The recent nuclear deal signed by the rival bosses of Iran, the U.S., Russia, China and others has nothing to do with peace. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) limits Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons in exchange for an end to sanctions that have punished Iran’s economy and workers since 1979. But the agreement’s real purpose is to buy these rivals time to build their militaries for the broader imperialist wars to come.
Bosses’ ‘Peace’ = War
When the leaders talk of peace, the people know the war has already begun.
—Bertolt Brecht, communist poet
and playwright
In 2011, George Friedman’s The Next Decade warned that a military conflict between Russian and the U.S. (and its NATO allies) was inevitable. Friedman, founder of the private intelligence firm Stratfor and a former consultant to the U.S. armed forces and the arch-imperialist RAND Corporation, argues for “a temporary understanding with Iran … that gives the United States room to withdraw… [and] create a new regional balance of power” (Stratfor, 11/24/14).
In the halls of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, a “new regional balance of power” is code for propping up and pitting regional rivals against one another. U.S. rulers could then shift their focus to their longer-term plan, a prospective all-out war with Russia and/or China. That’s what the capitalists mean by “peace.”
JCPOA Spells FASCISM
The dominant U.S. bosses, tied to finance capital and the likes of ExxonMobil and Citigroup, are in disarray. Their invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were costly failures—not because they killed millions of workers, but because they failed to bring the bosses decisive victories. As a result, U.S. imperialism was weakened throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, the region that produces most of the world’s cheaply extracted oil.
To finance these failures, the rulers have imposed viciously racist budget cuts on the U.S. working class—and a siege of racist state terror to discourage insurrection. Yet despite this escalating repression, Black workers have led heroic rebellions against murderous police from Ferguson to Baltimore.
While a ground invasion of Iran will likely be needed, sooner or later, to consolidate the U.S. bosses’ regional control, rebellious Black workers may be more committed to fighting against the government than for it.
JCPOA will give the U.S. bosses a freer hand to impose fascism. Their first step will be to force the Tea Party and other rogue capitalist factions to support Exxon’s agenda. Then they’ll enlist—or coerce—workers to support the next U.S. imperialist bloodbath. Once again, the working class will be expected to pay, kill and die amid escalating racist police terror, mass unemployment and a sharp decline in living standards.
Powell Doctrine: Blueprint for Fascism and War
One of the top Exxon-backed strategists for U.S. imperialism and its fascist vision is Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the four-star general who oversaw the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 1990.
The Powell Doctrine holds that ready and willing ground troops, along with broad support from the U.S. working class, are essential to the continuing dominance of U.S. imperialism. But it also notes that a large-scale ground invasion will require years and massive investment. U.S. workers’ loyalty to the bosses’ war plans cannot be assumed, Powell says; it must be built.
While U.S. imperialism is in an increasingly desperate position, it cannot afford to stop defending its barbarous empire. Millions of workers will continue to be slaughtered as the world’s capitalists divide the planet and compete for profit and control.
Bosses’ Problems = Workers’ Opportunities
Workers worldwide have drawn inspiration from the anti-racist rebellions in Ferguson and Baltimore. For Black and Muslim workers, fascism is already well underway. Latin, immigrant and women workers are also bearing the brunt of U.S. fascist terror. From Iran to Russia, from China to the U.S., our enemies are the bosses who gun down, imprison and deport our class sisters and brothers.
The Progressive Labor Party fights to end imperialism once and for all with mass armed revolution for communism. PLP organizes for class war because the working class has no country; only international communism can end this imperialist nightmare. Only a red army can smash this capitalist system.
The JCPOA is a warning shot from the world’s capitalists to the international working class that bigger wars are coming. Join us to build a mass party of millions to destroy these racist borders—and smash the brutal imperialists who drew them!