As North Korea continues to defy the U.S. with the threat of more nuclear weapons tests, it no longer seems impossible that the small country’s military rulers might spark a second Korean War (see box). What is certain, however, is that the underlying inter-imperialist struggle is an even graver danger for the world’s working class. As China enables North Korea’s missile rattling, a widening conflict with the U.S. seems to be growing.
North Korea’s latest war-leaning rhetoric was provoked by U.S. rulers, who conducted joint war exercises with South Korea in March. Pyongyang, North Korea is following the pattern set by the U.S. as it moved from World War II into the Cold War against the Soviet Union by way of mass slaughters in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once the U.S. rulers had the atom bomb, they had to show they could use it — otherwise, they would lose deterrent power against their enemy. But if North Korea’s military is attempting to make its meager atomic arsenal a realistic threat, there could be unintended consequences for both sides.
While Beijing doesn’t directly call the shots in Pyongyang, China has propped up North Korea with fuel and cash and reliable support at the United Nations, all for long-term, geo-strategic reasons. A nuclear-armed, super-militarized, virulently anti-U.S. North Korea buffers 880 miles of China’s land border, as well as adjacent waters. Its growing potential to nuke South Korea weakens the leverage of the 30,000 U.S. troops who remain in the South.
Currently U.S. war planners are focused firmly on China, the main economic, political, and military challenge to U.S. imperialism. This explains the U.S. rulers’ fervent attempts to assemble an alliance of anti-China powers for any future confrontation. It also accounts for their furious anti-communist media blitz against North Korea, which is repeatedly referred to as a “communist state.” In fact, a communist state—one where the working class holds state power—exists nowhere in today’s world, and certainly not in fascist North Korea.
Unintended Consequences
As shown by the warships and planes stationed off the Korean peninsula, President Barack Obama and the capitalist class he represents are taking North Korea very seriously. As ex-Defense Department hack Patrick Cronin, now senior director at the finance capital- and Pentagon-funded Center for a New American Security think tank, wrote in Foreign Policy (4/5/13):
The Korean Peninsula is on a knife’s edge, one fateful step from war….There is no single red line that, when crossed, would trigger war, but the potential for miscalculation and escalation is high….The desire to show strength, the fear of looking weak, and the presence of tons of hardware provides more than enough tinder that a spark could start a peninsula-wide conflagration. An accident — such as a straying missile, an incident at sea or in the air, a shooting near the Northern Limit Line or the Demilitarized Zone — could trigger an action-reaction cycle that could spiral out of control if Pyongyang, running out of threats or low-level provocations, were to gamble on a more daring move. It might calculate that a bold gesture would sow doubt and dissent in South Korea, drive a risk-averse United States to back down and restrain its eager ally, and hand China a fait accompli in which Beijing has no alternative to protecting its upstart neighbor.
From the Council on Foreign Relations, another ultra-imperialist policy factory, comes an even more ominous message. Korea expert Scott Snyder warned that a “miscalculation could have deadly consequences.. [W]e had the Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter passing through South Korea during [North Korea’s winter nuclear] exercises and...signaling to the North Koreans that the U.S. had a nuclear response as an option” (CFR, 4/1/13).
The short-term possibility of war in Korea, or in Iran, could embroil U.S. capitalists in a local or regional conflict. Presently, their longer-term outlook remains fixed on China, which outnumbers the U.S. in population by about four to one. According to Chuck Hagel, Obama’s new defense secretary, U.S. rulers are desperately seeking a war-making coalition to include India, Indonesia, Brazil and Turkey. While India’s population nearly matches China’s (1.27 billion against 1.36 billion), U.S. strategists find it lacking in loyalty and purpose.
The Rothschilds are pro-U.S. British billionaires who own the influential Economist magazine. They recently ran an editorial (3/30/13) criticizing India for failing to pull its weight against China weight or to proclaim its allegiance to the U.S. war machine:
India is often spoken of in the same breath as China because of its billion-plus population, economic promise, value as a trading partner and growing military capabilities.... But whereas China’s rise is a given, India is still widely seen as a nearly-power that cannot quite get its act together.... India’s huge potential to be a force for stability and an upholder of the rules-based international system is far from being realized. One big reason is that the country lacks the culture to pursue an active security policy.... India should start to shape its own destiny and the fate of its region. It needs to take strategy more seriously.... And it needs a well-funded navy that can become both a provider of maritime security along some of the world’s busiest sea-lanes...to shoulder the responsibilities of a great power. Most of all, though, India needs to give up its outdated philosophy of non-alignment.
