Escalation of World War 3 and the Anti-Imperialist Front
Mwaivu Kaluka | Communist Party Marxist Kenya
There have been different categories of war in the world: there are just wars that have helped advance the progress of the people, and there are also unjust wars that have sought to maintain the status quo or reverse any progress.
Modern wars, especially WWI and WWII, represent the crisis of the Primitive accumulation of capital. One cannot understand these wars without a clear understanding of the laws of the development of imperialism in the world. To understand imperialism requires us to look at its historical development. We must also differentiate between mercantilist imperialism and modern imperialism as developed by Lenin.
The mercantilist imperialist stage was the womb in which the primitive stage of industrial capitalism was born. It was marked by maritime expeditions of people like Columbus in America and Vasco De Gama in the Indian route.
With this accumulated merchant capital, they went on to challenge the feudal mobility. This led to the bourgeois revolution in England, France, and the rest of Europe, and the merchant class became the new industrial bourgeoisie who would assert their strength as the new ruling class. The development of the steam engine developed the productive forces to a greater extent.
This was the period of free competitive capitalism, and it ran from the early 15th century to the late 20th century. However, this capital had a tendency to concentrate and centralize itself in a few hands. Concentration happened on the basis of big enterprises eliminating smaller ones out of competition, and centralization, on the other hand, happened on the basis of amalgamation of capital and through the Bank credit system.
The period of 1870-1890 saw the over-concentration and centralization of this capital, and this was the same when capitalism was facing the crisis of what has come to be called the long depression (1873-1890) marked with falling profitability. Lenin, while basing his analysis on the theory of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, explained this crisis very profoundly. It is also important to note that this was the same period when steam power was replaced by electric power.
This organic concentration of capital marked the new stage of monopoly capitalism. As Lenin observed, it was marked by the centralization and concentration of production, the coalescence of Bank and Industrial capital, the export of capital, the territorial division of the world among the imperialist countries, and the creation of monopoly cartels.
This was the higher stage of capitalism that we call modern Imperialism. After redividing the world amongst themselves, the imperialist powers would lock horns in competition for more outposts of capital. The First World War (1914-1918) was an expression of the crisis of the monopoly stage of capitalism.
The great October revolution in Russia changed the aspect of the liberation struggle in the colonies, but although the war had ended, the continued division of the world continued. Britain, which was then still the manufacturer of the world, would be forced to abandon the gold standard in 1931, and this was the period of the Great depression (1929-1939), where trade protectionism was strife, and the US industrial capacity was also looking for new outposts of capital in areas where European countries had benefited from their colonies.
The world would again be locked in another world war (1939-1945). After the war ended, Europe faced economic challenges from this war. The US, which had enjoyed steady industrial production, became the new superpower among the imperialist countries. The US was now dictating terms for the reorganisation of the world post- WWII. The famous Bretton Wood woods conference would establish the new financial architecture with all other currencies pegged to the dollar, and the dollar convertibility to gold set at $35 per ounce.
They also created the international Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), now called the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IBRD was to make possible the free flow of foreign capital, while the IMF prescribed both fiscal and monetary policies. The Marshal Plan was also launched with agreements like total self-determination of the colonised people, but the US pushed this because they were looking for outposts among the colonies. This General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) was also formed to ensure the removal of protectionist tariffs.
With the creation of these economic institutions like the World Bank, IMF, and GATT, the Imperialist block needed a dog to protect its economic interests. Under the Marshall Plan, on 4th April 1949, NATO was created in Washington D.C, it became the watchdog for global Finance Capital, beyond the pretext of containing the Socialist Eastern block, NATO also went on to overthrow socialist governments and install puppet regimes that would serve the broader interest of global finance capital. It became the war machinery for global financial capital.
Just like the end of WWI saw the first Socialist Republic, the Second World War saw the declaration of the People’s Republic of China (1949) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The economic stagnation of the 1960s also saw the loss of the US in its ‘Cold War’ proxy aggressions.
By 1971, the US abandoned the gold standard, but dollar hegemony was still maintained by the petrodollar, especially after the OPEC oil embargo. This marked another face of Monopoly capitalism, trying to adapt and survive. The neoliberal phase was a response to the stagnation of the 1960s. This period was marked by increased reduction of intervention of the state in production, devaluation of the national currency, devastated of SOE, cutting off public funding of basic goods and services, and international casualisation of labour.
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan became the leading representatives of neoliberal globalisation. There was also a shift from actual production to speculative capital in the form of Hedgefunds and the so called stock exchange. It wouldn’t take long before this burble of fi vicious capital would burst.
The 2007-2008 financial crisis exposed this inefficiency of fictitious capital. US hegemony in the world was also fading. By 2022, China had already become the largest economy when measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), and the imperialist bloc had suffered defeats in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
WWIII
World War III is happening right on our eyes, but it has not reached the stage of generalized war. Just as the first and the second, it is a manifestation of the economic crisis. WWIII will not be a single event; it has already begun, and we have to do something. The US and it’s subordinate western allies have prepared their military-industrial complex in NATO and private … to treat the world to another world war and to pacify the economic crisis of capitalism.
In East Asia, the US and its European allies have continued to use Taiwan as it’s Proxy ground against China. In the Korean Peninsula, South Korea has become the Proxy ground against the DPRK. The joint US-South Korea military operation is not just about containment but a preparation for an all-out war against the sovereignty of the DPRK.
