Note from the editors of AND Nuevo Perú: We publish this contribution from the Swedish CCs because we consider that it serves the debate. At some point we will publish an article of our own on the topics discussed here.
Collusion and struggle, Trump, Putin, Ukraine and the EU! Comments on the international situation February 2025
This article is a commentary and analysis of the events that took place after the Russia-US meeting on Ukraine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week, to which neither Zelensky nor the European leaders were invited. Then, French President Macron called representatives of various European imperialists and bureaucratic capitalists to a meeting in Paris to conspire and address the issue. Olaf Scholz, the current German chancellor, called for unity among Europeans and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated that "the rearmament of Europe was the most important message of the meeting." What kind of contradictions are at stake? What is happening between the United States, Russia and the EU?
"...the "'new era of peace' What happened to it? What happened in Yugoslavia? What happened elsewhere? They said that everything became political, that is a lie. The reality today is different. The same adversaries of the First and Second World Wars are preparing a third (Our bold). We must know this, and we who are children of an oppressed country are part of the spoils. We cannot allow this! Put an end to imperialist oppression! We must put an end to them! We are from the third world and the third world is the basis of the world proletarian revolution, under one condition: that the communist parties lead it and raise it. We have to do this!”
- Speech by Chairman Gonzalo of September 24, 1992
When studying and analyzing the world situation, it is always prudent to ask: "Who benefits?" or "Follow the money!" Lenin explained that "politics is a concentrated and expressive form of economics," Marx argued that "to understand the power structures of society one must understand its economic basis," and adding to that Mao's use of the quote "war is politics by other means," leads us to the following formula:
Economy→Politics→War, let's call it the "E-P-K formula."
This formula says that a war, like the war in Ukraine, is a means in politics that is founded and has its explanation in economics. Of course, the economy is controlled by the imperialists, a monopolistic big bourgeoisie, and politically formulated by a government like the Putin regime, the Tidö government, or the Biden-Trump regime. Here it is important to examine bourgeois propaganda and see that Biden and Trump do not represent a break but a continuity between the ruling imperialist big bourgeoisie that rules in the US.
Let us go ahead and simplify the question of Ukraine. Here we are looking for the most basic interests of the bourgeoisie, which is to accumulate capital, and of the rulers of the US, Russia, and the EU. Before we begin, we specify that Ukraine is an oppressed nation with a bureaucratic capitalist class that sells itself desperately to the highest bidder, is militarily dependent on the imperialists, and is not doing so well.
United States
Let us start with the only hegemonic superpower: the United States of „America“. We define them as the only hegemonic superpower due to their economic, political, cultural, military and nuclear dominance.
Financially, this colossus is on feet of clay. The state of US imperialism is very weak, its economy has been doing very badly and it is extremely indebted to other countries and its own big bourgeoisie. In recent years, many other countries have abandoned the dollar as a reserve currency and transactions are made in other currencies such as the euro and the Chinese currency. Thus, the rich in this country wish to attack their competitors, through conspiracies and disputes, in order to advance at the expense of other imperialists.
Who are the competitors of the United States? Is it Russia? Is that why the United States supported Ukraine with weapons according to the E-P-K formula? Hardly! The US economy is at least ten times larger than that of Russia. Therefore, Russia is not a problem at all for the United States. After the USA, China is its biggest competitor and here, of course, there are real contradictions and economic promises if a war breaks out. After China comes the EU, but the EU is not a country but an assembly of states in an imperialist alliance that is completely in collusion and fighting. In the EU, Germany dominates and then France, i.e. "the same countries as in the First and Second World Wars". So the list is USA, China, EU (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.).
It is reasonable to assume that Ukraine ranks very low on the list and that the natural resources it possesses as the “breadbasket of Europe” are products that can be used primarily economically at the local and regional level and are not particularly relevant to transatlantic trade. In itself, Ukraine has no significant value for the United States. But it was in a conspiracy that the Western imperialists provoked the conflict against Russia, with a color revolution and promises of NATO membership, all of which went to the limit that Putin declared loudly and clearly, as when he said that if “you insist on being allowed to join, there will be war” in the fall before the war and sought talks with the Biden regime, which was refused.
So what has the war resulted in? A weakened Russia? To some extent, but there is no strategic interest on the part of the United States in encouraging such a weak Russia, which would strengthen Germany, its biggest competitor in Europe. Russia poses no military threat to the United States in Ukraine and the United States has no need to change the regime in Russia, knowing that it is too difficult. When Joe Biden said “he cannot stay in power,” it was more about conspiracy and propaganda than a statement of a concrete goal or plan.
What else has the war led to? Regarding China, nothing relevant. Instead, the war has weakened and divided the EU and especially Germany, which relies on Russia for electricity and is by far the strongest country economically in Europe. An example of how the US sought to divide and weaken the EU, especially Germany, was when the Biden regime blew up Nord Stream 2 and put Europe in an energy crisis.
