Imperialist World War III Opens Door to Communist Revolution
Southern California (USA), March 30—A thousand members of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne paratroopers have been deployed to the war on Iran. On top of the 2500 Marines sent from Camp Pendleton last week to reinforce those already there.
“Secretary of War” Hegseth says the US military has taken off all restraints and is winning. The first unrestrained attack in this war targeted (by intention or incompetence) a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, killing at least 165 children.
Iran has launched drone and rocket attacks on US bases and embassies and on US allies. It blocked the Strait of Hormuz. The working class around the world is paying for this in higher prices, and any ship which goes through the Strait is paying millions of dollars in yuan—the Chinese currency.
This is crucial in an unfolding third world war. The US, in spite of enormous fire power, is losing its international dominance.
It may be a coincidence that the US military announced this week that they are loosening Army eligibility requirements. They’ll now take recruits up to age 42 and folks with one conviction for marijuana possession.
It is possible that the laundry room fire which sent the USS Gerald Ford to Crete for repairs and upgrades was not sabotage, but just the normal problems of an aging imperial navy.
But hundreds of soldiers are calling the Center on Conscience and War. Saying that the Minab girls’ school bombing was the catalyst that turned them against the war and the military as a whole. That’s not coincidence.
What’s the US rulers’ plan?
US Senator Lindsey Graham said (Fox News, March 22) that he was sure the 82nd could “liberate” Iran’s oil hub on Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz. “We did Iwo Jima,” he said. “ We can do this.” In the battle for Iwo Jima in World War II, 70,000 US troops fought 18,000 Japanese soldiers. 7000 US troops were killed before the flag was raised.
Landing on Iranian territory is a high-risk operation. Iran’s drones make parachuting into a war zone much more dangerous.
Iwo Jima was justified as a strategic island in the South Pacific campaign leading towards an attack on the Japanese mainland. This genocidal attack included firebombing Tokyo, killing 100,000 people and leaving a million homeless. Then nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least 200,000, mostly civilians.
The US strategic priority in the Strait of Hormuz is control of oil. This has been a mainstay of US policy in Iran since the CIA joined the British in Operation Ajax in 1953 to overthrow the democratically elected Mossadegh, because he threatened to nationalize the oil industry.
Nobody should die for oil profits. Not the thirteen US service members who have already died in the Iran War. And not the 4,500 military fatalities in the Iraq War (2003-2011). That was another war for oil that only toppled Saddam Hussein, created regional chaos, and empowered pro-Iranian forces within Iraq.
The US military plans to send the sons and daughters of the working class into combat to maintain US access to the Strait of Hormuz. They are willing to risk the lives of thousands of soldiers and Marines. To kill thousands more of our class siblings in Iran. To cause unprecedented pollution and black rain which will impact the lives of everyone in the region for decades. And to ally with the Zionist entity (Israel) in its plan to extend the genocide in Gaza to the whole region.
Hegseth is calling this a crusade to bring about the end times. We reject that genocidal vision.
History tells us what soldiers can actually do in time of war.
US soldiers who fragged their officers rather than follow orders in a genocidal war forced the US military to withdraw from Vietnam.
Soldiers in the Russian Army in World War I joined communist workers and overthrew that empire.
We call on Red Flag readers in Occupied Palestine (Israel), Iran, and the US to seize this historic moment. Enlisted personnel in all armies have the power to organize. To join with communist workers to turn imperialist wars into revolutionary wars for communism.
Don’t die for empire! Fight for the working class! Fight for communism!
Don’t Be a Racketeer for Capitalism
Marine General Smedley Butler said it straight out almost a hundred years ago.
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service, and during that period I spend most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. … I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.”
Read our pamphlet Soldiers, Sailors, Marines: Crucial to a Communist Workers’ Revolution here