Imperialism and War
Veteran communist revolutionary, Jack
Shapiro, acclaims CPGB-ML Chairman Harpal Brar’s new book as an encyclopaedia
of Marxism Leninism.
This
enormous volume is a collection of Harpal Brar’s articles in Lalkar over
a period of 10 years. Quite rightly, it is dedicated to Comrade Lenin, whose
work Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism provides the
theoretical framework for the book.
At
the present time, with deep recession affecting the whole world – having
commenced in the USA and spread like a cancer – it is still Lenin who best
describes the situation in which we find ourselves.
Lenin
was writing in 1916 on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution and the ending of
the first world war. He demonstrated that imperialism inevitably led to wars to
carve up the world and to allow the major imperialists to try to snatch control
of countries from their friends and associates. He showed that monopoly
capitalism “seeks domination, not freedom” .
Harpal
Brar updates this theme for the 21st century, analysing five imperialist wars: Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan. Each of these wars was fought – or is currently
being fought – in support of imperialist domination.
Each
war is carefully analysed, and the articles in Brar’s book carry you forward
stage by stage, explaining the way in which the propaganda war is an integral
part of the military war. The loss of life among the US and allied soldiers is
generally recounted in the bourgeois media, but no count is made by the US of the masses of innocent people murdered by its forces. Despite the enormous weaponry used by
imperialist invaders, Brar demonstrates clearly the strength of the fight back,
and evidence is given for the belief that, in the end, the peoples of the
countries invaded, by their courageous resistance, will win.
Taken
as a whole, the book works as an encyclopaedia of Marxism Leninism in terms of
understanding (a) why Anglo-American imperialism in particular is driven to
such wars as a result of its own internal contradictions, and (b) the drive by
monopolistic finance capital to conquer the world and use the natural resources
of many countries to prop up its economies.
Day
by day, we can see that imperialism is truly a paper tiger. The fight back of
the people it oppresses is irresistible and, in most cases, they win their
freedom despite the enormous weight of the arms ranged against them.
Today,
the US faces its own contradictions with the so-called ‘credit crunch’ crisis
(actually a capitalist crisis of overproduction), in which the world’s leading
imperialist power can do nothing to prevent the bankruptcy of its
fourth-biggest bank and is helpless at the spectacle of one bank after another
either failing or being absorbed. The ruling class response to this collapse is
to sharpen the war against its own people in an attempt to pass the burden of
its huge losses onto them.
The
misery of unemployment is being inflicted on millions, many of whom are also
losing their homes to ‘repossessions’. And to prop up the decrepit and corrupt
banking system, a staggering $1.5tr in funds from taxes have so far been used
to support America’s failing banks (and to pay the bonuses of the banks’
executives). The end of the crisis is not yet in view. Indeed, it is set to
intensify as imperialist wars absorb greater and greater numbers of soldiers
and resources.
What
is true of the US is also true of the US’s ‘best friend’, Britain. The banking crisis is causing haemorrhages in the financial system here. The Bank
of England is printing paper money by the billion. This is supposed to be
propping up the failing businesses on the verge of bankruptcy. Those geniuses
who proclaimed the strength of the capitalist system are now forced to reflect
on the fact that capitalism is dying and dragging down with it in its death
throes the livelihoods of millions of people, spreading misery and
impoverishment on a massive scale.
Sooner
or later, working people, given good leadership, will have to face the great
struggles to come. To ensure that victory comes to our struggle, we need to arm
ourselves with the weapons of Marxist-Leninist understanding and knowledge.
Imperialism
and War is a great weapon and deserves
study and more study, together with Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest Stage
of Capitalism . Our greater understanding makes us stronger, and that
strength enables us to give the leadership the present struggle requires.
Book is £15.00
[plus £5 UK, £6 Europe, £10 rest of the world for postage]
Order from LALKAR, 14 Featherstone Road, Southall UB2 5AA, cheques payable to E.J.Rule or using PayPal to
ellarule@gmail.com