U.S. Becoming A
Second-Rate Power?
U.S. rulers are haunted by the growing threat that rival imperialists will displace the U.S. as the world’s top dog. They know if they lose control over the world’s vital resources, especially oil and gas, they will become a second-rate power. They realize they must build for the contingency of an expansive conflict down the road, even as they plan for what may be more imminent combat in Korea or Iran.
These bosses also have an Achilles heel — racism. To motivate the U.S. military, they promote a racist outlook by demonizing the enemy as sub-human, much as they did in Iraq. But workers in the countries which the U.S. seeks as allies have long been victims of the same imperialist, colonial racism. And the Pentagon cannot assume that its own troops will automatically follow its racist lead.
For the working class, the picture is fundamentally different. Wars of all sizes, forced upon us by competing capitalist nation states, may well occur in the short term. Our long-range goal, however, lies in forging a working-class, communist revolution from the crucible of any profit-driven world war.
May Day — The Workers’ Answer
Our class’s necessity, in short, is to turn imperialist war into class war for a worker-run society. We can achieve this only by building a mass, revolutionary communist party of millions, the Progressive Labor Party. To that end, we must win workers and youth in all the rulers’ organizations, including the military, to the necessity of wiping out the capitalist profit system, the root of all evils afflicting our class.
That’s why building PLP is the order of the day, symbolized by the masses of workers and youth who will celebrate and march on May Day, the holiday of the international working class. May Day was born in the 1886 general strike of Chicago’s workers for the eight-hour day. It continues to unite the world’s workers by fighting against capitalism’s exploitation, racism, sexism and war. On May Day, as noted by communism’s founders, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, our class marches under one flag. We hold the red flag high, led by one communist party worldwide for our emancipation from the hell of the bosses’ profit system.
Join us!
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1950 Korean War: Prelude to 2013?
When World War II ended, the Korean peninsula, in the wake of its occupation by the defeated Japanese fascists, was “temporarily” divided into North and South. The South was controlled by former fascist collaborators with the Japanese who were now protected by U.S. rulers. The North was led by anti-fascists who had fought these collaborators.
In June 1950, a war erupted between North and South. The U.S. said the North invaded—a claim open to dispute. On June 25, the early editions of the New York Times ran an Associated Press dispatch reporting that the South’s troops had crossed into North Korea. But later editions dropped that story and launched a full-scale media offensive claiming the North had initiated the clash.
Whatever happened, the conflict became a war between the Soviet/China-backed North and the U.S.-backed South. The Cold War became hot. The U.S. drove the North’s army toward the border with China. Commanding General Douglas MacArthur wanted to cross that border, but the tide turned when massed Chinese volunteers drove the U.S. forces back into the South. U.S. President Truman fired MacArthur. Eventually the U.S. ruling class decided it had no choice but to settle the conflict at the original North-South dividing line, which has stood to this day, with 30,000 U.S. troops staying in the South. One million Koreans lost their lives in the war.
Unfortunately, the Soviet Union — having kept many capitalist features, including the wage system — failed to develop communism and reverted to a state capitalist regime. The North Korean leadership, caught up in the Cold War against the U.S. and its South Korean puppet, became a Soviet puppet. Following the Soviet example, it developed into its present fascist state.
Workers throughout the Korean peninsula, on both sides of the line, are suffering under the capitalist yoke. Only communism will free them from this exploitation and the constant threat of imperialist war.
NEW YORK CITY, April 8 — Recently workers in a local community organization participated in a press conference on the steps of City Hall here at which City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was supposed to present a resolution asking the NY State Senate to pass the minimum wage law.
