Imperialism Means WarThe following article is excerpted from Michael Thorburn's new pamphlet Against War and Imperialism.
The inherent economic processes of modern capitalism -- the process of monopolization at home and the export of capital abroad -- give rise to violence and domination in politics. The very foundation of the capitalist-imperialist system -- the social relations of subjugation and exploitation of the oppressed nations and classes -- rests on violence and war.
U.S. Imperialism
It is well known that the history of the rise of capitalist-imperialism is the history of conquering the colonies through fire and sword. In the beginning of the 20th century, U.S. imperialism entered the scramble for colonies and economic territory by grabbing the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico through war. For decades, the U.S. marines openly made the law in Latin America while the U.S. companies plundered the wealth of the continent.
U.S. imperialism, which remained largely unscathed from WW II, emerged from the war at the head of world capitalism. But faced with the growth of the camp of socialist countries and the ever-rising tide of national liberation, U.S. imperialism initiated the most ferocious counter-revolutionary campaign, stepping into the shoes of Hitler.
Under the banner of "containing" or "rolling back" communism, U.S. imperialism undertook to militarize the entire world, launch wars against the national liberation movements and prepare for nuclear war against the socialist countries.
Since the end of World War II, U.S. imperialism has launched hundreds of armed interventions against the peoples and their movements for national liberation -- in Korea, in Lebanon, in the Dominican Republic, in the Congo, in Vietnam, in El Salvador and Nicaragua, etc., etc.
In addition, U.S. imperialism has deployed its armies on every continent and filled the oceans with its warships. It has established its network of military bases over the entire globe. Over 500 U.S. military bases have been established on the soil of 100 countries. Such bases put the peoples under the thumb of military-colonial occupation, trampling on the sovereignty of countries and the dignity of the peoples in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, in Korea, etc. More than 100,000 troops are deployed in Europe as the "front-line" of defense of U.S. capitalism. So too, in Asia, the U.S. relies on the "forward-deployment" of 100,000 U.S. troops to project the strategic and economic interests of U.S. capital. In the Middle East, tens of thousands of U.S. troops, including a large war flotilla and nuclear-armed subs, are kept "combat ready."
More Militarism
Yet, the Bush administration is not satisfied with this arsenal of mass destruction. Bush is carrying forward a further build-up and "modernization" of U.S. military forces, including building a new generation of nuclear weapons, a series of new high tech weapons system including nuclear submarines, battleships, new bombers, counter-insurgency forces, etc. The Bush-Powell doctrine of "Peace Through Strength" and "Overwhelming Force" is a continuation of U.S. imperialism's strategy to assert its military superiority over the whole world.
In addition to strengthening its own military machine, U.S. imperialism is strengthening a worldwide network of aggressive military alliances and pacts and drawing reactionary government's into the Pentagon's war strategy.
The Bush administration is continuing to push for "the enlargement of NATO to include nations with democratic values and free market economies" and to extend the operations of this aggressive, military alliance "to deal with the geopolitical problems of the Middle East and Eurasia."
In addition, U.S. imperialism keeps extending its web of alliances and bases throughout the Middle East, pre-positioning armaments in the Arab countries and carrying on joint operations with various local armies, further militarizing the Israeli state as its watchdog in the region, etc.
Similarly the Pentagon is working to integrate the armies of Latin America into the command structure of the Pentagon, using the so-called "war on drugs" to set up new counter-insurgency bases and deploy its own "advisers" on the continent.
In Asia, the Bush administration is strengthening military alliances with South Korea, instigating the rearming of Japan, sending new weapons systems to Taiwan, establishing new bases in the Phillippines, etc.
U.S. imperialism also remains the main prop for reactionary and fascist regimes throughout the world.
