By Aysun Sadıkoğlu – November 4, 2023
Through the Ukraine issue, the US has come a long way in rallying the entire major Western imperialist world, including Japan, under its banner. Had it not been for the Ukraine issue, perhaps they would have done it through another crisis. But the Ukraine issue has strengthened the hand of the US in controlling the West.
It may be recalled that less than two years ago, Macron declared that “NATO is brain dead”. The brain of NATO is the US. And now France is a supporter of the US war plans. Fighters sent to France via Turkey, Islamic gangs (Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc.) can be put into action as an open threat to France. The US is able to put this into action all over Europe – we will live and see, soon also in Japan.
In fact, on one side of the process is the unravelling hegemony of the USA. This hegemony was established in its full meaning between 1945-48, after World War II. The sovereignty of the dollar, the IMF, the World Bank, NATO, etc. are the institutions of this hegemony, along with others, of course. The war of the rulers against communism in order not to lose their paradise was combined with the US hegemony, driven by a fear unprecedented in the history of the world. Not only have the states of the capitalist world been organised as monopoly police states under the guise of “democracy”, including the gears of fascism, but the whole West has also redeveloped its relations with its colonies on the basis of even deeper exploitation and plunder. Of course, the USA received the biggest share from this process. This hegemony began to unravel with the war of division that emerged between the imperialist powers after the USSR dissolved and the “threat of communism” disappeared (A note is needed here: In fact, in our more comprehensive studies, we have already said that Sweezy and Baran had expressed the dissolution of this hegemony in the 1970s. But it went on more internally, and the petro-dollar system allowed the US to recover, or at least slow down, after 1973. The reason why we today commemorate the dissolution of hegemony mainly with the dissolution of the USSR is that this dissolution of hegemony has become clearer and a war of division between the imperialist five has come to the surface).
The second side of the process is the deepening crisis of the capitalist system. 2008 has brought this crisis to an even greater dimension. On the one hand, the crisis emerged in the midst of the imperialist war of division, on the other hand, two powers, Russia and China, which want to be recognised by the capitalist world, have started to make their presence felt. The economic development of China, in particular, meant that the rulers, squeezed by the crisis, lost more cakes and risked losing their market dominance. This is the third force that determines today’s process.
The international imperialist powers, the US, Germany, France, England, Japan in particular, refused to accept Russia and China as new “partners” at the table. The plan for the unification of the West to colonise Russia and China was, after many attempts, put into full operation with Biden and war was imposed as a solution. The Syrian war was a turning point in this. Until then, the US had been doing what it wanted in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Yugoslavia. But in the Syrian process, Russia stepped in and then China also took a position. Thus, the dreams of a “unipolar world” have come to an end as a reality.
In these circumstances, of course, the war has become a war against the Russian and Chinese front.
In the last months, in August and September, the war cries have started to grow louder because the NATO forces have actually been defeated in Ukraine. These cries are louder in NATO, the US, England and Germany.
World War III (we can abbreviate it as ” WW III”) is now being referred to as a reality, as a strong possibility. In fact, the wars that are currently happening are a part of WW III. But it must be understood that it has not yet become a full world war.
Now the US-Western-NATO strategy is taking the form of a more intense war in Ukraine. The fact that Germany and England are trying to get ahead of the US in provoking war means, in fact, a closer embrace of the III DS.
Within this framework, the Western front, NATO and the US, are making preparations for war in other areas as well. The whole of Europe, the whole capitalist world, is putting the war industry into full swing, looking for places to strangle at every opportunity, looking for opportunities to create constant tensions.
Even though Russia and China are taking many measures against this process, such as BRICS, and even though many colonial countries take different positions, the US policy of creating new battlefields continues to move forward.
On the one hand, Japan and South Korea are made to become more active in China’s neighbourhood, on the other hand, the Balkans are being turned into a battlefield again, and finally, a new scenario is being put into action in the Caucasus, for which the Armenians in Karabakh are paying the price. The West is keen to use the Armenian government on the one hand and Azerbaijan on the other simultaneously. Thus, they want to develop war plans against Iran.
