This protest poster was issued by Globalise Resistance against the Kissinger presence at the Institute of Directors convention in London in April 2002. Whilst Kissinger is undoubtedly a war criminal in every sense the message is not anti-capitalist but only against some individual capitalists and firms. We reject the idea that capitalism can be made fairer or ethical or whatever you want it to be. The only real anti-capitalism is the working class struggle for a a moneyless, classless, stateless society without war or famine. Communism is not dead, it remains to be born.

The US-led coalition has launched an open-ended war, the so-called “war on terrorism”. Vice-president Dick Cheney has declared it may well not end in his lifetime. It was clear from the beginning that the aim of the war was to extend US domination over the planet both strategically and economically.

The threat to Iraq

Dominant imperialisms have to snuff out challenges from their rivals or would-be rivals. This is why Iraq is now in the frame.

The pacifists are going around telling us that Iraq must not be bombed. To which we can only ask which planet are they living on? The war operations against Iraq in the no fly zone and beyond have never stopped. From 1991 to today there have been more than ten thousand such operations.

This is because:

1. The US needs to keep the embargo to exclude European states from Iraqi oil supplies.
2. The current US recession makes it even more necessary to control oil and its price which not only has to be kept at its present level but will eventually have to go up.
3. Bush was elected with the political support of the arms producers. In a situation of looming crisis such as this the huge increase in military spending must have a political justification if he is to get Congress to accept it.
4. They are a signal to the entire world that the new US administration intends to continue and intensify the use of force against everyone, enemies and allies alike.
5. The US rejects European and Japanese calls for and end to the trade embargo with Iraq. The air strikes are used by the US as “proof” of Saddam's offensive capabilities and the need to continue the embargo.

Apart from their British puppets, the rest of the world, from Russia to France, from Italy to Turkey, (states which routinely lend their air bases for American air raids), have criticised the continued bombings. For their pains they have been accused of being soft in the “war on terrorism”. September 11th is not only the grand alibi for US militarism but it has given a green light to Israel, the closest ally of the US in the Middle East. Sharon, the butcher of Sabra and Chatilla can now add Jenin to the list of his glorious atrocities against the Palestinians. The capitalist barbarians - whether followers of the millionaire Bin Laden or the millionaire Bush - maim and kill workers in their thousands in the interest of shaping and reshaping the imperialist world.

In this sense the current “war against terrorism” is nothing new. Since 1914 the imperialists have launched war after war, some global, some regional, to maintain their system of profits based on the misery of the many for the benefit of the few. War, in short, is endemic to capitalism. Yet it is not utopian to think that in the 21st century human beings could coexist without the horror of modern warfare. It is absolutely utopian, however, to believe that this can be achieved within capitalism. There is a force with the real potential to put an end to capitalism and warfare for ever: the international working class whose labour power is universally exploited by capital and who have no interest in killing and maiming each other for the sake of nationalist, religious, “anti-terrorist”, “anti-fascist”, or any other divide-and-rule dogma.

No War But Class War

That is why it is important that socialists, not only...

disdain to hide their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of the existing social conditions.

Marx

The idea that socialists should hide their views in order to build a populist, “non-political” coalition is not only hypocrisy but also futile.

Demonstrations, vigils, prayers and letters to Blair won't stop war. The so-called socialists (SWP, Socialist Alliance, and their little helpers) who have sunk their differences and avoid any mention of “socialism” so as to organise an Anti-War coalition with Christians, Greens, Muslims, pacifists and so on, are an obstacle to the development of a working class political movement. For genuine socialists there is no separation between the struggle for socialism and the struggle against capitalist war. Only fear that the working class can threaten their property and profits can halt the capitalists' war drive. The more conscious workers are of this and the better they are organised politically on their own account, the harder will it be for capitalism to enlist workers in their gruesome killing projects.

We want to build a real opposition - not against one ruling class clique but against their whole rotten system which offers the world's workers only death, destruction and misery whether slowly by poverty, disease and disaster or at the faster tempo of terrorism and war. Only the class struggle by workers of all countries against all rulers and would-be rulers offers an alternative to the slide into barbarism.

This is why we have supported and continue to support No War But Class War. Our message is clear:

Workers Have No Country!
National Liberation Is No Liberation for the Working Class!
Organise For Your Own Struggle!
Socialism Or Barbarism!