Humanity calls for peace, freedom and human dignity. A man-made war against innocent people has no place in global affairs. The unwarranted war in Ukraine must stop on all sides. We, the working people of the world call for an immediate halt to all war. 

People who want to understand the modern world and why it erupts periodically into wars must forget the Putins and their ilk, they must tear away the political coverings with their smoke-screens of propaganda. Then they will see the process of production, the only basis of life, the making and growing of food, the milling and the mining, yes, and the moulding of guns. For the class that owns the world does not want to lose it, they quarrel with each other for bigger slices of it, and, finally, they are afraid of having to give it up altogether. Shorn of their political trappings, nations are merely the geographical incarnations of national capitalist enterprises competing with each other for commercial supremacy.

What are the essentials required by capitalists in their hunt for profits?

Firstly, they must have access to raw materials (minerals, oil, etc.).

Secondly, a working-class willing to labour for them, and

Thirdly, an entry to markets where they can unload their goods at a profit.

In all three essentials, the European Union are a good first while Russia is the runner-up loser. The reasons for this are historical and need not concern us here. Nor need we explain why Russia has been left behind in economic development and is now forced to combine brutal imperialism with a belated sprint to bring its economy into the competition.  

 The purpose of this article is to expose the mercenary nature of this war, which the allies of Ukraine’s government claim are being fought for “principles of international justice,” “rights of national sovereignty” “freedom,” etc. All of which may be good propaganda with which to get factory-fodder to become cannon-fodder. The working class everywhere have still to learn that violence in language and method are often used by movements that are most reactionary.

Two main arguments are presented in order to obtain working-class support for this war:

(1) That the workers’ standard of living is bound up with the maintenance or increase of the national boundaries of their respective countries.

(2) That this war is a struggle against a particularly obnoxious and reactionary regime, whose removal would mean the release and triumph of progressive and democratic ideas.

But the removal of reactionary governments by means of war does not ensure progress or democracy. For it ignores the mass-mentality that alone can help them to power. Let Putin be overthrown tomorrow and you are still left with millions of Russians whose minds cannot as yet grasp the advantages of free expression of political views. Bombs and bullets can never be the means of enlightenment.

The oligarchs, they possess more wealth than ordinary people can ever dream about. They enjoy luxury and privilege and wield enormous power.  They are no better than the common person. They are no wiser, no smarter, nor do they work harder yet they rule over us. We create their wealth and without us they are nothing. Yet we are scared to challenge and topple our oppressors because we fear them and so we remain obedient and compliant to their demands. To control us them they turn against you and me against one another. They pit us against each other along national and racial lines. Workers must be made to feel threatened by competing workers. Our aims in life are different to theirs. If we create solidarity with each other and decide to co-operate rather than compete against each other, we can start to talk about revolution. The problem is that working people are not administering the world. They are and we got to change that.

 There can be no place for the present narrow patriotism, the bigoted nationalist chauvinism that serves the oligarchs so well.

Nationalism serves as a powerful wedge, weakening the workers’ movements and preventing them from uniting against capital. It  retards the process of building class unity and consciousness. The Socialist Party opposes this war, as it opposed all wars, for its butchery, its bestiality and the hardships it brings to working people, whose struggles for existence are already a crying indictment of a world where the powers of production are only equalled by the powers of destruction.

The overwhelming majority of the working class do not see things our way, however little enthusiasm they may have for waging war. True, there are a number of small movements, that, for various reasons, are opposed to war. There are pacifists, whose genuine opposition springs from religious or humanitarian grounds, and the left-wing, who now claim to be making a socialist appeal. None of them takes the stand of the Socialist Party whose case is based on an understanding of the social system that causes wars. Nor can there be any comparison for consistency.

One thing is certain. Revolt against war itself can have no lasting achievement. The Bolsheviks came to power out of the chaos and discontent caused by World War One and we saw this very Party lead the Russian masses into a new era of aggression and invasion

The time is past for any half-measures. Capitalism has reached a desperate moment. Scarcely a year has gone by without bringing to the world further chaos in the shape of war and ethnic persecution whose magnitude brought governments toppling from their seats of power.

This is why the attack on war and the war-mongers must be aimed at capitalism itself. The World Socialist Movement alone can point the way to peace.

NO WAR

Paula Garb, a longtime activist who lived in the Soviet Union for 20 years and worked as a peacemaker during conflicts in Georgia and other areas of the post-Soviet bloc, said:

“It does seem as though maybe there is 50 or 60 percent of the whole country which may not be happy about the conflict, but are just accepting the Russian government’s narrative. Thousands of people are willing to be activists, but it may not be enough — yet.”

The Russian People Are Not the Russian Government, Activists Remind Us (truthout.org)

PEACE

The great aim of the World Socialist Movement is the elimination of war forever from the world. But this can be accomplished only by the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism – that is, by the victory of the working class in the class war. Socialists are actively for the victory of the working class in the class war since only through such victory can war in general be done away with. The real roots of the war are in the class system of society. It Is not the love of democracy but the defence of national capitalist interests that pushes countries into war. The only way to end the madness of war is to end the system which inevitably leads to the horrors and atrocities of it.

