The U.S. rulers, with the aid of their Democratic and Republican parties, are at the forefront of conflicts among rival capitalist powers that are marching humanity toward a third world war, as the imperialists have done twice before since the dawn of the imperialist epoch.

Washington’s war to extend its domination of the Middle East comes alongside its inhuman blockade and war threats against the Cuban people. Its bloody intervention in Venezuela and seizure of that country’s oil is aimed at extending the U.S. rulers’ clout across the Western Hemisphere, which they consider their property. They more and more act as if they can take whatever they want, wherever they want.

Moscow believes it can crush Ukraine and is expending the lives of thousands of Russian workers every month to make minimal gains in face of the heroic resistance by Ukrainian working people. Beijing is widening its military clout across the Pacific and threatening its rivals there. Berlin and other capitalist governments in Europe are rebuilding their own armies and their military armaments.

The worst pogrom since the Nazi’s Holocaust in World War II was carried out by Tehran-backed Hamas Oct. 7, 2023. It announced the determination of Tehran and its “axis of resistance” to implement their decades-old goal of wiping out Israel and killing the Jews that live there.

The march toward more wars, whatever its ups and downs, is not a policy option for any of the world’s exploiting classes. They are driven to redivide the world, because there are no unconquered areas, to expand their markets, resources and workforces at the expense of their rivals. This is unceasing in the age of imperialism.

That’s why each is working persistently to acquire the technology to make ever-more deadly weapons. That’s why Washington is using tariffs to boost its war-related industries and driving to grab key resources worldwide, like rare earth minerals. The U.S. War Department acknowledged this week for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, ready for use. A growing number of governments have nuclear weapons, and more seek them.

Washington is weaker than when it established itself as the world’s preeminent power on the backs of the imperialist slaughter in World War II. But there’s no other power capable of replacing it. Each of the world’s rival capitalist classes are chained together in their decline.

The working class in its tens of millions is capable of preventing the catastrophe that the imperialist powers are marching us toward. We are the one class with no interest of any kind in exploitation, wars of plunder and oppressing other nations.

The 1917 Bolshevik-led Russian Revolution and the 1959 Cuban Revolution show that with proper leadership, working people are capable of taking political power from the exploiting classes and opening a new future for humanity.

That remains the decisive task in front of the working class. With a party of our own, workers in our millions can fight to conquer political power, uproot capitalist exploitation and join the fight for a socialist world.

In the U.S., working people don’t have to start from scratch. The Socialist Workers Party already exists. It was forged in class battles by working people over the past century. You’ll find its members on the front line of trade union and political struggles unfolding today, speaking and acting for the interests of the entire working class. As history shows, revolutionary parties can grow rapidly when the class struggle explodes.

Join in building the SWP!