The situation in Southwest Asia is worse. Palestine, which has faced Apartheid under the settler colonial regime of Israel for over 75 years, has been subjected to ethnic cleansing, sanctions, and artificial hunger by the genocidal Israel settler colonial state. We commend the brave national liberation fighters of the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigade for their continued fight. The Zionist regime has carpet-bombed Palestine, raped women and children, and starved them to death.
Following the US-sanctioned overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the US-ZIONIST axis has carried out its expansionist agenda by annexing more territories in Syria.
In Iran, the big oil Multinational companies like Chevron, Exxon, Devon, Shell have failed to expropriate Iranian oil since the Great Iranian revolution of 1979 led by Imam Ayatollah Khomeini, who was succeeded by the late Imam Ali Khamenei. Iran has also remained the leader of the axis of resistance, which is the biggest headwind to US domination and the project of greater Israel.
Iran is now facing open aggression from the US. Despite it’s commitment to the 2025 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the Obama administration and which was later rescinded by Trump in 2028. Iran under Article IV of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, has continued to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its nuclear programme with more than fifteen reports proving that Iran is peacefully developing it’s nuclear programme for energy, agriculture, and other human development.
Iran has also taught the US arrogance that it cannot be taken through the usual cycles of negotiation, war, and ceasefire. It is determined to wage a war to achieve perpetual peace for the region. Iran has an inalienable right to persue it’s nuclear program, and we stand with them under the firm leadership of the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
We continue to support the liberation struggles of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, Anwar Allah of Yemen, and the Islamic resistance forces in Iraq. These are not terrorist groups as imperialism would want us to believe; they are national liberation movements, and the imperialist forces call them terrorists just like they called the Mau Mau terrorists.
In Latin America, under the Monroe Doctrine, US imperialism continues to suppress the socialist projects in Cuba and Venezuela. The recent capture of comrades Nicolás Maduro and his Wife Cilia Flores was an act of infringement on the people of Venezuela. Their objective for regime change is only for US oil companies to expropriate Venezuela’s oil. The military operation, which left 32 Cubans dead and several Venezuelan soldiers.
The US has escalated its 65 years blockade against Cuba to total blockade against Cuba to total blockade. This had led to a lack of access to basic commodities in Cuba. The US has also said that the invasion of Cuba is in the offing. However, the US must be reminded of its defeat during the Bay of Pigs. The people of Cuba who helped liberate parts of Africa and the Cuban people will not submit to US demand; they will fight to the last drop of their blood.
In Eastern Europe, despite NATO promising not to continue expanding in the Eastern bloc, the US-EU-NATO axis orchestrated a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and installed the Neo-Nazi puppet government of Zelensky, which has continued to suppress the struggle of the people of Donetsk and Lugansk. This threat of Neo-Nazi is not just for Russia but for the whole world. The people of Russia, just like during the Great Patriotic War, continue to win decisive victories against the US-EU-NATO alliance.
Here in Africa, the US and France have continued to suppress the recent revolutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Through AFRICOM, they have continued to fund terrorist groups and impose sanctions through ECOWAS. The countries of the Sahelian states, that is, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, are trying to break away from the Imperialist chain, and they are trying to assert their independence.
The fundamental contradictions and Prospects for Anti-Imperialist Struggles.
As we have seen above comrades, the Major Contradictions in the world remain between 1) Monopoly Capital and Labour 2) The Inter-Imperialist Contradiction between imperialist powers for World Hegemony and different spheres of influence. 3) The contradiction between oppressed nations against Imperialism and local reaction.
The workers in the advanced capitalist countries who continue to face increased cuts on wages and social protection in the middle of bloating inflation and an eroded welfare state must continue to wage a relentless struggle to achieve the Socialist revolution. The socialist revolution is the only possible way for the countries at the centres of Capital.
The second contradiction between imperialist powers is a confirmation of the fact that despite the advancement of capitalism to it’s monopolist stage, competition still exist and the general finance Capital does not exist as a monolithic whole. There are contradictions among the financial oligarchy class, which reflects competing finance capital.
This has been evident with the recent competition between the US and Denmark with regard to Greenland, and also the disagreement between NATO Member states on the US-ISRAEL aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Lenin taught us that this is not the period of falling into national chauvinism of the Second International with the slogan of defending the ‘Fatherland’, as revolutionaries, we must expose these contradictions to our people and turn these imperialist wars into civil wars.
For the third contradiction, these national liberation struggles have become part and parcel of the World Proletarian Revolution. Since the advent of World War I and the October Socialist Revolution in Russia, the terrain of these national struggles has assumed a new character.
The era of bourgeois-democratic revolution is over; we have now entered the era of bourgeois-democratic revolution of a new type, that is, the National Democratic revolution with a socialist perspective. For nations that are still oppressed by imperialism and where industrialization has been impeded, and pre-capitalist relations remain, the National Democratic Revolution remains the most direct route to socialist construction.
The Working class remain the leading force that will rally behind the other nationally oppressed classes, the peasantry, and sections of the petty-bourgeoisie to establish the People’s Democratic State under the joint class dictatorship of the Worker, Peasants as the embryo of the Dictatorship of the proletariat, which will succeed it.
We must continue to build both bilateral and multilateral relations within our different organizations to consolidate an international United Front that will help defeat Imperialism.
The only answer is proletarian revolution.
In revolutionary unity,