The inner conflicts of capitalism lead and must lead to war. War is not the cause of the troubles of society. The opposite is true. War is a symptom. The only way to fight against war is to fight against the causes of war. Since the causes of war are the nature of capitalism, it follows that the only way to fight against war is to fight against capitalism. It, therefore, follows that the only possible struggle against war is the struggle for a socialist revolution. 

Ask any soldiers what they fight for? For what do they shed the blood of their brother workers of their neighbouring country? For what do they cripple people? They will not tell you, they will not answer, because they themselves do not really know. Ask any one of them and each will cite you for a different reason. The problem is that words and practice do not coincide. War has other causes, other purposes, other reasons. What homeland does the worker have, what homeland do the dispossessed have? Do they have a homeland? The generals have a homeland, and so do the landowners, the merchants, the manufacturers and all those who carry a fat wallet in their pocket. To these, the wealthy. The homeland gives them all rights and privileges and the State concern itself about their fate. But what does the fatherland or motherland give to the worker, be he Russian or Ukrainian? The struggle to put food on the table, the struggle against poverty and lack of rights, oppression at the hands of the master, landowner and landlord, insults, grief, illness and humiliation.

For the poor, the motherland is a wicked stepmother, the fatherland is a cruel stepfather. 

What kind of homeland is it if tens of millions are hired slaves working day and night for a handful of capitalists? What kind of homeland is it if these tens of millions of workers have nothing to lose but their chains? What kind of homeland is it when it is not the people themselves who conduct the affairs of the homeland, enact laws, supervise the national economy and control the national budget, but a handful of masters, of wealthy exploiters?



The capitalists of the whole world are now united in alliances that plunder and oppress the workers in many countries. The capitalists set the workers of one country against the workers of another country in order to strengthen their hold on workers throughout the world. The capitalists wage war in order to share out the spoils and weaken the workers by division. Thus those who speak about wars in terms of the defence of freedom and the homeland are lying. There is only one way to defend freedom and right, to defend the cause of the working class in war – agreement among the workers of every country and their common struggle against the capitalists in the name of a socialist society.

With all the nationalistic preaching, it is easy to obscure the fact the bottom of all war, there are economic causes.  Nationalism is the cloak behind which the economic causes work. Nationalism leads inevitably to chauvinism and to national aggression. It leads to patriotism for the soil, for the particular bit of the earth’s surface on which a particular person has been born. It leads to narrowness and bigotry, to national jealousy and petty pride. Nationalism is the best for the intrigues and machinations of capitalists.

Marx

https://twitter.com/i/status/1500787231950213121

Lenin

https://twitter.com/i/status/1502265756821696513

During the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the collective wealth of billionaires in the United States grew by a staggering $1.7 trillion as Covid-19 killed millions of people across the globe and threw entire nations into turmoil, worsening extreme poverty, hunger, and other preexisting crises.

Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) finds that the 704 billionaires in the U.S. now own more combined wealth than the 165 million people in the bottom half of the country’s wealth distribution.

“For billionaires, it’s been two years of raking in the riches, while for most families it’s been two years of fear, frustration, and financial worry,” ATF executive director Frank Clemente said.

“The rising asset values billionaires have enjoyed over the past two years are not taxable unless the assets are sold,” ATF explains. “But billionaires don’t need to sell assets to benefit from their increased value: they can live off money borrowed at cheap rates secured against their rising fortunes. And when all those wealth gains are passed along to the next generation, they entirely disappear for tax purposes.”

According to ATF’s new analysis, the biggest billionaire winners during the coronavirus pandemic’s first two years were:

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who saw his net worth skyrocket by $209 billion;Google co-founder Larry Page, whose fortune grew by $63 billion; andGoogle co-founder Sergey Brin, whose wealth increased by $60 billion.

“Not one of the 15 richest U.S. billionaires gained less than $10 billion,” ATF noted 

700 US Billionaires Got $1.7 Trillion Richer During Two Years of Pandemic (commondreams.org)

  The ongoing war in Ukraine is likely to significantly drive up global food prices and worsen malnourishment in the Global South.

“The war in Ukraine not only has a dramatic impact on the lives of civilians but also has global repercussions,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres this week. “Developing countries already in dire situations can simply not afford skyrocketing prices of food, fuel, and other essential goods.”

“The global number of undernourished people could increase by eight to 13 million people in 2022 and 2023,” says a new report by FAO, the global food agency. With both Ukraine and Russia’s ability to produce and export food uncertain, a global supply gap “could push up international food and feed prices by 8% to 22% above their already elevated levels,” it said.

FAO said up to 30% of Ukrainian wheat fields will not be harvested in the 2022 to 2023 season due to the violence.

