We Have A Communist World to Win
July 12, 2018 – The trade war is on: US vs. China, US vs. Europe, US vs. Canada and Mexico…. US vs. almost every other capitalist class except Russia. “A shooting war could be next,” warned a Fox News commentator. “In the worst-case scenario, this could result in massive casualties on both sides that could even lead to nuclear war.”
This trade war suggests that all the post-World War II US-led capitalist-imperialist trade and economic institutions are no longer effective. That includes GATT, WTO, NAFTA and more. US president Trump is doing his best to weaken the corresponding diplomatic-military institutions (NATO and the United Nations).
In contrast, the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is growing in membership and influence.
We may be at the start of a period similar to the trade wars that triggered World War II. That period saw the rise of fascism in Italy, Germany, Japan and elsewhere.
Today fascist political leaders – and with them, fascist mass movements – are emerging from Modi’s India to Duterte’s Philippines, Trump’s USA, Erdogan’s Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Italy, England and elsewhere.
As Red Flag explained last issue, inter-imperialist rivalry is the main mover of events (“contradiction”) in this period. Each day that contradiction sharpens. Our working-class family suffers more.
The masses have the grave responsibility of changing the main contradiction in the world from inter-imperialist rivalry to class war for communism. Our Party must use current events to show, clearly and massively, the necessity for communist revolution.
We must inspire masses with a realistic vision of communist society. A world based not on profit but on the collectivity and love for each other encapsulated in the slogan: From each according to commitment and ability, to each according to need.
Capitalism’s Global Crisis of Overproduction
On 6 July the US imposed a 25% tariff (import tax) on a variety of Chinese goods including, for example, X-ray machines. China retaliated with tariffs on some US goods, including soybeans. This conflict continues to escalate.
Sharpening crises of overproduction often spark trade wars. The world’s factories and farms produce more goods than can be sold profitably—no matter how badly the masses need them.
This in turn sharpens competition as capitalists fight for market share. Governments help domestic capitalists by imposing tariffs on goods produced by international competitors.
This can lead to a downward spiral of price increases, shuttered factories and shrinking world trade. A Chinese newspaper warned, “The resulting slowdown in global trade and investment … could even lead to a contraction in the world economy as a whole.”
At other times, however, overproduction leads to capitalist growth. More efficient enterprises grow stronger by driving out less efficient ones. “Efficiency” means “attacking workers harder.”
When it comes to trade wars, much bigger forces are at work.
For example, Chinese demand for soybeans is growing. China planned to increase soybean production while also increasing imports, largely from the US. So why would it impose tariffs on US soybeans?
Perhaps to increase purchases from Brazil, strengthening its position in South America, or from Russia. Perhaps to turn US farmers against Trump. These are political reasons.
The present trade war marks a global political crisis—“a seismic shift in international affairs” —not simply an economic one.
A commentator noted that “the past five hundred years have seen sixteen cases in which a rising power threatened to topple a ruling power from its position of predominance. Twelve ended in war.” For US capitalism, he warned, “the dangers are greater than the opportunities.”
For the international working class, the opportunities are greater than the dangers. Our class is bigger and more globally integrated than ever. This is our chance to end deadly capitalism-imperialism permanently, by mobilizing for communism.
Class Struggle for Communist Power Will Transform Global Exchange
We can’t predict where it will start. But the external conditions for revolution exist in many situations. Somewhere the masses, mobilized for communism, will seize and defend power. They will inspire many more. There will be outpourings of solidarity.
The world’s capitalists will redirect their fury, desperately striving to destroy these communist seedlings. They will provoke many of their own soldiers to turn their guns around and join the revolution.
Meanwhile, however, imperialists will make it hard to get basic necessities to the liberated zones. They will have to become as self-sufficient as possible in their first efforts to organize, build and sustain communist society.
This period of global revolutionary communist class struggle could last a long time. It will have ups and downs. But we are confident – and you should be, too! – that the masses will win.
There will be no more nations or borders in our communist world. There will be no money or buying or selling or trade as we know it.
Instead, we will share. The International Communist Workers’ Party might organize workers in one region to send soybeans or X-ray machines to workers elsewhere who need them.
But regional self-sufficiency – especially in basics like water, food, clothing, shelter, health care -– will likely become the norm. Instead of using energy resources to ferry goods across thousands of miles, we’ll probably want to transport ourselves to visit and learn from our global family.
Truly we have a world to win!
******
OUR MISTAKE: In the previous issue, due to an editing error, we left out the words “men and youth’ when reporting on police murders in the US. The sentence should have read: “Antwon Rose was one of at least six black men and youth murdered by US cops in June alone.” We went to press on June 27. Further investigation shows that the total for June was at least 17 black men and youth and at least one black woman.
CHICAGO, USA, July 18—Mass protests continue against the July 14 racist police murder of Harith “Snoop” Augustus, a black barber who was well known and liked in his Southside neighborhood.
Front page of this issue