A group of workers in the organization had smuggled in a sign which they held up demanding Quinn pass the paid-sick-days bill. This created a commotion. Several people, including the organizer of the press conference — not expecting such an action — demanded we remove the sign. However, we disobeyed their orders, standing strong and militantly.
Ultimately, Speaker Quinn failed to appear. Although the workers were criticized by the organization’s leaders, it was a small victory for those involved.
Two weeks later, because of growing pressure — and as part of her strategy in her run for mayor — Quinn called a City Council vote for paid sick days. However, Quinn and Council members, together with the bosses they represent, had made a number of changes in the bill.
Instead of five paid sick days to workers in businesses with more than five workers, they proposed five days to workers in businesses with more than 20 workers. Workers in smaller businesses would get five unpaid sick days with no retaliation. So-called oversight and enforcement of the law would be given to the Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
Initially there was euphoria among the workers in the NYC coalition for paid sick days. But later, when workers in the community organization analyzed the proposal in detail, we realized we’d fallen for the bosses’ lies. If the proposal is voted into law in July 2013, it won’t be effective until April, 2014, and then only if the City’s economy doesn’t decline as measured by the financial index of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the country’s leading capitalist bank.
Once again we see how the biggest capitalists use their tools to serve their class interests. We need mass, international working-class fight-back. Our class will be able to truly organize workers’ health and safety only when we overthrow capitalism through revolution and establish communist workers’ power.
At the last meeting of the community organization, the directors proposed a party to celebrate the workers’ “historic victory.” When a comrade explained the truth about the proposed paid-sick-days law, all the workers agreed there was nothing to celebrate yet. For the workers, the best way we can celebrate is to march on May Day, read and distribute CHALLENGE and join the Progressive Labor Party.
On February 8 on a Delta Airlines flight, racist Joe Rickey Hundley slapped a black 2-year-old. The racist attacked Jonah Bennett while he was in the arms of his adopted white mother, Jennifer Bennett. This animal Hundley called Jonah the n-word because the child was crying over descending cabin pressure.
When Hundley slapped baby Jonah, an anti-racist passenger helped subdue him. He was arrested upon landing. He was charged with “simple assault.”
He should have been charged with a hate crime. Antiracists are trying to get drunkard Hundley’s charges upgraded to a hate crime. Capitalist law is racist for not valuing the life of a black child.
The Bennett family lives in Minneapolis so I had asked my Unitarian Church to show solidarity. I gave the pastor a card that was sent to the Bennett family on behalf of our church members. It was the least we could have done.
Under communism, workers will make examples out of people like Hundley who dare to harm a child based on color. He is infected with capitalism’s racist ideology. We will use our state power to protect our most valued asset, our children, in the new communist society.
Moreover, since workers will run the airlines under communism, we won’t serve alcohol. Personally, I think alcohol needs to be called into question after the revolution because it is a drug as well. This incident and others like it show the need for communism and revolution as the only way out of capitalism and its inhumanity.
Minnesota Red
Before I was introduced to PLP, I was clueless to know that students, teachers and parents were fighting for this victory against the bosses. Throughout this weekend I learned a lot about this struggle that PLP is working to accomplish, and it inspired me to be part of this struggle. I feel like way too many people are being lied to; more people need to be exposed to PLP and unite to overcome the bosses. Thank you, PLP, for introducing these everyday problems. It has also changed me, and I like it.
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For these few days, I enjoyed this communist school trip with my eight classmates and my teachers. It gave me a great simple idea about communism. Before I attended this trip, I really didn’t understand the meaning of capitalism and communism. I used to think capitalism was cool because it was all about making money. Then when I realized that it’s a certain number of people, not all, who make the money, it gave me a different point of view.
This trip showed me that with communism more people can be satisfied and equal because everybody is sharing and working together such as cleaning, cooking and sharing our knowledge. But with capitalism it’s all about the paper money that changes you and affects many people by their “race” and gender. A lot of people think it’s cool to be a part of the middle class and not worry about the lower-income class because it seems such people supposedly choose to put themselves in that category, but that’s not true. They can’t choose the dreams they want because they can’t afford them, such as colleges and other programs. But imagine if the society was all about sharing — it would help everything become better than it is now.
