a distinct era of capitalism. It divides the world among capitalist powers.
The relative strength of the imperialist powers is constantly changing. This is an example of uneven development. The frantic pace of formation of trade cartels reflects the sharpening contradictions between the US and China and their move towards war. China’s relative strength has skyrocketed over the last few decades.
These cartels can no longer even pretend to foster stable, peaceful trade that can benefit the working class anywhere. They are now platforms to gather alliances in preparation for war.
Trade wars are the prelude to shooting wars, as China and the US compete for the allegiance of various capitalist nations.
Communist revolution is the only way out of this catastrophe. This month, the APEC battle is our platform to struggle for more communist consciousness in preparation for communist revolution.
Accelerated US Military Expansion in Asia-Pacific Raises the Stakes
I read some source materials on APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) from its inception in 1989 to now. Things have changed significantly with the rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The UK and the US demands in APEC led to substantial tensions and economic sanctions against the PRC. Nothing that could start a war, but they could disrupt economies that sided with the PRC.
After President George H.W. Bush, the US presented new and more vicious military, political and economic campaigns. Under the reigns of Trump and Biden, the US flaunted its military and economic capability in the Asia-Pacific region. This prompted the PRC to do the same.
This inter-imperialist rivalry, heightened by China’s economic and political rise, has increased the threat of war.
The US has accelerated its military expansion from the Philippines to Taiwan. This includes new and upgraded military facilities and the placement of tactical nuclear weapons in Australia and possibly Taiwan. The stakes have risen dramatically.
A few months back, a military consultant at the US Department of Defense predicted with certainty an armed conflict with the PRC and/or its proxies by the end of the decade.
Short-term economic sanctions and reforms by APEC hurt and kill workers every day. A direct military confrontation between the PRC and its proxies against the US and UK would be even more devastating for the working class.
Many working-class people have responded to left and reform political leadership regarding APEC policies. However, workers have mostly not had communist leadership. The exception is the International Communist Workers’ Party.
Communist leadership must continue organizing in the contested regions affected by APEC. Political struggles led by worker leadership organizations like ICWP are the only way to successfully organize workers around communist principles and revolution.
The answer to this inevitable drive toward war can only be communist revolution.
—Comrade in New Jersey (USA)
No Trade is Fair! Let’s Abolish the Trade, Money, and Profit System!
Some capitalists say “free trade” will lift the poor out of poverty. Some union and NGO officials say “fair trade” will lift workers and small farmers out of poverty.
These are both lies! “Trade” is buying and selling goods and services that workers produce. Workers are paid only a small part of the value those products sell for. The rest goes to the bosses as profit. This robbery is the basis of capitalism.
Trade agreements guarantee profits for the biggest capitalists and imperialists—and poverty for the workers.
Take NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). Mexican workers were promised that it would raise their wages and bring up their standard of living. Instead, real wages went down.
NAFTA eliminated Mexican tariffs on US corn. Two million Mexicans involved in farming lost their land because US corn flooded the Mexican market. It drove Mexican farmers out of business.
Many were forced to come to the US to seek work as undocumented workers for the lowest wages.
No trade agreement will protect workers from capitalist exploitation. We need to build ICWP all over the world to mobilize for a communist world where the masses produce only for their own needs—not for money or profit.
Capitalist Trade in Services Intensifies Sexism, Racism
July 2023—The WTO Director General’s new catchword is “reglobalization.” She says her trade plan would reduce poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She brags that it will draw in smaller and woman-owned businesses, striking a blow to sexism and racism. These small businesses will benefit, she claims, if they have access to markets in “the most dynamic sectors of the global economy.”
Trade in services is expanding faster than trade in manufacturing. Chief among these services is finance (capital).
Similar financial ruses have been around for decades. The most notable was microfinance. Huge banks made small loans to small businesses. Like all profit-driven schemes, the workers ended up losing out.
Poor workers and subsistence farmers were soon drowning in debt. Meanwhile, microcredit banks built an industry worth hundreds of billions. The Gates foundation, Clinton’s global initiative, Hillary Clinton, and various movie and pop stars sang the praises of microcredit.
An estimated 20% of small business capital in Sri Lanka comes from microcredit loans. Over 200 suicides have been recorded among Sri Lankan small business owners who could not pay off their debt. Some say thousands took their own lives worldwide. Others were forced to sell their land and homes. Many ended up in prison or starving.
“Trade has long been a powerful force for poverty reduction” asserts the Director General. The truth is that capitalism’s institutions—like banks, markets, and trade—guarantee just the opposite.
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