Militarism on the march to war.

In the face of the latest ominous developments, the Socialist Party restates its conviction that only one thing can prevent the catastrophe toward which the world is heading is the establishment of world socialism. There is no acceptable alternative. The Socialist Party condemns in no uncertain terms any attack on Iran and regime change by U.S. Forces. There has been no evidence of any officially countenanced assaults on American citizens. 

The Socialist Party appeals to U.S. workers to take a stand against the war-hawks — and against the capitalist system that repeatedly causes such senseless acts of war. A socialist transformation of society would create an economic order under which the means of production would be socially owned and democratically controlled by workers. Socialism would place power in the collective hands of the working class. With the elimination of the profit motive, the principle of social use would guide production. The need would no longer exist for military spending artificially to stimulate the economy, or to maintain a large military machine to enforce access to foreign markets. Under capitalism even relatively small cutbacks in military spending could lead to increased unemployment and the creation of economically depressed areas. Under a social system based on production for use, the elimination of unnecessary production would simply reduce the workweek of the entire labor force because the entire industrial process would reflect the needs of the whole population. American working people must also learn the lessons of history or we’re going to be forced to relive old mistakes.

Capitalism is a predatory social system. The U.S. ruling class has continued its escalation of militarism as long as there are profit interests benefit from it.The capitalist class and its political parties couldn't care less if the government of Iran (or any other country) is democratic or anti-democratic. Its government will "wheel and deal" with any foreign tyrant if its purposes are served. It had no qualms about supplying Saudi Arabia despots and Muslim fundamentalists with weapons. That may seem inconsistent or hypocritical to some, but it is not. Supporting or opposing foreign governments has nothing to do with political principles or ideologies and everything to do with the material and profit interests of America's capitalist ruling class. Capitalism needs foreign markets; it needs foreign sources of raw materials for its industries; it needs large supplies of cheap labor; and it needs strategic control over those markets, supplies of cheap labor and sources of raw materials. Without these things it would choke and collapse. Getting and securing them is the fundamental foreign policy at work. How they are gotten and secured is a secondary consideration.

We must establish a society in which the means of life will be socially owned and democratically controlled; in which production will be carried on for the benefit and use of all; in which we will manage our affairs through an industrial form of government. This is the only way we can end the ruling-class rivalries that lead to war. The crying need of our time is determined, resolute action to awaken the working class to the imperative need for a socialist reconstruction of society.

To avoid future wars, therefore, the capitalist cause must be abolished. Society must be reorganized on socialist lines, replacing private and state ownership and competition with social ownership and cooperation. We must make the factories, mills, mines, railroads and all the other means of social production the collective property of society so that we can produce things to satisfy human needs instead of for the profit of the few. Only then can the competitive, war-breeding struggle for international markets, spheres of influence and sources of raw materials be ended. Only then will the nations of the world have an economic foundation for lasting cooperation, harmony and peace. The Socialist Party believes that the American working class must at last come to recognize that the competitive capitalist system of private ownership of the land and plants of production, means of transportation, mines, etc., is in fact the basic cause of the present state of world anarchy, and of wars, declared and undeclared.

"The capitalist class will wreck a railroad, scuttle a steamer, or fire a building to achieve its ends. It will shoot down; it will murder and kill to advance the price of its commodities. It will declare war in order to dispose of its goods. Nothing, not even what it now considers the most sacred, is allowed to stand in its way. Whatever menaces it is ruthlessly swept aside. No compunction being shown in the matter of expansion, none will be or is shown in the matter of defense." - Daniel De Leon