Since colonialism is based on the subjugation of the peoples, imperialism invariably attaches itself to and gives strength to the reactionary classes and social stratum. While imperialism finds it useful in many cases to maintain the fiction of the formal political independence of various countries, the reality is that not only the economic lifelines of these countries remain in hands of foreign capitalists but also the political, military, cultural and other aspects of the life of people. Under the neo-colonial system, U.S. imperialism carries out its exploitation of the peoples through an alliance with the internal capitalist and landlord classes. Representatives of the local exploiters are sent to Washington for political and military training and returned to their "native" land to rule on behalf of the U.S. multinational corporations. Such regimes rely on U.S. military aid and training to maintain their countries as safe havens for U.S. corporate investments. Just as in the past U.S. imperialism spawned and propped up such regimes as apartheid South Africa, the Shah of Iran, the dictatorships of Batista, Pinochet, Marcos, etc., so today, U.S. imperialism maintains the expansionist state of Israel as the 51st state of the U.S., continues to occupy the Korean peninsula and maintain a client regime in South Korea, arms the fascist Colombian government and its paramilitary forces, etc.
It is precisely because U.S. imperialism itself is the mainstay of reaction the world over, that it is the height of demagogy and hypocrisy when the U.S. government interferes in sovereign countries under the banner of "defending human rights," "halting ethnic cleansing," etc.
Inter-Imperialist Rivalries
The U.S. military machine is also used to "protect" and expand U.S. imperialism's empire from "theft" by rival capitalist powers.
Twice this century the imperialist system led humanity into world wars. While the capitalist powers fought to see which set of gangsters and robbers would hold the most economic territory and colonies, it was the working masses who paid the horrible price.
In the late 1950's, the transformation of the Soviet Union into an imperialist power gave rise to a bi-polar world in which the competing alliances and empire of U.S. imperialism clashed with Soviet social-imperialism. These 2 superpowers militarized the entire world, instigated regional, proxy wars and tried to impose a regime of nuclear blackmail on the peoples.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. imperialism more than ever is intent on being the sole superpower on the basis of "Might Makes Right."
But even while U.S. imperialism tries to keep its allies under its hegemony, the contradictions and rivalries keep breaking to the surface. The U.S. is unable to maintain its "grand alliance" against Iraq and even its close allies are rejecting the economic sanctions. For the last 10 years, the turmoil, the disintegration and wars in the former Yugoslavia are directly linked with the rivalries of the various imperialist powers. The growing integration of the European Community, the creation of the euro and the new EU military forces reflect the growing rivalry and struggle within U.S. imperialism's core NATO alliance. Struggles keep breaking out over trade barriers and currency flows, etc. At same time, sharp contradictions continue to exist with Russia, China and other countries. Already the intensifying rivalries between imperialist powers have fueled the wars in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans.
Trying to stop these centrifugal forces from undermining its hegemony, U.S. imperialism's strategy is to foment tensions and militarize every situation in order to insert itself into the equation. Thus, for ten years, U.S. imperialism worked to arm fascist elements on every side of the Balkan conflicts. And after creating chaos and organizing ethnic cleansing, U.S. imperialism dispatched its own troops to the region as "peacekeepers" and mapmakers. Yet still, nothing has been resolved and new wars over the division of the Balkans are brewing. Similarly, U.S. imperialism works to keep the pot boiling in Iraq and throughout the Middle East in order to project its military power throughout the region and establish its bases everywhere. Again, U.S. imperialism has only sowed seeds for another Persian Gulf war.
In short, war and militarism are part of the way of life of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class. The very contradictions of their economic and social system -- a system based on the enslavement of nations and characterized by intense conflict amongst competing capitalist monopolies and states -- inevitably lead the capitalists to war.
In this era, the people are subjected to two kinds of war: 1) wars waged by imperialism against the liberation movements of the peoples; and 2) inter-capitalist, inter-imperialist wars fought to see which robber and exploiter will control the most economic territory and empire. In both cases, the aims of imperialism are utterly reactionary and it is the working class and people -- in the U.S. and throughout the world -- who pay the horrible price.
(to be continued)