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They say honesty is the best policy, so I will be honest by stating that I really didn’t have any idea what the outcome of this PLP camp was going to be, and I had no idea we were going to be sharing our thoughts about how the world is run under capitalism and what it’d be like under communism. From the main idea of how everyone can understand the way the world works and can figure out how to change it, I have learned that a lot of stereotyping is what segregates us human beings from interacting and stops us from creating a great force which can stabilize us.
Apart from racism, the way we are set up by class structure under capitalism is pitiful and just brutish. The government just wants us to compete with each other, which is ugly like a dark, evil force that stops us from progressing. Under communism, none of these rivalries would occur. Instead, humans will help lift each other to greater heights instead of knocking them down. All these cases made me think of one of my favorite philosophies: “Man is born free and everywhere he’s in shackles.” All these attacks by the upper class need to be eliminated.
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I came here at first not knowing much about this group and the reason it wanted to get justice from the government. Being here made me realize how much people wanted to fight back and not be treated like they were not part of this world and had no say. It also made me see how a group of people could feel so strongly towards something and work hard to try to achieve something they believed in. Being here opened my eyes to see that you shouldn’t just sit and watch something happen that you know is wrong. You should say something and fight for what you think is right.
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My experience here has been a great opportunity. I got the chance to learn about the ideas that other people have of the system. These ideas have led me to realize how the government really works and how much of a change is needed. I have learned more about the capitalist ideas and how wrong they are. They want to have full control over everything and everyone, which only helps them and no one else. With the ideas I’ve learned here, people would be equal and the world would be a better place.
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When I first got to this communist school, I thought it was a retreat. not a mini-school. I made new friends and learned new things. One thing I’ve learned was that stereotypes are not true, because the media can always twist up things. You should meet people before you believe those stereotypes. We also learned about contradictions and that you always pick a side that you want to work on to do better. Another thing we learned was dialectical materialism, the study of how things change. This helps us understand our experiences, giving us a deeper knowledge of the world. I would like to join PLP.
This May Day Progressive Labor Party will proudly unfurl the red flag of workers’ revolution across the world. Why do we carry high the red flag?
In 1890, on the eve og history’s first May Day, Frederick Engels wrote, “The proletariat of Europe and America is holding a review of its forces. It is mobilizing for the first time as one army, one flag, one class...”
Both the red flag and the word “strike” first appeared in 1768, when sailors “struck” (or removed the topgalant sails of merchant ships at port), thus immobalizing the ships. The red flag indicated defiance and readiness for battle. Again in London in 1780, when 100,000 workers marched on Newgate Prison to burn it to the ground, the multi-racial leadership carried the red flag. Their cry was, “Away with all prisons,” because the working class was being increasingly incarcerated in them.
In 1831, the red flag was part of the struggle of the working class in Wales as well as in the revolution to topple the monarchy during the French revolution (1789-1794), especially during the struggle in July of 1791. But the general adoption of the red flag as the workers’ own symbol occurred in 1848 when it appeared spontaneously on the barricades in Paris, and then everywhere throughout revolutionary Europe.
During the Paris Commune of 1871 — when workers first took over a whole city and held it for two months — the red flag of the working class flew over Paris. It had become the symbol of emancipation. By 1892 it flew above the May Day marches throughout Europe, Australia, South America, Cuba and Japan. In 1889, in order for the newly formed Labour Party of Great Britain to win the masses, a song was written about the red flag which became the anthem of the Party: “Bandiera Rosa”
In Italy, too, “Bandiera Rosa” became a symbol of May Day.
In the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the red flag became the symbol of the working class in power. And as revolutions spread around the world in the next 50 years — from China to Eastern Europe — the red flag of working-class emancipation was raised on high. Significantly, the Cultural Revolution that fought the capitalist turn in China were led by the Red Guards.
In 1971, the Progressive Labor Party picked up the red flag from where it had been dropped and has marched proudly with it in every gathering we hold throughout the world. The red flag is truly the flag of workers’ internationalism, as opposed to the hundreds of flags that the bosses-of the world fly to symbolize their respective capitalist states.
