The war in Iraq has exposed everything that is corrupt and rotten in imperialist society.

The Democratic Party and the bourgeois mass media cheered and applauded as Bush launched his criminal adventure in order to:

• establish permanent military bases in the Middle East
• dominate the world oil supply and
• secure the position of U.S. imperialism against emerging rivals such as China.

Antiwar activists have a choice:   We can passively allow the Democratic Party and its allies to drain all independence and militancy from the antiwar movement – or we can take independent action to hit imperialism where it is vulnerable.

The decisive step forward is for the anti-war movement to develop in depth so that it can give tens and hundreds of thousands a clear understanding of the class nature of our society and the need to end the rule of the bourgeoisie (ie: the class that owns the largest corporations and controls the Democratic and Republican parties, the courts, the police, the mass media, etc.)

•The goal of eliminating the system of imperialism will energize activists because it is a goal worth fighting for.

•Such a goal will also win respect from millions of workers because it tells them the truth about what needs to be done.

•Building a mass movement focused on ending the system of bourgeois rule – will increase the social cost of the war to the ruling bourgeoisie and speed up the day when they abandon their criminal war in Iraq.

• However we must also recognize that the goal of a world without imperialism will earn nothing but contempt and hatred from strata of society which consists of the flunkies of the ruling bourgeoisie (ie: the trade union bureaucrats, liberal-labor politicians, religious misleaders, poverty pimps, “progressive” media personalities and professional “opinion leaders”, etc).   This strata of society now offers us advice about how we can build the antiwar movement by “reaching out” to a supposedly less bloodthirsty section of the ruling bourgeoisie.

• The goal of a world without imperialism will also run into the barrier of the crisis of theory in which even militant and experienced activists find it impossible to think in a reaic way about how modern society will function when it is run by the working class instead of by the bourgeoisie.

The eyes of our class brothers and sisters in Iraq and around the world are on antiwar activists here – who have the ability to organize popular opposition to the war.   We must smash up all barriers to the development of a powerful antiwar movement.  

We must build a movement focused on a world without imperialist wars.   This means a world without imperialism – and a world which is not run by the bourgeoisie.

•   We must build a movement independent of the influence of the Democratic Party and its many reformist allies.   We must build a movement of millions, based on the masses, which is aimed at ending the system of bourgeois rule.

•   We must confront the crisis of theory and make it clear to millions that there is an alternative to the current system of rule in which the bourgeoisie dominate society and launch one imperialist war after another.

Behind the corrupt social strata which defends imperialism’s wars, ideology and system of rule – and behind the theoretical barrier and the constant drumbeat that “there is no alternative” – the system of bourgeois control suffers from a profound ideological crisis that will leave it increasingly vulnerable as the emerging revolution in communications matures – and the ability of the bourgeoisie to control the political thinking of the masses is steadily eroded.

Or – put in simpler terms: US imperialism’s war for oil and world domination is based on the most flimsy of lies about “fighting terrorism” and “spreading democracy” – and this is becoming increasingly obvious in the age of the internet.   But this is not all.   The idea that we must put up with bourgeois rule over society until the end of time – is long overdue to be tossed in the trash together with creationism and the idea that the earth is flat.

We have the ability to puncture the entire system of lies on which imperialist society is based – and build a movement based on the masses.   The war in Iraq will help us do this: it serves as a sharp razor to separate people from their illusions.   We have the ability to mobilize millions to end this war and end the system which launches one imperialist war after another. Ben Seattle