The U.S. and British governments are in the last stages of their political preparation, too, as they press the other members of the United Nations Security Council to give their stamp of approval to this course. They were helped in this by the recent declaration of the heads of state of a number of European countries, from Spain to the Czech Republic, who joined Britain’s Anthony Blair in issuing a call for "unity" between Europe and the United States. In so doing, these governments dealt a blow to the illusion that other imperialist powers will hold back the war.

The way that Washington has stepped up the pressure on north Korea over the past week helps to lay bare the open-ended character of the drive to war. It has nothing to do with combating terrorism; nor are "weapons of mass destruction" its principal target. The imperialist powers are pushed toward conflict and competition with each other by the weakness of their system, as they grab for a bigger share of the natural resources and cheap labor of the Third World. The same weakness impels them to use greater brutality against working people both at home and abroad.

At the same time, this system sparks increasingly weighty resistance by workers and farmers. Through struggles, ending in victories, defeats, and stalemates, working people will begin to forge a movement that can challenge capitalist rule, and--with the kind of leadership workers forged in Russia in 1917 and in Cuba for the last four decades and more--disarm the warmakers and drive them from power.

Many young people and others who are repelled by the brutality of this system are mobilizing for large antiwar actions in the United States and elsewhere. The coming national action in New York on February 15 will draw many such forces, and other cities will also see large protests.

As in the past, Democratic party politicians and other pro-capitalist forces will play a prominent part in these actions, fostering illusions that the war drive can be stopped with a different leader at the helm, promoting the UN "inspections" as a peaceful alternative, and--above all--appealing to patriotic sentiments. These figures, along with middle-class pacifist forces, will largely fall in behind the war effort once the shooting starts, arguing that a quick and clean war is the best way to get "our boys" home safe and well.

By contrast, many young people and others who take part in such actions are not dyed-in-the-wool pacifists or wedded to the capitalist system. They are looking for a way to fight the war and oppression being dealt by the capitalists, and can be won to a clear revolutionary working-class alternative.

As people pile into buses, cars, and trains for the action, and march to express their opposition to the war, many will want to take a look at revolutionary literature and to discuss these ideas. The February 15 actions are big opportunities to extend that discussion and to build opposition to the war course of imperialism. Socialist workers and youth in New York are organizing forums and classes where this discussion will be encouraged.

Oppose the drive to war on Iraq!

U.S. and all other imperialist troops out of the Mideast!
 
 
Related articles:
Washington and London ready brutal war on Iraq
The fraud of ‘disarmament’  
 
 
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