Capitalist barbarism is let loose! There's only one way out: class struggle!

The bloody attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall on 22 March, Putin's cold cynicism in Ukraine, the murderous hardline of the Netanyahu government's mass slaughter and starvation of civilians... all this confirms that the capitalist system is bankrupt, that bourgeois society is well and truly being sucked into a vortex of destruction and widespread chaos. And this process can only accelerate, as in the frightening unravelling of the Middle East, where the risk of a catastrophic direct confrontation between two regional powers, Israel and Iran, is immense.

The ICC has repeatedly highlighted the historical dynamic of chaos that has reigned over capitalist society since the disappearance of the blocs and the inevitable weakening of American leadership on the planet. Discipline between "allies" is now tending to disappear, and the sordid imperialist interests of the major and minor powers are running riot. Even a US ally like Israel, which depends entirely on US protection, has the freedom to do as it pleases, to step up its provocations, such as the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and to unleash chaos in the region that Washington is trying as best it can to curb. As for Iran, it has been adding fuel to the fire since the start of the war in Gaza (through Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis) and has just taken the confrontation a step further by launching a massive air attack directly against Israel. Despite the desperate attempts of the United States to contain the flare-up, developments in the Middle East confirm the continuing decline of its power over the world and risk dragging the region towards a generalised conflagration.

The bourgeoisie can do nothing about the deadly dynamics of its system. The chronic economic crisis, ecological disasters and wars are the ugly face of the decomposition of capitalism, the rotting on its feet of a society based on an obsolete mode of production, shaped by the exploitation of labour power, competition between all against all and war, and which now has nothing to offer but terror, suffering and death. More and more parts of the world are becoming unliveable for their populations, like Haiti in the grip of chaos, abandoned to criminal gangs, or like many states in Africa and Latin America, opened up to widespread corruption, warlords, mafias, and drug traffickers.

US elections, a source of increased instability

The epicentre of this downward spiral lies at the very heart of capitalism, first and foremost in the world's leading power, the United States. After escalating the chaos of recent decades by trying to impose its role as the world's policeman (in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular), the US is using every means to counter its irreversible decline, and is not hesitating to trample underfoot its former "allies", now rivals.

The implementation of this policy is also exacerbating tensions within the American bourgeoisie itself, as can be seen from the clashes that are already marking the campaign leading up to November's presidential election. These tensions are fuelling the instability of the American political apparatus, which is becoming increasingly fragmented and polarised, not only by the divisions between Republicans and Democrats, but also and above all by the growing rifts within each of the two rival camps. For the moment, the populist Trump is emerging as the favourite, despite all the attempts to incapacitate him. In fact, the groundswell of populism remains deeply entrenched in American politics, as is also clearly evident in several European countries.

This situation plunges not only the American bourgeoisie into uncertainty but also those in high places throughout the world, as they cannot determine in advance what Washington's position will be on the burning issues affecting world geopolitics. These clashes between factions within the American bourgeoisie (from Trump's inflammatory statements to the political deadlock in Congress over military support for Ukraine) are a major accelerator of imperialist instability.

Bloody deepening of imperialist each against all

Domestic disorder is undermining the credibility and authority of the United States itself, which is also increasingly undermined by a chaotic international situation. This instability is encouraging its major rivals and secondary powers even more: it is bolstering Putin's irrational claims and galvanising Zelensky’s deadly logic of war to the end, and stimulating the war fever of Netanyahu, Iran and its terrorist affiliates. And while China is avoiding any immediate response to Washington's provocations and pressure, it is stepping up its own pressure on Taiwan and the Philippines and looking more openly at the longer-term possibility of strengthening its status as a challenger to Uncle Sam.

The growing aggressiveness of the imperialist sharks, large and small, who are trying to exploit the clashes between bourgeois cliques in the United States, in no way means that they will be spared internal tensions. Putin is caught between the butchery in the Donbass and the terrorist campaigns of Islamic State, whose forces are infiltrating from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, a threat that the ruling clan and its secret services had failed to neutralise despite warnings from various foreign secret services. In China, Xi is faced with a stagnant economy, the destabilisation of the "Silk Roads" project due to the prevailing chaos, and internal tensions within the apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party. Israel's headlong rush is the product of fierce confrontations between the hardline nationalist cliques in power and other factions of the bourgeoisie, as well as the struggle for political survival of Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020.

The current instability of US policy is also worrying European bourgeoisies and is tending to accentuate the divisions within the EU itself over the policy to adopt in the face of pressure from NATO and the United States. As a result, the quarrels within the "Franco-German couple", already constrained in a "forced marriage", are intensifying.

The future of humanity does not lie in the ballot box

Faced with the sinking of society into barbarism, the proletariat can expect nothing from the forthcoming presidential elections in America, or indeed from any of the other elections to come. Whatever the outcome of the Presidential election in the United States, it will in no way reverse the trend towards chaos, war and the fragmentation of the world, and the working class will suffer more than ever the consequences of capitalist exploitation. Elections are only important to spread the illusion among the working class that it can influence the course of events by making the "right choice", whereas the electoral circus is nothing more than conflict between bourgeois cliques which are competing ever more sharply for power. Contrary to the lies spread by the Democrats, and in particular by leftist groups, comparing a "progressive" or "lesser evil" camp of Biden to the "absolute evil" of Trump, the proletariat will have to counter the "democratic" discourse, refuse the electoral trap and wage its autonomous class struggle.

As for the bourgeois factions in the US, they are only fighting over the most effective and least costly strategy for perpetuating the American supremacy that they all agree they want to maintain by any means, whatever the consequences for humanity and the planet. Attack Iran militarily or weaken it through an economic blockade? Increase the pressure on Russia to the point of it imploding, or feed the war of attrition? Or threaten the security of its European "allies"? Whatever the answers, they will always be part of the logic of war, and its financing will always demand new sacrifices from workers. In short, whichever faction wins the elections, the result will be further instability, new massacres and a scorched earth policy.

The proletariat must continue its class struggle

In the face of this unspeakable barbarity, in the face of the promise of widespread chaos, the proletariat represents the only possible alternative to save the human race from a destruction determined by the murderous dynamic of a decadent capitalist system. The working class has returned to its struggle, and its revolutionary potential remains intact. It is still able, in the long term, to affirm its perspective and its communist project.

It is for this struggle that we must fight as a class, rejecting from now on the logic of war and sacrifice. The bourgeois rhetoric that presents war as a "necessity" in the name of preserving peace is a disgusting lie! The real culprit is the capitalist system!

EKA, 18 April 2024