Syria: Key to Russian Imperialism

As the Russian capitalists scale back their recent bombing campaign in Syria, they’re calling it a “withdrawal.” But the international working class should make no mistake: The Russian bosses are leveraging their military might to consolidate and expand their influence in the oil-rich Middle East. They will use their strengthened position to extort more favorable terms in the upcoming “peace” talks that could wind up partitioning Syria.
Sooner than later, the Russian rulers’ maneuvering will translate into a more intense conflict with the U.S. bosses, whose empire also relies on controlling Middle Eastern oil. In the current period, capitalists around the world are intensifying racism, sexism, nationalism and fascism in attempts to coerce workers to kill and be killed in the bosses’ wars.
The international working class must reject all of these toxic ideologies. Workers can be liberated only by their own class—and by building a mass revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party. Capitalist bosses will never “withdraw” their violent dictatorship over the working class. That’s why PLP fights back against the entire capitalist system.
Our Party is building toward armed revolution in every country to smash racism, sexism, national borders and imperialism. From Anaheim to Ankara, every anti-immigrant rally is an opportunity to build international solidarity. From Pakistan to Palestine, every racist, sexist budget attack is an opportunity to fight back. These are the sparks of communist revolution. Our organizing will fan the flames.
Syria: Russia’s Imperialist Key
The Syrian port city of Tartus is Russia’s only access point to the Mediterranean Sea. Without Tartus, Russian warships would need to pass through the narrow Bosporus Strait—controlled by the U.S. bosses’ powerful regional ally, Turkey—to return to their Black Sea bases. The Russian bosses can’t afford to lose this port to U.S.-backed Syrian “rebels,” a big factor in their support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. At the same time, they’ve suggested that they’d accept Assad’s removal if their interests were guaranteed (Reuters, 12/18/15).
From newly expanded bases in both Tartus and Latakia, Russia’s rulers have ensured direct access to the Middle East’s energy resources. They’ve also blocked plans by U.S., Turkish and Qatari capitalists plans to overthrow Assad and build their own pipeline through Syria:
The Russians have placed an impenetrable obstacle to the development of the [U.S.-backed] Qatar gas pipeline. Russia has also placed itself at the nexus point of other new offshore gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, Cyprus, and Greece (Oilprice.com, 3/16/16).
Meanwhile, as the Boston Globe (3/16/16) pointed out, the abrupt halt to their heavy bombing of Syria (if only temporarily) helps the Russian bosses on several fronts:
The Russians have a lot at stake in the shattered country. Moscow wants to keep Syria open to Russian goods, particularly arms and machinery, since the Russian economy is so driven by the oil and gas sectors….Putin will now have more time to focus on [the war in Ukraine] as he seeks guarantees that [Ukraine] will not join NATO….In addition, Putin’s decision to cut the campaign short helps to limit the growing anger among [Sunni Muslims] over Russia’s heavy hand in Syria. This, in turn, reduces the terrorist threat to Russia.
U.S.-Russia Rivalry Heating Up
Russia’s troop drawdown marks an growing weakness in the U.S. political, economic, and military position in the Middle East. U.S. bosses were caught off-guard by Russia’s next move, never a good sign. The Economist, the London-based cheerleader for U.S. imperialism, could offer only guesses on Russia’s intentions. The liberal imperialist Guardian Weekly (3/14/16) suggested that Vladimir Putin’s regime had once again out-maneuvered the U.S. and its European allies:
Nobody wanted to deal with Russia after Ukraine, and the goal of the Syria campaign was to force the [W]est to deal with Russia again… [and now they’ve left] with minimal losses…It’s a pretty brilliant tactical move.
Along with an emboldened anti-U.S. Iran, plus a growing Chinese imperialist presence through their “One Belt, One Road” (see CHALLENGE, 3/9/16), Russia’s escalation in Syria is changing the balance of power in the Middle East. Russian and Chinese imperialists, the U.S. bosses’ main rivals, are carefully watching the U.S. 2016 presidential campaign. What they’re seeing can only encourage them: a divided, undisciplined U.S. ruling class, and a cynical, disaffected U.S. working class.
The two presidential candidates drawing the largest crowds of workers—Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders—represent increasingly desperate attempts by mainstream U.S. finance capitalists to keep workers voting instead of rebelling. The bosses are straining to mislead workers with KKK-style racism on the one hand, and bogus calls for economic fairness and equality—an impossibility under the profit system—with the other. The divisiveness and racist violence encouraged by Trump, in particular, has exposed the fractured political loyalties of the U.S. working class. This is a huge potential obstacle for the U.S. ruling class and its plan-of-necessity for a military draft and a broader global war.
Meanwhile, Black workers who led and supported rebellions in Ferguson and Baltimore aren’t rushing in droves to enlist in the U.S. military to fight for U.S. imperialism. The U.S. Army barely met its recruitment goal in 2015 after lagging for most of the year (USA Today, 10/1/15).
Until the main wing of U.S. bosses succeeds in disciplining their own capitalist class, a central ingredient of fascism, they will be hard-pressed to win the working class to sacrifice for U.S. imperialism. Their options in the Middle East will be limited. The Russians’ recent gains in Syria do not bode well for their near-term future:
It may also help better position Russia for whomever succeeds Obama in the White House: an America that perceives itself humiliated in Syria by Russia and its allies’ military prowess is less likely to participate in any reset, and more likely to do the reverse (Huffington Post, 3/17/16).
Crush Capitalism With Communist Revolution
Under capitalism, no matter which camp of bosses is gaining, the working class loses. During the devastating, ongoing, five-year Syrian civil war, essentially a proxy fight between imperialist super-powers, U.S.-provided weapons are being used in terror attacks in the U.S. and worldwide. The conflict has murdered more than one million workers and displaced millions more, with women and children hit hardest. Displaced people have suffered extreme racism and sexism in refugee camps. Those who manage to reach Europe are confronted with violent anti-immigrant racism.
All politicians—including Trump, Sanders, and Hillary Clinton—serve the capitalist class. They are used to try to veil the essential conflict between two mortally opposed forces: the capitalist class and the working class. Either we crush the bosses, or the bosses keep trampling our class. PLP is open to all workers who want to see a mass, fighting communist movement smash this system once and for all. Join us!