The U.S. is an imperialist superpower in steep decline. A recent case in point: At the G20, a conference of the world’s largest economies, the Big Fascist liberals—the multinational banks and energy companies that control the Democratic Party—utterly failed in their attempts to isolate rival imperialist Russia. From the New York Times (7/8): "[I]n a reflection of why Russia’s economy continues to function, [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov did meet directly with…major nations that have declined to join the Western-led coalition against his country.”
As the U.S.-European alliance behind Ukraine seems exhausted, Russia has strengthened its economic ties with regional powers from Iran and India to Brazil and Mexico. Imperialist China, the greatest threat to U.S. dominance, dismissed an appeal from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to join the anti-Russia coalition. U.S. sanctions be damned, Russia is raking in record revenues from fossil fuels (NYT, 6/13). (The ruble is up nearly 30 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.) All the while, millions of workers worldwide are starved and impoverished by droughts, floods, and an inflationary spiral with no end in sight.
Despite unequaled wealth and the world’s largest armed forces, the U.S. seems powerless to stop the Chinese imperialists from expanding their economic influence. Despite billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, it can’t stop Russia from grabbing more territory. As diplomacy and threats fail, the bosses will settle their disagreements with bullets and bombs. Regardless of who wins, workers will pay the price with their blood. It is up to the working class of the world to turn this imperialist war into class war for communism–workers’ power.
U.S. rulers’ split points to fascism
To fight off a life-and-death challenge from the Small Fascists, the gutter racists and sexists who control the Republican Party and the U.S. Supreme Court [see Glossary, p. 6], the Big Fascists of finance capital can’t keep running things in the old way. Liberal democracy—the lipstick on the pig of capitalist dictatorship—never served the interests of the working class. Now it’s not even working for the liberal bosses. Full-blown fascism—with wholesale state terror—is on the horizon. It’s the only way for the liberals to stop the Small Fascists. It’s the only way they’ll be able to enlist workers into the U.S. military, facing its worst recruiting crisis since the draft ended in 1973 (foxnews.com, 7/6). The U.S. bosses know they’ll need that military to fight, sooner than later. In China and Russia, without the constraints of liberal democracy, the rulers are more unified, more efficient fascists at this stage of the game. They have a head start toward World War III.
The world’s rising instability is a great danger for the international working class—but also a huge opportunity to smash the profit system once and for all. Workers are enraged by the capitalist status quo, as attested by the thousands in Sri Lanka who stormed their war criminal president’s residence. Their fury and courage are unquestioned—but to change the world, they need communist leadership.
Progressive Labor Party is small today. So were the Bolsheviks before World War I and the Chinese communists before World War II. Like them, we have the potential to grow quickly. Our historic task is to organize millions to turn the next world war into communist revolution.
Europe: U.S. friends in shambles
In February, at the start of the current conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. bosses trumpeted the rebirth of NATO and the unity of the West. Five months later, their most important partners are in turmoil. Small Fascist parties are surging throughout Europe. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority—due mainly to the breakout success of the National Rally, the gang of nazis that opposes the war in Ukraine (Politico, 6/22). In Italy, the government collapsed when the anti-Ukraine war Five Star Party withdrew its support (Guardian, 7/14). In Britain, the war effort’s staunchest backer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned in a sea of scandal.
 All the while, Russia has been paying for the war with profits from gas and oil sales to the United States’ most trusted partners. As the New York Times noted (7/12), “Ukraine’s steadfast NATO allies are tired. This war has already contributed to a huge spike in natural gas, gasoline and food prices in Europe — and if it drags into the winter, many families in the European Union (E.U.) may have to choose between heating and eating.” In Germany, the EU’s alpha dog, whole industries could collapse if Russia cuts natural gas exports (businessinsider.com, 7/4).
As economies in Europe go from bad to worse, the competition between capitalist factions will intensify. Both sides are disasters for our class. But it’s the liberal misleaders—with their track record for mass slaughter and their strategy to pacify militant fightback—who are the main danger. They’re the express train to fascism. Workers have but two real choices: to fight in the bosses’ next global war for profit, or to join the historic struggle for communist revolution.
U.S. runs into a BRICS wall
Since Richard Nixon went to China 50 years ago, the U.S. ruling class has played Russia, China, and India against one another. But today, in the face of U.S. weakness, these longtime adversaries are growing closer. India needs cheap fuel for its growing economy and huge population; since the Ukraine war began, it has spent five times as much on Russian oil as in all of 2021 (Forbes, 7/13). China, whose own economy is in a nosedive, flouts U.S. sanctions by buying record amounts of Russian crude (oilprice.com, 7/6).
Now the alliance known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is expanding, with Iran and Argentina set to join in 2023. In May, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, and Nigeria attended the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting for the first time (The Diplomat, 7/13). As capitalism in crisis heads toward world war, it is impossible to predict how these countries will align. But what seems certain is that the situation is volatile—and is heading toward a boiling point.
The new Russia-Iran axis
Besides enriching Moscow’s treasury, the United States’ moves to punish Russia have backfired by uniting two of its arch-enemies, Russia and Iran. The Big Fascists hoped to delay Iran’s development of nuclear weapons by reviving the nuclear deal engineered by Barack Obama—until Russia torpedoed the strategy by persuading Iran to insist on a lifting of sanctions against Russia (NYT, 7/14). On July 19, Vladimir Putin met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top leader, who proclaimed that Russia was justified in invading Ukraine. According to a Kremlin spokesman, a “strategic cooperation” treaty with Iran is on the table (NYT, 7/19). U.S. bosses’ immediate fear is that Iran will sell Russia state-of-the-art battlefield drones, which could tip the balance in artillery warfare in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia and India are pursuing a land-and-sea trade route through Iran, avoiding Europe and any potential obstructions. It’s a big boost for Russia, and a sign that Iran is open to new transnational commerce—independent of the U.S. dollar—that would render U.S. sanctions almost useless (Bloomberg, 7/14).
The only solution
As the U.S. empire falters, China and Russia are growing bolder in challenging the U.S. bosses’ dominance. All of these imperialist powers spell death and destruction for the international working class. All of them use the rotten ideas of nationalism and patriotism to try to deceive us into killing our class sisters and brothers.
This deadly equation won’t change by removing Putin or electing a new U.S. president or threatening the Chinese bosses. Reforms can’t stop the capitalist rulers’ from slaughtering millions in their ruthless drive for maximum profits. Only a mass communist movement can turn the guns against the bosses and end inter-imperialist war for good. Fight for communism! Join Progressive Labor Party!