DC: Fight imperialist warmongers

WASHINGTON, DC, February 19—As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion approached, over 2,000 people rallied against the war at the iconic Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Workers from Russia to the U.S. must push back against nationalism and imperialist war.  Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members attended the march with a flyer headlined, “The only good imperialist is a dead imperialist.” The PLP flyer declared that to end bloody wars that turn workers into cannon fodder for profit,  the entire imperialist system has to be destroyed with a communist revolution. All major wars today are battles over profit and empire. The global working class has no dog in these inter-imperialist fights. We say, No War But Class War, to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat—workers power! By distributing over 200 flyers and 100 CHALLENGE newspapers, we reached many earnest anti-war forces who attended, contacting several who will help build an anti-imperialist movement.
Without working-class political leadership, hundreds of workers will see themselves as having the same class interests as bosses, marching generations of workers into the battlefield. The Progressive Labor Party has been fighting to show and build leadership in the working class since the Vietnam War. We will continue pushing multiracial groups of workers to turn the guns against imperialist bosses, especially as  World War III gets closer.
 The rally was organized by Libertarians, an organized group that prides itself on being anti-government and strong individualists. The differences between these groups and PLP were on full display. Members of PLP noted that no non-libertarian groups of workers took the mic. Yet, the rally billed itself as an attempt to unite workers, a necessary initiative that needs to happen amongst workers to drown out left and right-wing media that pits us against each other. Still, another weakness is that none of the speakers – “right” or “left” - advanced an anti-imperialist analysis for it being an anti-war rally.
While Libertarians oppose foreign oil wars and promote the Fortress America vision of  building a small government to protect the interests of the American people, what they really mean is to protect the right of  bosses to exploit workers and keep their profits within their borders.They directly play into the hands of domestically oriented billionaires like Charles Koch who represent the Small Fascist, America First isolationist wing of the U.S. ruling class(see glossary page 6). In contrast, being anti-war for PLP means fighting for communist revolution to end  all imperialist profit and build a collectively run society that benefits all.
At each new level of imperialist war, politicians, union bosses, and reform leaders are used to squelch working class unity, especially multiracial unity between Black, Latin, and white workers. Although politicians Ron Paul and Tulsi Gabbard railed against U.S. arms for Ukraine, liberals in Biden’s camp have shown their potential to get more nation-focused bosses like Paul and Gabbard in line as World War III drums beat closer. Ron Paul cited concerns about inflation and rising energy and gas prices as a reason for his objection against providing foreign aid to Ukraine last May (New York Times, 5/22). This division highlights an ideological difference between factions of the U.S. ruling class. To better understand the direction imperialist bosses will forge, we classify this division as a split between big and small fascists. Small nationalist fascists like the Koch brothers primarily appeal to a gutter racist, Christian base.  Domestically oriented corporate leaders shame liberals for not opposing Biden’s extensive liberal imperialist backers ready to nuke Russia for another 200 years of economic dominance.
Neither side of these bosses are friends of the working class. Each will terrorize workers, be it in the U.S. or worldwide, to make the most profits. Small fascists like Ron Paul, a former Texas Congressman, are considered the "intellectual godfathers" of the Tea Party movement and headed the Koch brothers' Citizens for Sound Economy, an ideological front for anti-government and pro-privatization companies to sway policies and politicians.
To push these policies, small fascists like Paul and the Koch brothers use gutter racism against Black and Latin workers to fool white and multiracial workers into believing these politics will serve them, too. Paul opposes affirmative action and uses the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to shame liberal politicians for failing to promote racial unity and a “color-blind society.” U.S. representatives, including Dennis Kucinich and Green Party leaders Jill Stein and Cynthia McKinney, help liberal fascist bosses use politicians’ gutter racist public displays to win honest anti-racists to vote for their leadership. To smash racism indefinitely, struggling for internationalist communist leadership from the Progressive Labor Party is our class’ best chance.
The ten demands of the march criticized U.S./NATO roles in aggressively encircling Russia since 1991, mainly since the U.S. supported the coup in Ukraine in 2014, but were entirely uncritical of Russian imperialist actions in Ukraine. A genuine concern for the world’s workers requires supporting workers’ resistance to imperialism in the U.S., NATO, Russia and Ukraine. Rebuilding an internationalist communist movement with the stance that workers across borders have more to gain with worker-led fightback than the imperialist war funded by bosses can make this a reality. By attending this misleading rally, PLP members were able to reach hundreds of people with just such an analysis and will fight to continue to push this line and win workers to fight for it too.