Turkey’s August 24 assault on northern Syria, its first direct involvement in a five-year-old proxy war, points to even more instability in the Middle East—and U.S. imperialists’ precarious position there..
Turkey’s bosses, who are critical to U.S. control over the region’s vast oil reserves, have become unreliable allies. By sending tanks and troops into Syria and authorizing airstrikes over the border, Erdogan has “transformed this horrific war into a completely unpredictable battlefield” in which “the Russians would seem to have gained the most” (Der Spiegel, 8/26). The threat of a global conflict is closer to reality, as noted by the main-wing U.S. bosses’ mouthpiece of choice, the New York Times:
Because Syria has sucked in two of the world’s leading military powers, Russia and the United States, [the situation] could most likely be cleared only by a full-scale invasion. In the best case, this would require something akin to the yearslong American occupations of Iraq or Afghanistan. In the worst, invading a war zone where so many foreign adversaries are active could ignite a major regional war (NYT, 8/26).
For the millions of workers murdered and displaced in Syria, the horror of wider war is already a reality. Rival imperialists in the U.S., Russia and China are seeking to divide and conquer the world. With smaller imperialists like Iran and Turkey armed to the teeth on the big powers’ behalf, workers in these countries are slaughtered, forced to fight in the bosses’ interests, or turned into refugees.
Regardless of the nation, large or small, capitalists have no allegiance to the working class—including workers within the bosses’ borders. Their only loyalty is to the profit system—to control over markets and resources, and to racist, sexist super-exploitation. Communists in Progressive Labor Party have but one allegiance: to liberate the international working class by smashing the capitalist class, along with their borders, imperialism and racist police terror. Our aim is armed revolution by a working-class red army.
Why Turkey Matters to U.S. Imperialism
Bordering Greece to the west, Syria to the south, and Iraq and Iran to the east, Turkey bridges the Middle East with southeastern Europe and central Asia, and links the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. Controlling this vital crossroads was U.S. imperialism’s top priority after World War II. In 1947, when a communist-led armed insurrection against British and U.S. imperialism in Greece inspired workers across Turkey, the U.S. poured in money and weapons to strengthen the Nazi-like Turkish bosses.
In return, Turkey’s rulers condemned thousands of communist-led workers to prison, then helped the U.S. build its imperialist NATO military alliance. Turkey is now the Middle East’s largest economy and fields the second largest army in NATO, behind the U.S. The recent U.S. “peace” deal with Iran was intended to buy time for U.S. bosses to withdraw from the Middle East and rebuild its military, leaving Turkey’s bosses as their well-armed stand-in (CHALLENGE, 2/10). As explained by George Friedman, arch-imperialist advisor to the Pentagon, noted, “The only country capable of being a counterbalance to Iran and a potential long-term power in the region is Turkey” (Stratfor, 11/24/14).
The Turkish bosses’ recent actions call into question these long-term plans. Day by day, U.S. imperialism seems to be reacting to events more than controlling them. Capitalist “allies” constantly fall out; any unity is temporary.
No Honor Among Thieves
On August 9, using alleged U.S. complicity in the aborted July coup in Turkey as a pretext, Erdogan visited his “dear friend,” Russian president Vladimir Putin, and promised to restore diplomatic and economic ties. On August 21, Turkey’s government suggested Russia’s military “might also wish” to use Incirlik Air Base, a critical NATO facility and the decades-long home to a U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal (Anadolu News, 8/20). Days later, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to meet with Erdogan and “smooth over” tensions (NYT, 8/25). Biden was snubbed, however. He was met at the airport by only the deputy mayor of Ankara, Turkey’s capital city. Unknown to the U.S., Turkey had already begun its invasion of Syria (Asia Times, 8/26).
Michael Maloof, a senior analyst in the U.S. Defense Department during the 2003 Iraq genocide, believes that Erdogan “has given up on NATO and even the EU and is pivoting more towards the East” (rt.com, 8/18). It remains to be seen how far Turkey’s bosses will go in playing U.S. and Russian bosses off against each other, as they did Allied and German bosses during World War II. What’s clear is that a Russia-Turkey alliance—and Turkey’s acceptance of Syria President Bashar al-Assad staying in power in a “transitional” role—could make it appear “as though the United States is the lone irrational outlier in Syria...However Russia responds to Turkey’s proposals, it will help determine the trajectory of the Syrian conflict” Stratfor (8/12/16).
In any event, the U.S. bosses have every reason to be nervous. In their eagerness to save face and downplay any splits with Turkey, a U.S. State Department spokesperson maintained that Biden and Erdogan had a “good and fruitful meeting”—one full day before they actually met (Sputnik News, 8/24).
Build PLP to Smash Imperialism
The proxy clash between U.S. and Russian imperialists over Syria has already created the largest refugee crisis in history. While U.S. imperialism stands in relative decline versus a resurgent Russia and a rising China, it still far outmatches them in military strength. The U.S. bosses will not give up their empire without an all-out war.
Meanwhile, smaller-scale capitalists in organized crime prey on vulnerable workers with impunity. The United Nations has documented women workers facing systematic rape, sexual abuse, and abduction in refugee camps. Gangs are selling pre-adolescent girls to wealthy men in Jordan, or burning their faces to make them undesirable to criminal militias backed by the U.S., Russia and Iran (Guardian, 7/25). Thousands of young men are conscripted at gunpoint as cannon fodder for those same militias.
The tasks of communists and friends of PLP include raising these ideas and selling CHALLENGE at our workplaces. Every CHALLENGE subscription sold is another nail in the bosses’ coffin. We must organize study groups to analyze a world in which every sharpening attack on our class is connected to inter-imperialist rivalry. Further, we need to organize rallies in solidarity with our class sisters and brothers in the Middle East. The more communist ideas become mass ideas among soldiers, students and workers, the more we can take these ideas all the way to seizing state power—to free our class once and for all!