In this respect, on the one hand, Russia is wanted to be squeezed, but mainly Iran is tried to be encircled. It should not be difficult to see that there are preparations for a war between Iran and Turkey and that this is being planned by NATO. The peoples of the region are paying the price of the Syrian war. For the time being, the plans in the Caucasus are most damaging for the Armenians in Karabakh. Therefore, it must be recognised that they are bringing the entire Middle East to the brink of a new war.
But the main front of this war will be a war between the Turkish Republic and Iran. It is possible to notice that the Turkish state has imported many fighters into the region through Azerbaijan. One of the definite instigators of this war is of course Israel.
Of course, such a war would also mean a massive devastation of both Iran and Turkey. But this is not so much a problem for the West. On the contrary, it is desirable. In the midst of the war, the Turkish state is rubbing its hands and dreaming of launching new massacre policies against Kurds and Armenians. In short, it is clear that everyone, every power in the region has a calculation on this issue. But the real calculation is being prepared in Brussels and Washington, London and Berlin.
Both the developments in the Caucasus and the fact that the Turkish state is focused on war policies inside and outside, and that it has accepted the duty of triggerman without hesitation and with great willingness, show that this war is getting very close. This is the basis for the US to continue with Erdoğan again. The election results were also adjusted accordingly. The fact that the MHP’s (Nationalist Movement Party) 4 per cent vote is shown to be high is proof not of increasing nationalism, but of the nationalism that is wanted to be increased, that is being tried to be increased. Introducing Erdoğan as the “leader of the Ummah and Turan” and declaring the “Century of Turkey” on the streets of New York with funny truck adverts are meaningful in terms of showing their enthusiasm in this regard. The recent court decisions and arrests are exactly the signs of a preparation for this purpose. The use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish guerrillas as a Western programme and the acceleration of this programme is precisely for this reason.
The policy of war at home and abroad must be read from this point of view.
This, in the same framework, means that in order to re-solidificate the Palace Regime, it is time to roll up the sleeves. In this respect, the fact that large sections of the left in Turkey are in the tail of the CHP with liberal policies is an advantage for the Palace Regime and the Turkish state. This policy is supported by the US and the EU.
As the Turkish state becomes more aggressive, as the Palace Regime as an extraordinary state organisation is sought to be further strengthened, the left is assigned the role of defending the “old state” within the framework of a shade of secularism and nationalism.
Of course, we reject this and call on the sensitive sections of the left, the masses and groups who continue the line of resistance to be vigilant. This process is a betrayal of the cause of the working class, the line of resistance, the struggle for revolution and socialism. The line of betrayal taken by the Second International before the First World War is now being revived on the eve of the war and in the midst of the war, in order to ensure the dumbing down of the left. In this way, it is aimed to render the working class, women, youth, the ecological movement, in short, the entire line of resistance directionless. In this way, they want to turn the interior into a rose garden without thorns, a situation where silence prevails.
It would not be wrong to call this the strengthening of the Palace Regime. While the resistance of the left was broken with the lie of “Strengthened Parliamentary System”, while the left was stuck behind the CHP in a liberal line, this is wanted to be turned into an opportunity. The strengthened parliamentary system was such a fraud that it emerged as a strengthened Palace Regime.
This is the rule of war: Those who cannot develop their own path, who do not have the courage to walk on their own path in the face of various difficulties, have to waste away on the path of others. This is what they want to do.
However, it is also possible to see the rising sun, the dawn of a red world in this bloodbath, in this chaos.
The resistance is not only going on in Turkey, not only in Kurdistan. On various occasions, in every corner of the world, workers, labourers and peoples are raising their voices in their own way. Until the victory of the socialist revolution somewhere in the world, to regard this rising resistance as “insignificant” precisely means surrendering to the policies of chaos and war.
It is well known that every war is also a civil war.
Even the advanced imperialist centres of the world capitalist system have been involved in this process of civil war. Every country taking part in the war will face a developing civil war to the extent that it takes part in it. The emergence of neo-Nazi organisations, the revelation of the fact that these organisations are organised everywhere through the state as admitted by their founders, are all part of this process.
