Editorial
Is a
Multi-Polar Imperialist World Preferable to a Uni-Polar Imperialist World?
The victory over Nazism and fascism during World War Two created conditions for the resurgence of the revolutionary movement around the world. Many countries declared their intention to build socialism and a wave of national liberation struggles also linked their futures to the socialist and communist movement. Revolution was in flow and the imperialist system of states, led by U.S. imperialism, felt seriously threatened.
The response of the U.S. imperialists and their European imperialist allies was the adoption of the politics of division. They divided the world into “Them” and “Us”, between socialism and capitalism, and ushered in the Cold War.
The U.S. used the Cold War and the “Soviet Threat” to force its European imperialist allies into a subordinate position to itself, to establish itself as the undisputed leader of the imperialist world. During the early 1950s in the Soviet Union, following the death of J.V. Stalin, a faction came to power that was determined to restore a form of capitalism within the USSR. This pro-capitalist faction also had ambitions to restore Russia as a major imperialist power and they used the U.S.-NATO threat to subjugate the People’s Democracies of Eastern Europe and establish their own bloc with the USSR at the centre. In 1955 with the creation of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union and its allies officially adopted the bi-polar division of the world between the U.S. and the USSR. The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia revealed the truth about the imperialist nature of the Warsaw Pact. It also established that the bi-polar division of the world was not a division between imperialism and socialism, but rather a division between two competing imperialist powers and their allies; in other words a bi-polar division of the imperialist system of states.
The collapse of the bi-polar division of the world in the late 1980s created a new situation within the imperialist system of states. On the one hand, the U.S. emerged as the sole military superpower and it used this status to bully its allies and strive for a uni-polar imperialist world under its hegemony. On the other hand, the removal of the “Soviet threat” freed various secondary imperialist powers, such as Germany and France, to reduce their dependency on U.S. imperialism and to pursue their own imperialist interests more openly. At the same time the massive amounts on new capital circulating in the imperialist system as a result of the plunder of Russia and the other formerly socialist countries not only contributed to an investment “bubble” in various stock exchanges but also created pressures for increased investment in less industrialized countries, especially China and India, but also Brazil, Indonesia and elsewhere.
The changes in investment patterns within the imperialist world have also created a new political situation. While the U.S. has been steadily declining in economic power over the past several decades other centres of capital have been strengthening. The European Union has become one such centre, while China and Russia have also emerged as rival centres within the imperialist system of states. India and Brazil are also growing as economic and political regional powers. Thus, while the U.S. imperialists have been seeking a uni-polar imperialist world under their control, both their former allies and their former enemies continue to strive for a multi-polar imperialist world in which they all share domination with U.S. imperialism.
At the same time, there is division on this issue within the ranks of the U.S. imperialists. The section roughly identified with the Republican Party and George Bush is determined to impose its unilateral dictate on the entire world. Others, roughly identified with the Democrats, are concerned about over-extending American military forces and are eager to come to a power-sharing arrangement with the other imperialist powers - albeit an arrangement that favours U.S. imperialism.
Within this complex situation, there are those who are suggesting that a bi-polar or multi-polar imperialist world favours the forces of revolution and socialism. They harken back to the Cold War era when concessions could be wrung out of either one superpower or the other in exchange for a pledge of loyalty. Of course, on a short-term basis, they may be correct. It is easier for small countries to manoeuvre if there are several imperialist powers vying for markets and sources of raw materials. However, the price of such manoeuvring is invariably the independence of the small country, whether it is dealing with one imperialist power or many. Furthermore, while the danger of imperialist aggression against one or another small country may be lessened if it can convince another power to defend it, the danger of a worldwide inter-imperialist war is increased when there are several imperialist centres jockeying for position.
Within the present circumstances, in which U.S. imperialism is running amok, it is understandable that smaller countries intent on pursuing an independent course may look favourably on a multi-polar division of the imperialist system of states. It is even understandable if a particular state is forced to make concessions to one imperialist power in order to stave off the aggression of another. However, it is important for communists and revolutionaries to keep in mind that imperialism is imperialism, regardless of whether it is young or old imperialism, aggressive or “democratic” imperialism. Wars of aggression and the subjugation of small and weak nations by large and powerful nations will persist so long as the imperialist system remains, regardless of the relative position of U.S. imperialism or any other imperialist power.
It is vitally important for revolutionaries everywhere to support the efforts of small nations to gain and maintain their independence, even if that means exploiting contradictions within the imperialist camp. However, it is equally important for revolutionaries to educate the working class and people on the dangers inherent in the system of imperialist states and not to create illusions that one imperialist power is more “progressive” or less predatory than another. As in all aspects of life, it is the enemy that we fail to be vigilant about who will kill us in the end. Ultimately the independence of small nations cannot be guaranteed by either a uni-polar or multi-polar imperialist world, but only by socialism as a world system.