Opening introduction from the MLCO Proletarian Way

The coming war is on everyone’s mind, and spirits are at rock bottom. War in Ukraine with Russia, genocide in Gaza, Trump’s provocations, China’s aggressive trade policies, conflicts in every region of the world, the militarization of society... There isn’t a single news program that doesn’t leave us feeling completely overwhelmed, powerless, and depressed. In reality, that’s exactly what they’re after.

• There is no question of adding to the gloom here. We need solidarity, but we also need to keep a cool head and a clear mind, and enrich each other to get the most realistic picture of the situation. It is clear thinking that allows us to fight against panic and denial, against feelings of helplessness, pathologies and addictions, anxieties, and antidepressants.
• There is no question of turning to the new geopolitics courses that are popping up all over social media to analyze global contradictions in a learned manner, each one more expert than the next, only to arrive at the same conclusion that war is approaching without being able to draw any conclusions. We are talking about one camp, that of the global proletariat, that of the peoples fighting against imperialism, all forms of imperialism. And that is how we want to talk about the war that seems to be brewing.
• Nor is there any question of opposing peace and war, of opposing war in the name of defending a “peace” that is nothing more than the defense of the existing order. We too echo Jaurès’ words : “Capitalism carries war within it like a cloud carries a storm.” Turning this phrase around, we understand that the only real opposition to war is opposition to capitalism, and therefore that above all it is the struggle for revolution that counts, not the struggle for an illusory imperialist “peace” !

People aspire to peace and harmony, and are frightened by war and the conflicts that seem to be looming. It is a “human” reflex, a protective reflex ; people aspire to peace “in general.” This sentiment, perpetuated by all reformists, is a great myth of world peace, a sham that is particularly alive in imperialist countries that have remained sheltered from conflict in recent decades, after the fall of Nazism.
For what peace are we talking about today ? The peace of increased exploitation, undocumented migrants, asbestos, precariousness, deaths at work, hardship ? The peace of famine and recurring massacres in Congo or Yemen ? The peace of the systematic genocide of the Palestinian people, to which ALL the powers turn a blind eye ? The peace of liberal globalization and its ravages ? The peace of competition, domination, plunder, forced migration, deaths in the Mediterranean, racism, police violence ? Here in France, or in the United States, Latin America, Africa, or everywhere else ?

We do not defend the peace of the powerful. The invocation of international law is today the main form of pacifism. International law is like France as the country of human rights : it has never really existed. We must not be nostalgic for an illusion, otherwise we will feed our powerlessness. Lenin said of the League of Nations, the predecessor of the UN, that it was a club of colonial and imperialist powers, a “den of thieves.” Even at the height of the decolonization struggles, the UN Security Council remained that den of thieves. Today, the robbers have left the den and opened the gates of hell !

We are fighting against war and for revolution, not to return to the old order that created the conditions for the coming conflict. We are communists, Maoists, and our fight against imperialist war is that of revolution, with even greater urgency in these troubled times when the clouds are darkening, with the hope and optimism of a situation where our enemies are more fragile than ever.

But who are the warmongers ? The world has reached a point where China, Russia, and other powers are challenging the global economic hegemony of the United States and the West in general, which are defending themselves tooth and nail. The “peaceful” resolution of contradictions is no longer relevant ; we are in a situation of raw and direct power relations, and the strongest wins—always to the detriment of the people.

For some, “it’s Putin and Russia’s fault.” This is the dominant narrative throughout the media and governments in Europe, which are engaged in a frantic arms race and militarization. For others, the warmongers are “the US and NATO and their European lackeys,” who have continually provoked Russia and thus the current open conflict.

In both cases, there is an element of truth, but it is one-sided and simplistic. There is a risk of slipping off the tightrope of dialectics and supporting one form of imperialism over another, supposedly less aggressive or more legitimate. And this slippage is not limited to groups in France that claim to be revolutionary or communist.

Except that imperialism is first and foremost a capitalist system taken to the extreme, which means competition and struggle for markets, the new share of the world, and the plundering of resources. An imperialist power does not exist on its own ; it exists only in relation to its competitors.
In this sense, the least aggressive is not the least responsible ; it is just as responsible as the others. When China increases its economic presence across the globe, it is to increase its market share and the profitability of its capitalism, to the detriment of other imperialisms. In this sense, China is severely “provoking” its competitors around the world. It is no coincidence that all political commentary highlights the fierce economic competition between the United States and China as the backdrop to the global situation and the main factor in future warfare. But in this context, who is the main instigator of war ? Neither one in particular, but both, in that they manifest a fundamental contradiction of imperialism : competition for market domination. Trump’s ultra-aggressive policy is in fact a continuation of those of Biden and Obama, who already had China in their sights.
Imperialism is a “system,” with its multiple contradictory powers and mechanisms. Capitalism is the cause of wars in modern history. These wars are not unusual ; they do not contradict the foundations of capitalism and private ownership of the means of production, nor the system of competition and exploitation ; they are their direct consequences.

