This article is the editorial for issue #24 of Communist Revolution. Subscribe here or order a copy of the new issue in our store.
The war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran is not only criminal, but utterly disastrous. It reflects the crude, short-sighted, and depraved nature of those who govern us—a group of war criminals, billionaires, and pedophiles. It is the Epstein class’s war.
The war is unfolding exactly as one might expect from these people. It began with the bombing of an elementary school and the deaths of 150 young girls. Since then, the United States and Israel have bombed schools, hospitals, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure, and Israel has embarked on the conquest and overt ethnic cleansing of southern Lebanon.
Trump imagined that attacking Iran would be a piece of cake—a “special operation” that would topple the regime and install a puppet leader loyal to the United States. He wanted to divert attention from the Epstein scandal and secure a quick victory to restore his tarnished reputation.
But things quickly turned into a disaster. Iran succeeded in knocking out American military bases and major, expensive radar installations. They struck the oil and gas infrastructure of Gulf countries, which sent oil prices skyrocketing. And as anyone with more than two brain cells could have predicted, Iran eventually closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the major arteries of the global economy.
But like a compulsive gambler who keeps losing and has reached the point of betting his house and car, thinking that the next hand will let him recoup his losses, Trump is doubling down and preparing to escalate the war—everything indicates that he is now preparing to deploy troops to Iran.
Like a hurricane that grows ever stronger, the war is devouring everything in its path. The entire planet is rapidly heading toward a major economic crisis.
A whole series of markets are plummeting. Stock markets have continued to fall week after week since the start of the war. Investors are selling off their holdings of gold and silver, as well as government bonds. Private equity funds have had to limit withdrawals to stem the bleeding.
Meanwhile, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is causing shortages and, consequently, skyrocketing prices for a range of critical raw materials—in addition to oil and natural gas—such as fertilizer, helium, sulfur, and so on. It is workers and the poor around the world, including in Canada, who will pay the price. The capitalists, on the other hand, will line their pockets. Alberta’s oil barons, in particular, are already reaping huge profits.
This economic storm will hit Canada at a time when the country was already in a precarious position due to a productivity crisis, a public debt crisis, and the trade war. In February, employment declined across the country, with 84,000 jobs lost and the unemployment rate rising to 6.7 per cent—the highest rate since the COVID crisis.
Following the significant cuts announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney last year, his new budget deepens the austerity measures, with an additional $31 billion in cuts beyond what was announced last year. These cuts will be used, in particular, to fund Canada’s massive military buildup.
And now it’s the turn of provincial governments to turn to austerity. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia in particular, significant attacks on the working class have been announced.
Furthermore, with the global bond market in decline, public finances will suffer even more. Investors are more reluctant to lend to governments and are demanding higher interest rates on their loans, which will exacerbate the public debt crisis—and push governments even further toward austerity. This will have explosive repercussions.
At a time when public services are already suffering from chronic underfunding, with hospitals and universities literally falling into disrepair, this crisis in public finances is bound to fuel the growing anger. The system’s inability to provide decent healthcare and affordable education is a damning indictment of capitalism.
Already, the crisis in public education funding is giving rise to a student movement the likes of which have rarely been seen in English-speaking Canada. Walkouts have taken place at a number of universities and high schools in Ontario, and there have even been student strikes in Nova Scotia and at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Never before has the idea of a student strike been so widely discussed in English Canada. This is particularly true in Ontario, where Doug Ford has slashed tuition assistance. But the leadership of the Ontario student movement is twiddling its thumbs, coming up with all sorts of excuses to justify its refusal to organize a student strike. This is a real crisis of leadership. Sooner or later, the pressure will either force them in that direction or lead to their replacement by student leaders ready to lead the fight.
A similar leadership crisis is also plaguing the labour movement. The struggle of Air Canada flight attendants is emblematic of this crisis. Rather than capitalizing on the immense mobilization and fighting spirit of its members to carry the struggle through to victory, the union leadership called off the strike and deferred the decision to an arbitrator, who imposed a contract that did not meet the members’ demands. The explanation given will be that we must “be reasonable,” that times are tough, and that everyone needs to tighten their belts.
In Quebec, unions have been talking for years about the need to fight against austerity and the underfunding of public services. Last year, the government introduced two bills that represent major attacks on unions. Despite this, the unions have offered only verbal opposition and refuse to mount a serious fight.
In fact, the crisis of leadership is a crisis of reformism. With capitalism in a state of rotting decay, it can no longer provide workers with a decent standard of living. There is no longer any room, not only for reforms, but even for maintaining the most basic comforts for workers. The ruling class demands that the working class foot the bill for the crisis of its system. In this context, the reformist leaders at the head of the unions and student organizations are completely overwhelmed and don’t know which way to turn, because they accept the limits of the system.
A revolutionary perspective is needed. Standing in the way of any solution to each of these ills—war, economic crisis, austerity, the debt crisis, and so on—is the same obstacle: the capitalist class and its system. We cannot be content with rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while these people keep their hands on the rudder and lead us straight towards the iceberg. We must wrest the economic and political levers from their hands—expropriate them. This requires a revolution, and a party to lead that revolution. That is what the RCP proposes.
The Epstein class is dragging us toward the abyss: toward economic crisis, the collapse of public services, the militarization of society, and toward war—toward the destruction of all civilized life. We must organize now to rid ourselves of them.
