20-03-2023: At Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California, a bizarre press conference took place on the 13^th of March. US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a supposed breakthrough deal for the building of nuclear powered submarines in Australia…in the 2040s !! The Australian government will reportedly spend $368 billion over 30 years, for three second-hand Virginia class US submarines which may arrive in the 2030s, with five “SSN-AUKUS” boats to arrive….in the 2050s.[1] Before this announcement, Albanese had claimed that the deal for nuclear powered submarines will create “20 000 jobs”[2] over the next 30 years. This is little more than hogwash, and it is unlikely that either the manufacture of submarines or the arrival of US submarines will ever happen. Former Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Paul Keating savaged the compact, labelling it the “worst deal in all history”. He stated that it was “deeply pathetic” for PM Albanese to rely on UK PM Rishi Sunak for protection, and rubbished claims that China has ever threatened or will threaten Australia.[3]

The drums of war

The Kafkaesque press conference at San Diego was a living metaphor for a senile and declining Anglo/US Empire, but an ageing ruling class which does not wish to leave the stage of history can still be eminently dangerous. Joe Biden claimed that AUKUS has “one overriding objective, to enhance the stability of the Indo-Pacific amid rapidly shifting global dynamics.”[4] In reality, the one overriding objective of AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America) is to wage war against the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Australia will likely be the “forward operating base” for the US and may be transferred into a rotating repository for US military ships, battalions of troops, long range fighter-bombers and more. The US cannot wage war against China without even being geographically in the region, so Australia, Japan and the Philippines are likely to be the launching pads. AUKUS is an imperialist war alliance, a NATO of the so-called Indo-Pacific.

Working people of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States must demand the immediate abolition of AUKUS, the withdrawal of all sanctions against individuals and entities in China, and the full restoration of all trade and commerce with the world’s largest manufacturing base. A nuclear war against China is insane, and even a conventional war will only end in disaster for the workers of the West even aside from tragically needless casualties that may result. Any Western sanctions applied on China in the midst of a hot war will only have the result of a near collapse of their own economies, with working people in the West suffering even more than they are currently. NATO is losing its proxy war on Russia via Ukraine, and the widely acknowledged ultimate target is China, as much as the ruling elite would like to Balkanise Russia. That is not going to happen, and neither can the West break up or overthrow the PRC. Nevertheless, war may be the only option for a decaying Western dominion.

Outshined

Why must the West wage war against China? One fact may indicate the scale of the issue. Even back in 2015, the Beijing based Industrial & Commercial Bank of China was the world’s largest, with assets valued at $3.5 trillion. This is larger than the entire value of the British economy.[5] However, as a result of the 1949 socialist revolution, all banks are state owned. Even if there are some small banks which are not entirely state owned, this is rather meaningless as all banks must conform to the PRC’s five-year economic plans. The banks in China, even on their own, are arguably the very basis of its workers’ state. Yet in addition, there are more than 150 000 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), many of which are gigantic. In fact, by revenue and assets, three of the world’s top five firms are Chinese state-owned firms: Sinopec Group, State Grid and China National Petroleum.[6] Not only is the West being outshined by the sheer scale of the PRC’s industry, the vast bulk of it does not operate solely on the basis of profit, and almost all of its earnings buttress a proletarian state which drives stupendous economic growth. Imperialism hates competition, but it can’t stand socialism!

Granted, in the PRC exists a “socialism” where the working class does not hold the levers of decision making power. The circumstances of its 20 year peasant-based revolution meant that the state which emerged out of 1949 was bureaucratically deformed from its inception. Despite its revolutionary achievements, it was weighed down by the ultimately conservative Maoism and Stalinism of the Communist Party of China (CPC). A genuine Marxist political leadership would seek to consolidate its own revolution while calling on the workers of the world to join a struggle for the final overthrow of capitalism worldwide. For this to occur, a political revolution resulting in workers’ councils open to all political tendencies devoted to defending the PRC state and economy would need to arise. In short, the Marxism of Lenin and Trotsky would need to supersede the faux socialism of Mao and Stalin.

Despite this, Red China’s largely nationalised and planned economy will soon surpass the capitalist West, if it hasn’t done so already. Currently, the West cannot even produce enough ammunition for it’s proxy Nazi-infested forces in Ukraine fighting a horrific war for NATO against Russia, let alone produce basic quality goods and appliances for “their own” workers at home. Overwhelmingly, most of these goods are made in the PRC and then imported. Capitalism – the production of commodities for private profit – has long since ceased to provide a progressive drive for humanity. The extreme political repression enacted during “Covid” was the final indicator that this system is in a terminal crisis.

An imperialist war against the PRC by the Anglo/US powers will be accompanied by limitless anti-China and anti-socialist propaganda, which will exceed that which has saturated the Western corporate media over the last 10 years. It is in the interests of workers internationally to stare this down, and declare that they will not assist capitalism’s war against China, and will stand for a real and genuine socialism as a solution to the now constant political repression, distinct lack of “democracy”, relentless cost-of-living increases, poverty and the threat of a global war. NO TO WAR!  ABOLISH AUKUS!

WORKERS  LEAGUE


www.redfireonline.com


E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/485943/aukus-details-unveiled-australian-nuclear-submarine-programme-to-cost-up-to-394-point-5-billion (15-03-2023)

[2] www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-13/aukus-submarine-deal-to-support-20000-jobs-next-30-years/102087324 (15-03-2023)

[3] www.sbs.com.au/news/article/former-colonial-master-paul-keating-launches-astonishing-attack-on-labor-aukus-deal/we38qsi9s (15-03-2023)

[4] www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/03/13/biden-announces-pact-with-Australia-Britain-on-nuclear-submarines/3771678710704/ (15-03-2023)

[5] www.money.cnn.com/2015/08/04/investing/worlds-biggest-banks-china/index.html (15-03-2023)

[6] news.cgtn.com/news/2021-06-14/Explainer-Why-China-has-so-many-state-owned-enterprises (15-03-2023)


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