Our main enemy here in France is French imperialism. Without hesitation, without discussion, this is the basis of Marxism and of a revolutionary point of view.
France is a major imperialist power and wants to remain a major imperial power, having lost most of its colonial empire. It is the world’s fifth largest army, the fourth largest nuclear power, the second largest arms exporter, the second largest maritime power thanks to its colonies, and a member of the United Nations Security Council. It has a powerful, organized military-industrial complex, centralized around the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA). It is one of the pillars of the “Western World” and rejoined NATO’s integrated command in 2009.
It is a major capitalist economic power, albeit in decline, particularly in the industrial sector, but with cutting-edge sectors such as aeronautics and space, agri-food, luxury goods, insurance and finance, and many other areas.

For our imperialist bourgeoisie, it is the fear of economic decline and the specter of downgrading, which is experienced as a humiliation for those nostalgic for the “greatness of France.” The real “great replacement” for them is the loss of markets.

“The conditions of global competition are changing” as Lecornu said, and French imperialism must therefore adapt.
• This means modernizing the army and increasing its budget, which will more than double by 2030, while all we hear about is the debt crisis !
• It is massive support for arms monopolies, for French orders but also for exports.
• It is encouraging civilian industries to convert to arms production, with the accompanying blackmail over jobs.
• It is the militarization of minds, of course, and the preparation of the whole of society for war. And we are the ones who have to pay for all this. Hence the austerity measures and the sacrifices made in education and health care.
• It is the intensification of exploitation and the destruction of the collective rights of the working class and workers, also under the pretext of the war economy.
• And to make the pill go down, willingly or by force, there is repression against all those who “prevent exploitation and plunder” : trade unionists, supporters of Palestine, radical environmentalists. In the ideological and political background, there is the development of nationalism, racism, and chauvinism ; not only in France, by the way !

Yes, US imperialism remains, on a global scale, the primary oppressor of the peoples of the world. But the others are no better. There is no point in ranking the worst and the least worst when this amounts to supporting one side against the other—as we see clearly with the “campists” who more or less explicitly support Putin’s Russia or Xi Jinping’s China in the name of this “new multipolar world.”

Some pseudo-revolutionary campists such as the URC (but they are not alone) even go so far as to implicitly support the fascist Iranian regime, turning a blind eye to the appalling mass killings it commits against its own people. Or the corrupt and parasitic regime of Maduro and Co. in Venezuela. Just as they supported the butcher Assad against the Syrian people. This, under the pretext that they are part of a so-called “axis of resistance” against the imperialists and Zionists.

We are unambiguous :
• We are against the bombing of Iran
• We are against the aggression in Venezuela
• We are against the aggression in Ukraine
• We are against all imperialist embargoes and blockades, such as that imposed on Cuba
• We are generally against all regime change operations organized by imperialist powers, whether by the US in Venezuela or by Russia in Ukraine, which have always resulted in the plundering of the country and a worsening of living conditions for the working class and the people.
But we also say just as clearly that all the peoples of the world deserve to be free from their chains, Iranians as well as others. We refuse to play a cynical geopolitical game of chess, indifferent to the fate of the masses, without a class perspective. We refuse to support rotten regimes under the pretext of a pseudo-anti-imperialism that is nothing more than the search for a new godfather to get rid of an old one.
We make no mistake : it is the working class and the peoples of the world that we support, against our common enemies.

The future promised to us by our exploiters is not very fun. Between potential casualties on the battlefield and the militarization of society, we have cause for concern. The temptation is to give in to the atmosphere that is being hammered into us by all the media. An atmosphere of fear, nationalism, and anxious depression in the face of the uncertainties ahead. And so we cling to the defense of an imperialist peace that we have already said is illusory.
We say no, we refuse to play along. Are they preparing for war ? Let’s organize our camp to put an end to all wars. Illusory ? Our forces are still very weak, let’s not lie to ourselves. But the class struggle and the resistance of the people are very much alive. Remember the Arab Spring or the yellow vests. Look today at Generation Z, the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, the revolts of the peoples of Iran and Burma. Don’t forget the people’s wars waged by the Maoists in India and the Philippines.

Today, one of the challenges is to build international solidarity. That is why we have invited the Committee to Support the People’s Revolution in the Philippines and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece, who will contribute their perspectives and experiences, as well as other forces that are not present. That is why we have signed a joint international declaration of support for the Palestinian people (which you will find on our press table).

Our only way out is to build the political independence of the proletariat and the oppressed masses, without being forced to choose sides between this or that exploiter, between this or that mass murderer. This is the path to follow, and we will not be alone, with the proletariat and the peoples of the world who are fighting our same enemies !