Now, the fronts are becoming clearer, the masks are being lowered. No imperialist or capitalist state anymore feels the need to hide its mechanisms and organisations. One by one, the “intellectuals” who have a reputation as “democrats” are unmasking themselves and openly taking sides. “Intellectuals” for sale and for hire are emerging as pro-war. And they do not hold back from explaining their pro-war attitude with their lofty humanitarianism. In the case of Germany, those who pretend to be “democrats” under the name of Green are forced to appear as the biggest supporters of war. The hush money given to the workers is being taken back one by one. Every “cradle of democracy” state puts all the mechanisms of civil war on the field. These are, of course, the manifestations in the imperialist metropolises.
The bourgeois states are forced to show the gears of the fascism and state wheels, which they conceal with a shawl, in all their nakedness. The world capitalist system, with its most reactionary organisations all over the world, is revealing its preparations for civil war. No longer anywhere in the world, in any capitalist country, in any aspect, can there be any discussion of the blessings of “democracy”. It is obvious even to the blindest eyes that the capitalist state has nothing to do with “democracy”; on the contrary, what they call “democracy” is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
Under these circumstances, it is clear that the prevention of war cannot be achieved with speeches, with good intentions and wishes, with methods of persuading the bourgeoisie by explaining to them the evil of war. It is becoming clearer for those who want to understand that to be really against the war means to be openly in favour of the socialist revolution, to fight together with a social movement that will overthrow the system.
Being against the war today means fighting against the capitalist-imperialist system. This means, obviously, to fight in the lines of revolution and socialism, in the lines of the revolutionary path of the working class.
The fight for revolution and socialism is the only way out. This is the only real way of liberation and the only real way to prevent war. Just as the October Revolution ended World War I, today the only way to prevent WW III is a new wave of socialist revolution. This also means that when war breaks out, every revolutionary worker, every human being, must turn his or her weapons against his or her own government, not against the labourers dressed as soldiers in another country. This is the revolutionary internationalist position. It is necessary to refuse to fight for the interests of the rulers.
This is the struggle of two classes on earth. To fight on behalf of the rulers, the bourgeoisie, which are one of these two classes, is to betray the cause of the working class. The sovereigns are engaged in this war through their states. They are the rulers. To reject this and fight with our own organisations to eradicate the bourgeois states from the face of the earth is difficult but the only way out. This will eventually be fulfilled. To step strongly on this path today is also the way to prevent destruction and war from turning the world into a bloodbath.
If intellectuals hesitate to take part in this struggle on the side of the working class, it will complicate the process. Every true intellectual who speaks of the cause of the working class, socialism, living humanely, peace, has the duty to be an organic part of the revolutionary struggle and the cause of the working class in this war. It is not possible to end the blood and tears without risking the price to be paid for this. Moreover, the open and organic participation of intellectuals in the ranks of the revolution has a great value. This is not merely a matter of one person joining the struggle.
Under the conditions of civil war, the rulers force everyone to take an open attitude. The discourse of “you are either with me or the enemy” is not an empty discourse, on the contrary, it is a reality of the war waged by the rulers. The fact that they impose this reality with all its nakedness is a direct expression of the state of war. It is necessary to see this and take sides accordingly.
This situation, which is the case for the whole world, is also applicable to our country more than ever, more clearly and as a more urgent task.
The war is intensifying on many fronts in the geography in which our country is located. And this situation affects Turkey, which is a joint colony of the imperialist front, in many ways. Therefore, today, the new cabinet of the Palace Regime is emerging as a war cabinet formed within the framework of NATO.
In our country, the fronts are clear. Whatever your beliefs, whatever your ideology, you will either be on the side of the working class or on the side of the ruler, on the side of the state. There is no middle way anymore. Both the Turkish state itself forces everyone to choose in this regard and this is also the reality of the war. There is no other way out but a socialist revolution that will develop under the leadership of the working class.
Moreover, the developing socialist revolution, including the brotherhood of all peoples, must be in accordance with the internationalist spirit of the working class. “Nationalism”, in whatever form it takes, ultimately means taking a position in favour of the ruler. For the left movement to shift again to a nationalist line by updating Kemalist tendencies is a very dangerous attitude and a betrayal of the revolution. While there is a reality such as the Kurdish revolution and the resistance in other countries of the region, it would be a big mistake not to understand the internationalist attitude correctly.
