Imperialist measures aggravate the world economic crisis

Imperialist measures aggravate the world economic crisis

Only the organized and mobilized working class can give a progressive way out of the war.

Masses 659 – Editorial, March 6 ^th  , 2022

The United States did not accept Russia’s request for Ukraine not to join NATO, when there was still only movement of Russian troops on the borders of the two countries. Thus, they left Putin with no alternative but to militarily occupy Ukraine and move towards overthrowing the Zelensky government.

The imperialism knew that an empty-handed retreat by the Russian Armed Forces was unthinkable. By not seeking an agreement to neutralize Ukraine, Biden absolutely knew that the war would begin. He also knew that NATO could not intervene directly against Russia’s military operation.

The division within the European bourgeoisie regarding an action of this nature put a limit to the North American directive of encouraging a war that would go beyond the borders of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government and oligarchy admitted to turn their country into a pawn in the imperialist directive, to close the military siege of Russia. Everyone was perfectly aware that Ukraine would be ruined, that there would be no way to militarily resist the incursion of Russian troops, that the nuclear facilities could not be protected, that there would be slaughter of civilians, and that there would be a mass wave of refugees. Both the United States and its European allies, as well as Russia, had done the math of the barbaric consequences of the war, which it is not yet known how far it will go.

Russia is not an economic power, but it remained a military power in the post-war period, a heritage of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which was completely degenerated and very far from the one that originated in the October Revolution of 1917. For now, these conditions allowed Putin to go to war in Ukraine, a much bolder step than the one taken in Georgia. The United States counts on its adversary’s economic weakness to attack it from its weakest flank. Biden managed to enlist the European powers to react in the field of trade war, and to encourage popular resistance, sending weapons and resources to Zelensky.

Biden’s plan to suffocate the Russian economy has been put into action. But not as the Americans intended. Russia’s withdrawal from the international payment system (Swift) has hit part of Russian banks and financial operations. That’s because the Europeans couldn’t risk Russia finding itself in the contingency of cutting off gas supplies. The old trade war between the oil monopolies became evident, around the gas pipeline that connects producing Russia to consuming Europe. The acceptance by Germany to suspend the entry into operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline reflected the United States’ objective of limiting – and if possible controlling – Russia’s ability to influence the market for such strategic commodities.

The warlike tendencies of imperialism have been strengthened in the last period, in line with the resurgence of the US trade war fundamentally against China and Russia. The advance of the NATO siege of Russia, through the former people’s republics of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, is part of the siege that the United States is mounting around China. Since 2005, US imperialism has been increasing pressure on its most powerful competitor.

The persistence of the world crisis puts the greatest power on a collision course with all countries that offer some kind of resistance to the interests of the North American bourgeoisie. China in Asia and Russia in Europe form two points of convergence in the trade war. This world movement of US imperialism is at the root of the crisis in Ukraine.

It is clear that the economic-financial measures applied against Russia will affect Europe as a whole, and the rest of the world. There is already a significant rise in the prices of oil, gas, raw materials and food. The monopolies hope to gain a lot from the Ukrainian conflict. This in the conditions in which the world masses continue to suffer from the catastrophic consequences of the Pandemic. The dictatorial measures imposed by the United States will affect not only Russia, but also most of the weak economies of world capitalism. They will not only affect the exploited Russians – which would already be highly reprehensible – but also the entire world.

The banner of immediate revocation of the anti-national and anti-popular measures of Biden and allies joins those that the CERQUI (acronym for Liaison Committee for the Reconstruction of the IV International) has been holding: “NATO dismantling; end of US military bases in Europe and around the world; immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine; self-determination and territorial unity of Ukraine; recovery of the revolutionary conquests of the proletariat by the October Revolution, and building up of the USSR”. Only the organized and mobilized working class, as the leadership of the oppressed majority, can find a progressive way out of the crisis of decaying capitalism and war.