“Cereal crops will be ready for harvest in June,” said FAO Director General Qu Dongyu. “Whether farmers in Ukraine would be able to harvest them and deliver to the market is unclear. Massive population displacement has reduced the number of agricultural laborers and workers.”

Qu continued, “The likely disruptions to agricultural activities of these two major exporters of staple commodities could seriously escalate food insecurity globally, when international food and input prices are already high and volatile,” said Qu. “The conflict could also constrain agricultural production and purchasing power in Ukraine, leading to increased food insecurity locally.”

Qu said it was uncertain whether wealthy countries in the Global North would fill the gap caused by the war, with wheat supplies “already running low in Canada” and the U.S., Argentina, and other countries likely to limit exports in order to shore up domestic supplies.

Ukraine is the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat products, while Russia is the largest. Combined, the two countries export more than a third of the world’s grain products, including 19% of barley supplies, 14% of wheat, and 4% of maize. Russia also is the top exporter of fertilizer products, with many countries in Europe and Central Asia relying on Russia for more than half of their fertilizer supplies.

At least 50 countries rely on Ukraine or Russia for 30% or more of their wheat supplies, particularly in the Global South. In 2021, Eritrea’s wheat imports came entirely from the two countries. According to the U.N. Development Program, before the war 66% of the Eritrean population was already unable to obtain adequate food. Lebanon, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and Pakistan also source roughly half of their wheat supplies from either Ukraine or Russia.

UN Warns Russia’s Attack on Ukraine Could Spike Global Food Prices by 22% (commondreams.org)

Who is to blame?

For people in Ukraine, the horror is just beginning. Hiding from bombardment in their basements, they will soon face hunger and then epidemics… And above them, on the streets – explosions, fire, the thunder of tanks, the whistle of bullets, the debris of fallen buildings, the cries of the wounded and dying, the foul smell of unburied corpses.

But who is to blame?

Everyone knows the answer. Putin is to blame.

No argument about it. Putin personally bears enormous responsibility – responsibility in line with the power that he has concentrated in his hands. But is there no one at all in his entourage capable of speaking out honestly as a colleague and not simply as a subordinate?

And is there in the Russian armed forces not a single general or officer capable of refusing to carry out an unlawful order? And is there in Russia’s wide expanses not a single work collective prepared to strike against the war?

Many, many people have made their modest – or maybe not so very modest – contribution to creating the conditions in which this war has become possible. In Russia, in Ukraine, in the West.

In Ukraine, these are the politicians who have shown intolerance for the needs and demands of the Russian-speaking regions. And the soldiers who have been shelling the residents of the Donbass since 2014.

In the West, these are the politicians in the service of the military-industrial complex who have refused to take account of vital Russian security interests and single-mindedly expanded NATO with its missiles to the East, right up to the very borders of Russia. The so-called experts, Western and Ukrainian, who have insisted that there can be no concessions to Russia, no compromise with it.

In the final analysis, what is to blame is the very system of dividing the world up into separate states and blocs with conflicting power interests. 

Кто виноват?

Для людей нав Украине ужас только начинается. К скрывающимся от бомбардировок в подвалах скоро придут голод, а потом эпидемии… И наверху, на улицах — будут взрывы, пожарыпламена, гром танков, свист пульей, щебень разрушенныхпавших зданий, крики раненых и умирающих, отвратительныйзлой запах непогребенных трупов.

А кто виноват?

Ответ известен всем. Виноват Путин виноват.

БесспорноНет спора, Путин лично несет огромную ответственность — ответственность соизмеримуюсоразмеримую с той властью, которую он сосредоточил в своих руках. Но разве нет ли в его окружении хотя быь одного человека, способного выступиать честно, какв качестве коллега,и а не просто подчиненныйого?

И разве нет ли в российских вооруженных силах хотя быь одного генерала или офицера, способного отказаться выполнить противозаконный указ? И разве нет ли в широких просторах России хотя быь одного рабочего коллектива, готового бастовать против войны?

Очень многие нанесли свой скромный – или, может быть, не такой уж скромный – вклад в созданиеи тех условий, в которых эта война стала возможной. В России, нав Украине, на Западе.

НаВ Украине – это все те деятели, которыето невнимательнотерпеливо отнеслись к нуждам и требованиям русскоязычных регионов. И те военные, которыето обстреливали жителей Донбасса с 2014 года.

На Западе — это все те деятели, в службе военно-промышленного комплекса, которыето отказались учесть коренные российские интересы в области безопасности и стремительно расширияли НАТО с его ракетами на вВосток, вплоть до самих границ России. Те так называемые эксперты, западные и украинские, которыето настаивали на недопустимостиступимость каких бы то ни быловсяких уступок России, какого бы то ни быловсякого компромисса с ней.

В конечном счёте, виновата сама система деления мира на отдельные государства и блоки с конфликтующими властными интересами.

Stephen Shenfield 

World Socialist Party of the United States