Editorial

The new war with Iraq has revealed the barbaric destruction which our rulers are prepared to unleash on the inhabitants of any state which refuses to cooperate with their imperialist plans. This display of savagery is a stark message for the US rivals who have frustrated its plans at the UN. For the US, the peaceful disarming of Iraq was always quite unacceptable, since military occupation by the US is a necessary step in getting control of the Iraqi oil and rebuilding a Middle East more closely corresponding to the desires of US imperialism. This attack, which brought the curtain down on the farce at the UN, shows the US now feels sufficiently strong to go to war against the wishes of the majority of the security council. It shows the US is prepared to undermine both the UN and NATO in the pursuit of its imperialist interests. A new order of imperialism is being established. This is discussed in greater detail in “Iraq - War and imperialist occupation” below.

The war is also, of course, being aimed at the US’s principal rivals Europe, Russia, China and Japan. These countries will now find it harder to bypass the US monopoly on managing the oil from the Gulf and will find it harder for their currencies, particularly the euro, to substitute themselves for the dollar as the currency in which oil is traded. While the US aims to weaken its rivals economically, it is also aiming at reversing the moves in Europe towards the formation of a bloc as a rival of the US. In this the UK government has played a key role. For the central European powers, particularly France and Germany, this war has come as a cruel reminder of their weakness. They will certainly now take steps to counter this weakness, steps such as the closer political ties in the direction of the federation so feared by the UK, together with coordination of foreign and defence policies. The weakening of NATO is likely to lead to a new pact based on the EU core countries and leading inevitably to the rupture of the Atlantic alliance.

At any rate, in this breaking of the old imperialist order the parameters in which the UK has operated since World War 2 will radically change and the UK’s position as US cat’s paw in Europe will become untenable. The Blair team imagine they can take part in the adventures of US imperialism even when they threaten the interests of core European states while, at the same time, retaining the economic benefits of the EU. But the capitalist economic crisis is bringing in its wake a chain of events which will force the UK to choose between its US alliance and Europe. The crumbs which it receives from the table of US imperialism, such any participation in as oil concessions in Iraq or reconstruction contracts, will have to be balanced against the economic ties which bind it to Europe. In the aftermath of the war we will clearly see if these crumbs are any more than US allies received after the Gulf War. Even before the war started, the US was awarding its corporations reconstruction contracts with the corporations previously controlled by Cheney and Bush at the top of the list. Nothing has been heard of opportunities for UK companies. The US does not really need the UK for its adventures and sees no need to reward it with more than crumbs. Ultimately, we consider, the attraction of the US alliance will be outweighed. When this happens, the stage will then be set for the emergence of a real rival superpower to the US, which is the precondition for developments leading to a new world conflagration.

A new nationalism?

The crimes which are today being committed in Iraq are an expression of the true nature of capitalism itself. They result directly from the present economic crisis and the imperialist forces it generates in the major powers. The Iraq crisis is bringing in its train a tide of anti-Americanism in Europe, even in the countries which support the US, such as Britain, Spain and Italy.

As our rulers seek to realign themselves into new blocs they are also seeking to draw the working class behind them into a new nationalism. A new European nationalism which defines itself in opposition to the US is arising. This can be seen in the pacifist movements which have moved from a simple anti-war stance to an anti-American stance. From here it is a short step towards European nationalism. This new unifying ideology is being directed towards the working class and is preparation for a future imperialist war in which the working class is mobilised behind a European bloc. It is very dangerous for the working class. The imperialism of the European bloc is just as vicious as that of their US rival. It is simply less powerful. It is important that the working class rejects this new nationalism and refuses to be mobilised behind it. The working class needs to fight for its own class interests independent of those of its exploiters. Only this fight can stop the drive towards war on which we are now embarked.

Workers have no coun try. They have a world to win!