New Wars in the Middle East

In June Bush made his long awaited speech on the Palestine conflict. This gave an indication of the path US imperialism has chosen to follow. By demanding a more moderate Palestinian leadership, the US is really demanding Palestinian surrender to Israeli annexations. The US is thereby ensuring that the present carnage in Palestine continues. In fact, the US has indicated that it is looking elsewhere to solve the problem, namely through the ending of support for the Palestinians by Iraq and Iran. This is now to be achieved by direct US military action. As we go to press there is speculation about the timing of the US invasion and public opinion is being prepared to accept that it is necessary. Justification for such an attack is no longer made by connections between Iraq and Al Qa’eda or even the work of the UN weapons inspectors. Bush has stated he intends to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein whether he accepts the weapons inspectors or not. The reason, blurted out by Bush, is that “Saddam is our enemy and we don’t want him to get weapons of mass destruction.”

The impending attack is raising tensions between the US and the Europe. The Europeans reject US actions over Palestine and are extremely alarmed by the proposed invasion of Iraq. In this they see a move to reshape the whole Middle East which, they correctly fear, could result in massive instability with serious losses for them. (See article “Eleven months since September 11” in this edition). Germany and France have demanded a UN resolution before any attack and the UK, the most slavish of US allies, is hesitant. The ambivalence of Blair was let out of the bag by King Abdullah of Jordan after Bush had brushed aside his objections to the invasion. A US invasion of Iraq will drive a significant wedge between Europe and the US and will be a further step in consolidating a European bloc.

Stock Market Collapse

The massive falls in global stock markets are a reflection of the real state of the capitalist economy which has been partly obscured by the speculation of the 1990’s. (See “Stock Market Falls Presage Capitalist War” in this edition). The reason for the present collapse is the inexorable fall in profit rates. Although capitalists have tried to overcome this, by installing new technology and moving factories to regions with cheaper labour power, these moves have only slowed the process. The present collapse will bring with it a devaluation of capital which may further slow the fall in profit rates but will not solve the problem. These economic problems of capitalism are the root cause of imperialism. The US adventures in central Asia and the Middle East have underlying economic aims which can be clearly seen in the drive to secure and control sources of oil , gas and other raw materials and prevent them falling into the hands of their economic rivals, the Europeans and Japanese. The economic crisis is therefore laying the basis for future wars. This crisis is also the force which drives the capitalist class to continually attack the wages and conditions of the working class.

Workers’ Resistance

The months of June and July saw workers in the UK taking strike action in greater numbers than at any time in the previous three years. This indicates a general dissatisfaction with low pay, insecurity and bad conditions and a new will to fight. (See article “Public Sector Strikes” in this edition). As we report these strikes have been contained and led to defeat by the Trade Unions. However, the difficulties the Trade Unions are experiencing in controlling the class struggle is reflected in the recent elections of so-called left wing leaders to many unions. Unions such as the rail unions RMT and ASLEF, the communication workers union CWU, the civil service union PCS and recently AMICUS have all elected left wing leaderships. These leaders have not hesitated to denounce the Labour government and many have cut off financial support for the party. In doing this these leaders are attempting to restore credibility to their unions and distance themselves from the government. Such manoeuvres, though they delight the leftist parties such as the SWP and the Socialist Alliance, are really a very old tactic which we have seen used time and again. This leftward turn is really to head off future class struggle and divert it down the dead ends of leftist campaigns such as those for re-nationalisation, ending Public Private Partnership (PPP), ending Private Finance Initiative (PFI) etc. All of these campaigns, so dear to the hearts of the leftists, are campaigns to fight for a reform in the structure of capitalism. They are a total waste of time. Whatever ways our rulers choose to organise the present system we will still suffer redundancies, speedups and low pay, for the reasons mentioned above. Trade Unions will always fight for the interests of the capitalist class not those of the workers. They can never lead the class struggle in the direction of abolishing the wages system since such a change would destroy the basis of their existence. However, such a struggle is the only one which can fundamentally benefit the working class today. It can only be carried out by workers taking control of their struggles themselves and organising them through mass meetings, spreading the struggle to as many other workers as possible, unifying demands and politicising the battle. Today this is the only to win even short term demands. It is also the only route to the longer term struggle for the socialisation of the means of production and the establishment of communism.