Workers!

Only the politicians' and media's hypocritical propaganda could pretend that the reasons for the present attack on Iraq are Saddam's arms or his dictatorial and bloody regime.

In reality, the American bourgeoisie wants to secure for itself control over the oil of Iraq, which has the richest deposits in the world, as well as those of Saudi Arabia. This is necessary for it to continue to reap the enormous and parasitic financial income it derives from the use of the dollar for trading oil.

The true enemy of the USA is not poor Iraq with its dictator, which is no worse than those still protected by the USA; the real enemy is the euro, which is dangerously undermining the absolute hegemony of the dollar.

The European bourgeoisie, united around the euro, has not yet constituted itself as a politically and militarily united entity, and is finding it difficult to recognise its common interest. The divisions in the European camp are derived from this. On the one hand are those who line up with the "Atlantic" ally, on the basis of the former anti-Soviet alliance - because they are financially linked to the destiny of the oil/dollar pairing - on the other are those who, instead, are immediately interested in the fate of Europe and the euro, and actively oppose the anti-European designs of the USA.

There remains the fact that - once again, as always - a war has broken out on the basis of the clash of imperialist interests. In the financial, commercial and economic clash between the two sides of the Atlantic, it doesn't matter to the capitalist class that, although formally a little dictator as local and bloody as Saddam is being crushed, in reality it is the whole people of a country of the capitalist periphery which is being crushed.

And there remains the fact that when the crisis of the capitalist economy bites and pushes the powers towards confrontation, the international institutions officially charged with the preservation of peace (UN) capsize, leaving those who have faith in them to "resolve conflict" disillusioned.

Workers!

The fractions of the capitalist class are lining up or starting to line up on the basis of their interests or what they believe are their interests and - as always - they are getting ready to draw the proletariat behind them. For example, the majority of the parliamentary "left" and their movements (wide parts of the anti-globalisation movement) refer to a Europe of human rights and social values, opposed to American individualism. In this way they try to make us forget that this Europe is the same one which - with regard to "social values" - has cut, and is insistently demanding more cuts in pensions. It is the same one which has already sacked millions of workers and today is pressing to even further reduce wage labour to a commodity which is used and thrown away, by progressively eroding job security in a devastating manner.

Thus, the biggest danger which is emerging for the proletariat is the springing up of a new nationalism, European nationalism, capable of dragging workers into the acceptance of the collision in war, which is today being prepared by events, between the great powers of the capitalist world. It is almost certain that many parts of the present pacifist movement will shift to European nationalism in Europe, and to American nationalism in the US, etc.

But, it is not certain that the working class will find itself doing the same thing.

The strikes underway against the war against Iraq must be repeated on the occasion of future war adventures, which will be the product of the gravity and bitterness of the world capitalist crisis. These selfsame strikes can and must be the premise for other workers' initiatives against the wars of the capitalist class.

We cannot continue to allow the capitalist class, through its governments of whatever stripe and its abetting unions, to attack with impunity our wages and conditions of work, at the same time as calling on us to support its institutions and wars. All workers' self-defence, outside of and against the unions' logic of compatibility with capitalism, is a part of the concrete opposition of the proletariat against the capitalists' war plans.

The only way to stand against war is to break with capitalist peace!