Labor, peace movements a powerful pair

By Scott Marshall

This article was reprinted from the February 28, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

There now appears to be a lessening of the war danger in the Middle East. The lion's share of the credit should go to the world and U.S. peace movements. Kofi Annan's initiative was largely spurred on by the tremendous mass pressure of protests across the world.

The militant demonstrations that met Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton and others, everywhere they went, helped spur on anti-war efforts everywhere. Militancy and action at home are always essential against corporate and imperialist driven military threats. Even with the U.S. military/monopoly capitalist's "new world order," and the U.S. government's domination of the U.N., the world body can be pushed by mass pressure to act for peace. And of course, despite the "new world order" there are still many countries and democratic forces in the U.N. who will not bow to U.S. imperialist pressure.

While running roughshod over the U.N. in it's military build-up, the Clinton administration was forced to turn to Kofi Annan to provide a face-saving way to back off. It is apparent that the danger is not over and we must continue to march and protest to demand the troops and weapons be brought home from the Middle East, and the sanctions be lifted. And we must continue to support the democratic and progressive forces in Iraq who seek to liberate their country from the dangerous tyranny of Saddam Hussein.

At the same time, the upsurge in the peace movement underlines the conclusions of Gus Hall's report to the Communist Party's National Committee in January. Everything is changing and the class struggle is heating up. This includes the struggle for peace. The movement is not only reactivated but at a higher level.

For example, overwhelmingly the U.S. peace forces understood that the giant oil monopolies, through their government and military servants are the real players in the crisis in Iraq. The threat to Iraq had nothing much to do with inspections and everything to do with sending a message to all of the oil producing countries that corporate America can use force anywhere it feels its interests threatened.

The big oil monopolies are not at all happy with falling oil prices. And it seems the OPEC countries got the message as they meet to "tighten" oil production. Still, Communists and progressives have a vital role to play in helping to build on these new positive peace trends. At the core of building a more massive and powerful peace movement is strengthening the labor and multinational, multiracial working class component.

We need only remind ourselves of the role of Labor for Peace in fighting against the Vietnam war, or the powerful voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. against that and all U.S. corporate military adventures. In more recent times there was the pivotal role of the Labor Committee on Central America in fights to back U.S. imperialism off in El Salvador and Nicaragua. And there has been the pioneering work of the Machinists union in fighting for peace-time conversion of military production plants.

As Gus Hall's report showed so well, we are dealing with a far different labor movement than we were back then. In the 50s through the early 90s, anti-war labor formations had to fight the class collaborationist cliques of George Meany and Lane Kirkland in the AFL-CIO.

Today, many labor leaders and organizations have the struggles against NAFTA and "Fast Track" under their belts. They are much more aware of how U.S. corporate power translates into imperialism and wasteful military spending. It is much clearer that not only are billions of tax dollars wasted that could be spent at home on people's needs, but that most of U.S. military might is used to protect the low-wage, high exploitation aims of U.S. monopoly corporations around the world. In other words, keep the world safe for U.S. corporations to downsize and move our jobs overseas.

Which brings us to NATO expansion. When Madeline Albright made her recent caustic remarks on the prospects for Kofi Annan's deal to the U.S. Senate, she was officially there to argue for spending billions of our tax dollars for NATO expansion. Experts in military spending say a minimum of $150 billion will be spent by the U.S. in the next four years to expand NATO into Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. U.S. corporations are anxious to open up shop in Eastern Europe. We all know which shops they will shut down at the same time.

All these changes and developments mean that new doors are open for building a stronger labor and working class force for peace. Make no mistake. Working people are horrified and outraged at the potential murder of innocent men, women and children by U.S. war planes in Iraq. And the sons and daughters of workers are the ones "put in harms way' by U.S. military provocation's. But the working class is the most important leadership and mass current for the American peace movement because the U.S. working class has the most to gain by stopping U.S. imperialism and the military/monopoly complex it serves.