Capitalism, War, and Revolution

War is Capitalism’s Last Resort—Communism Is Workers’ Only Resort here ♦ Letter: Conversation about War and Revolution here ♦

Loss of Profits, Inter-imperialist Rivalry Make War Capitalism’s Last Resort: It Opens the Door for Our Only Resort: Communist Revolution Worldwide.

The US and Chinese imperialists trade profitably with each other. This, while they are using other countries to destroy each other. The nature of this inter-imperialist rivalry is determined by the first law of dialectical materialism: the unity and conflict of opposites. Their trade is based on competition for maximum profits. This locks them into an economic, political, and military battle for world domination to control the world’s markets, natural resources and workers’ labor power.
To produce their profits and fight their wars, the capitalists depend on their grave diggers, the working class. This makes the capitalists very vulnerable while it creates the potential for communist revolution.
Capitalism’s only source of profits is the surplus value produced by workers’ labor power. As more machines replace workers, capitalism’s rate of profit tends to fall. Capitalists try to reverse this by lowering workers’ wages and speeding up production.
This creates a crisis of overproduction. Markets are flooded with goods that can’t be sold profitably. Replacing workers with machines and technology only intensifies this crisis. Markets contract further because fewer workers can afford to buy the goods they produce. The capitalists’ struggle for market share intensifies, turning into a life and death struggle which eventually explodes into war: local, regional, and world war.
The capitalists’ struggle for maximum profits further increases the exploitation and impoverishment of the working class. This competition forces the capitalists to steal more of the value workers produce while reducing to a bare minimum what workers need to survive. Profit is the surplus value not paid to the workers for what they produce. It is the source of the capitalists’ power, and of our enslavement and misery.

Capitalists’ Unquenchable Need for Cheap Labor Is Inevitably Leading to an Expanding World War III.

Since the 1980’s, US manufacturers sought cheap labor by putting factories in China. They laid off US workers to super exploit Chinese and other workers. Today China manufactures 25% of all global products while the US manufactures only 15%, being now mainly a service economy.
The USA is fighting to maintain its global dollar reserve hegemony. They want their factories back from China, Vietnam, especially to produce weapons. The global use of the dollar has been critical for the US to maintain its economic superiority. Countries that are not dollar currency based have had to return the dollars to the US treasury by buying US treasury bonds. This supports the US debt of $36 trillion or 120% of its economy of $30 trillion.
While the US is mired in debt, China is opening new markets worldwide with their One Belt One Road initiative. They raid the masses in poor countries for raw materials to feed their manufacturing.
The loss of profits and continuing decline of capitalism’s rate of profits is unfolding fiercer global capitalist and imperialist rivalries. Full World War III to destroy their rivals’ industrial might and conquer their markets, resources and labor power is inevitable.
The US and China have created alliances with client-state proxies to act on their behalf by exploiting their local rivalries. China and Russia are building the BRICS bloc that threatens the US dollar’s global hegemony.
The continuing capitalist need to increase more efficient production is reducing its ability to extract enough profits to provide workers with enough wages for food, housing, healthcare, education and transportation. To extract more profit, they are slashing wages, jobs and social services. This is heating up the primary contradiction: the working-class struggle against the ruling capitalist class.
The more the rulers try to use fascist policies to enslave and divide the working class, the more the working class fights back. The ruling classes’ inability to govern society enables the working class to become stronger, to build the fight for communist workers’ power, and ultimately to overthrow the capitalists.
Capitalism “solves” its crises through deadly wars. Communism, based on comradely relations of trust — not competition, money, exploitation, racism or terror — will get rid of wage slavery and wars forever.
Collectively, the international working class will see that our role is to put an end to the deadly dog-eat-dog profit system and replace it with mobilizing for the good of all: communism. ICWP collectives need to grow through ties and struggle that makes clear the need for communist revolution.

Conversation About War and Revolution

A young friend said, “I don’t keep up with world events. Why bother? There’s nothing we can do about it anyway.”
A Comrade disagreed. She said that the rivalry between the imperialists and their attacks on the workers are intensifying quickly. World War is developing.
“I don’t think that will happen.” the younger woman answered.
The Comrade told her that the US has the CIA in every country and lots of printed US dollars. It has over 800 military bases in 78 countries. A severe loss in Ukraine, Israel, Congo, or elsewhere is a reason to escalate war.
But the main struggle with her was about her point that, “Even if that happens, there’s nothing we can do about. So why think about it?”
The Comrade described how soldiers and workers overthrew the Russian capitalist government during World War I, and the Chinese masses’ Red Army overthrew the Chinese capitalists after World War II. War changes everything and everyone.
Masses, especially soldiers and workers, will look for an alternative to the capitalist-imperialist warmakers. They will be open to communist revolution. The only way forward is to survive collectively, to get rid of capitalism, including all the imperialists, and produce only for human need.
Wider world war is coming. Russian and Chinese imperialism now have superior military capabilities with supersonic missiles that are an estimated five years ahead of any western technology. Russia’s imperialist military is now considered the world’s best with three years’ experience in Ukraine. The Russians have improved their arsenal of drone and missile technology. China also produces missiles, planes, and war ships.
The US and western Europe are currently unable to produce enough arms for one war, in Ukraine, let alone multiple fronts. They lack integrated supply systems. Russia can outproduce the US in tanks, missiles, shells, and drones by over five times in one year. This cannot change overnight. The anti-missile THADS that the US provided to Israel were depleted in 12 days and cost $1.2 B.
Open direct warfare between the imperialists can break out in many scenarios. The US and Israel are planning another attack on Iran, probably with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan. The US is negotiating with Europe/NATO to provide their Patriot systems to Ukraine to keep that war going. A potential mass Iranian missile attack on Israel could destroy more than half the country. A seeming victory of Russia over Ukraine would provide a reason for NATO to escalate war.
A Chinese economic, political win over Taiwan could shut the US out of south Asia trade and provide a reason for a US preemptive attack.
There are many potential CIA hotspots to distract, deter, or weaken the China/Russia alliance’s political and economic power. The trigger for using “tactical nuclear weapons” has to be a point where the US has lost too much and must resort to “creative destruction” …global pandemic, economic depression, and/or war.
A few days later, my young friend thanked me for the explanation. This struggle will continue, part of preparing her and all of us for the struggle to turn imperialist war into communist revolution.
—A Comrade

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