Socialists are opposed to world capitalism and to governments everywhere. If we are to eliminate wars we must realise that our position in society is to transform the private ownership of the means of production and distribution into social ownership, producing for use instead of for profit. The function of the World Socialist Movement is to educate the workers to this end. If all the people think that appealing to their political leaders is the best way to keep the world safe for them and their children, they should be prepared to invest in a mighty banner and plan to turn up anti-war protests for the rest of their lives. Nor is being anti-war mean being pro-Putin.
This war could have been halted had Putin and his supporters at the top found the strength to withdraw in time and sacrifice their power for the sake of the country’s future. But they have decided to go in the opposite direction and sacrifice the future to the past, the lives, freedom, and happiness of the people to their own ambitions. Of course, eventually, this will all end. But least of all do we wish that people – including young people, who will have to build a new country – should again be sacrificed in geopolitical games.
The grimmest and bloodiest images of the past are being romanticized. Parallels, sometimes terrible and sometimes absurd, are drawn between current and past eras. In this way, they try to persuade us that there is no development and no change, no future, no progress, no peace, no democracy, no human beings as independent personalities. There is nothing except eternal state power and eternal war. But when we encounter cruel reality without the mask of sacred mystique, we see that the almost deified “tsar” and “leader” is really no more than a highly placed corrupt bureaucrat. Instead of the materialization of some sort of metaphysical “struggle of good against evil,” we find cynical political moves to improve their own ratings. There is absolutely nothing to which they will not resort In order to preserve this illusion. They will imprison scholars and activists; they will corral us into the confines of their senseless laws while themselves violating them; they will pervert everything within their reach, but in the final analysis, they will deceive themselves. And this will be the cause of their downfall.
The Socialist Party has consistently stood by its long-held position that if we are to eliminate wars, the workers' historic role is to transform the private ownership of the means of production and distribution into social ownership, producing for use instead of for profit. The function of the socialist movement is to educate fellow workers to this end and to impart the understanding that under capitalism the world is divided into competing nations, vying with each other to acquire and control political and economic spheres of influence.
The Socialist Party once again calls for the cessation of the war, declaring not a patch of dirt is worth working people shedding a drop of their blood. We say to them, don’t die for capitalism but live for socialism.
As socialists, we reaffirm our solidarity with working people, in and out of uniform, wherever in the world they may live. Working people have not one shred of interest to justify their participation in any of capitalism’s wars. Working people everywhere are in basically the same plight. They have the same needs and face the same problems. They have nothing to gain from war and everything to lose, including their lives. The quarrels of their rulers are no concern of theirs. We ask them carefully to consider what they can do to thwart the ‘masters of war’ and preserve the peace.
NO WAR BUT THE CLASS WAR
NO WAR BETWEEN PEOPLES, NO PEACE BETWEEN CLASSES
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