Battleground Europe: Workers Must Turn Imperialist World War into Communist Revolution here ♦ Which Side Are You On? here ♦
Battleground Europe: Workers Must Turn Imperialist World War into Communist Revolution
December 3— “World War III has already begun,” the CEO of JPMorgan announced in October. He wasn’t posturing for the media. He was advising the trade association of the hugely powerful global financial services industry. He warned that Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran were collaborating to “dismantle” post-World War II systems like NATO.
Evidence is mounting that we are at a nodal point in the decline of US imperialism. That the fight is heating up between the US and its allies (on one side) and Russia, China, and their allies (on the other). That World War III really is unfolding.
Will workers, youth, and especially soldiers fight and die for imperialist profits? Or will they fight for and win the communist revolution that alone can liberate the international working class? The answer depends on our work.
Events Are Unfolding Rapidly
After heavy fighting and massive destruction in Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah signed a truce on November 27. Hours later, it had already broken down. Israel has violated it over 100 times. In Gaza, 90% of the people are internal refugees. The Zionist rulers are deliberately starving them. Ten thousand were flooded out of their tents.
That same day, in Syria, the Islamicist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rapidly captured the city of Aleppo. Assad’s government had relied on Iran, Hezbollah troops and Russian air support to contain the opposition. That included HTS, other militias backed by Türkiye, and US-backed Kurdish militias. Each already controlled large sections of Syria. HTS took advantage of Iran and Hezbollah’s weakened status and Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. It leads a coalition of the other opposition militias that Assad and his Russian allies may not be able to withstand.
The Republic of Georgia exploded the next day. The pro-Russian prime minister announced the suspension of negotiations aimed at joining the European Union. Georgia’s pro-Western ceremonial president and other pro-EU forces roused and encouraged thousands of protesters. They flooded the streets and fought police.
As we go to press, the pro-US South Korean president has ratcheted up regional tensions by declaring martial law to suppress opposition as “pro-North Korea.” Following massive protests, he quickly backtracked.
Europe: Contradictions Sharpen
Trump’s election represents “a major turning point for the United States. It “marks the end of an American era.” It “isolates Europe,” pronounced France’s leading French newspaper Le Monde. Europe will have to “rely on their own forces to defend themselves against Russian expansionism. Therefore, a strategic upheaval is underway.” It warns of an existential threat that “Europe will be divided or even fractured.”
It’s not just about Trump. Le Monde notes that the post-World War II model “had been challenged over the past two decades. Now Trump’s return is putting a nail in its coffin.”
Days later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz informally opposed Ukraine membership in NATO. This “amid talk in Berlin,” reported Politico, “of setting up a ‘contact group’ together with China, India, and Brazil” to negotiate an end to the deadly war in Ukraine. But “peace” is nowhere in sight.
Meanwhile, the Russian rulers have been waging “hybrid warfare” against western Europe. That includes sabotage, cyber-attacks on infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns. In November, German imperialists say, saboteurs cut two undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea.
NATO and European Union officials, unprepared for a larger conflict, are avoiding direct responses. They worry that NATO might not hold together. Member states Hungary and Türkiye sympathize with Russia—though Türkiye and Russia support opposite sides in Syria.
Build ICWP Everywhere
The Swedish government sent every household an updated booklet, “In case of crisis or war,” after Sweden joined NATO last March. German authorities did likewise. Neither booklet included the advice workers need the most: We must mobilize for communism now! That way, workers, soldiers, and sailors can lead masses to turn imperialist World War III into communist revolution.
We urge Red Flag readers in Sweden, Germany, Spain, Turkey, England, and elsewhere to read and discuss the ICWP manifesto “Mobilize Masses for Communism.” Join or form collectives to carry out this critical work.
Which Side Are You On?
The 1912 International Socialist Congress in Basel, Switzerland unanimously resolved that the working class and all its national parties should “exert every effort in order to prevent the outbreak of war.”
But in case of war, they should “utilize the economic and political crisis created by the war to arouse the people and thereby to hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule.”
The Basel Manifesto declared that “the proletarians consider it a crime to fire at each other for the profits of the capitalists, the ambitions of dynasties, or the greater glory of secret diplomatic treaties.”
But when World War broke out two years later, most of these Socialist parties quickly and cravenly abandoned working-class internationalism. They rushed to support the warring rulers of “their” countries. Nationalism destroyed the Second International.
The most important exception was the Bolshevik party in Russia. Three years later, these communists led Russian soldiers, sailors, and workers to overthrow capitalist class rule.
Socialists and communists today face a similar situation. Some choose, or will choose, to back one or another imperialist power. One socialist already admitted that in case of a US-China war, he would “support China.”
We are an international party. Our International Communist Workers’ Party will always oppose all nationalism. We will always stand fast to working-class internationalism.