So when we follow the formula Economy→Politics→War, we see the following:
Economic: The US needs to beat its competitors to achieve success because it is stagnant, in a general crisis, and affected by the process of imperialism’s decay.
Politically - The US lured EU countries with an anti-Russian conspiracy, which could allow the obedient political body of the Swedish bourgeoisie to introduce the country into NATO, and then created a dispute by making a 180-degree turn that all EU politicians pretend to be surprised by but knew about three years ago when Trump clearly expressed his point of view on the war in Ukraine.
Military - War is politics by other means and vice versa, politics is war without bloodshed, and now before the negotiations we know that nothing is decided at the negotiating table that has not already been decided on the battlefield.
In theory, their policy is: Divide and conquer!
Russia
It is an imperialist power that has lost the luster and strength of social-imperialism, it is economically dwarfed but has retained its status as a nuclear superpower and has grown militarily stronger during the course of the war. Russia's imperialist war against an oppressed nation, regardless of US interference and proxy war, and regardless of whether Putin has been lured into a trap, is an imperialist war of aggression, i.e. an unjust war that has moved from targeting some more modest stated goals in Donbass to trying to overthrow one capitalist-bureaucrat clique, "Dictator Zelenzky", against another more pro-Moscow one.
Economic - Russian imperialism is economically weak and needs to expand. They need to secure more spheres of interest, markets and colonies because they are imperialist and it is in their nature.
Politically - They revolve around a strong personality, Putin, who is capable and "brave enough" to "take the tough gloves" and start a war against a neighbouring country in the 21st century. On Russia’s side, however, the war is relatively defensive in nature to counter the attempted encirclement that the US-led imperialists have been carrying out since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. If the US’s false promise to Zelensky about NATO membership were to be fulfilled, it would be a checkmate for Russian imperialism as nuclear weapons would have been pointed at them on their border and thus their military capability would have been significantly reduced.
Military - The war against Ukraine has resulted in a huge mobilisation of men and materiel from the country. Being imperialists, they must defend their spheres of interest, markets and colonies from competitors and enemies with a military presence. This means that imperialism always means, in the end, war. Militarily, they cannot afford to lose more semi-colonies, as during the 21st century several „colour revolutions“ and Western-oriented protest movements, often supported by the CIA, have taken place within their spheres of interest (see Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Kazakhstan).
EU
Economic - The EU is in an economic crisis, the beginning of which we are at the forefront. This economic crisis can be compared to the crisis before the two previous world wars. This crisis was exacerbated during the Ukraine war by sanctions against Russian products and the “choking” of Russian energy to Europe. During the war, the Russian economy was able to grow at a faster pace than the European imperialists who in many cases have declined and had years of negative growth (!), such as Germany, Sweden and Finland. A divided Germany, whose automobile industry is on its knees, and a France that is losing semi-colonies by the minute and which, with its tail between its legs, had to largely abandon Africa and its cheap raw materials, well and truly illustrate the prosperity of the imperialists in Europe.
Politically – The EU system and its bureaucracy is riddled with internal contradictions between imperialists and bureaucratic-capitalists and, due to the economic crisis, (reactionary) politicians are blaming “immigrants” and “Russians” to protect the ruling classes from blame. This has led to “new” brown forces in all countries – Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, Rassemblement National (RN) in France, the Swedish Democrats, Fratelli d'Italia (FDI) in Italy, etc. – taking an increasingly important place on the political scene.
Military – The EU is militarily divided and weak. The EU has no military strength of its own, but is largely subjugated by US imperialism in NATO. This was exacerbated when Trump mocked them and NATO and instead reached out to Putin. Several European leaders met in Paris this week to conspire on how to build a counterweight to US imperialism, where the conclusion was that Europe must arm itself in order to be able to act independently without (and against) the US.
Why was our little prime minister not allowed to join? Kristersson and the representatives of Swedish imperialism are probably not seen as serious enough nor loyal enough as obedient dogs to the US. While the rest of the bourgeois press is stupefied by the talks between Trump and Putin, Prime Minister Kristersson says that “politics works differently in the US than in European countries. There are advantages and disadvantages.”
Sweden
In Sweden, the mood among politicians is simultaneously sad and joyful. The Swedish imperialist bourgeois class leans mainly towards the US. It is too small and pitiful to be able to carry out plunder wars against other countries on its own and therefore needs the strong Yankee at its side. But US imperialism does not need little Kristersson or his ridiculous EU colleagues.
One thing that is more than clear is the role of old revisionism. Its role is becoming clearer and clearer, which is good.
From SvT: “The Centre Party and the Social Democrats want the EU to be able to take out joint loans to equip the defence of the member states.
- This must happen at a dizzying pace and all countries must do it, even those with worse economic conditions, says Magdalena Andersson (S).
The Green Party has also wavered on this and the Left Party is willing to reconsider its position."
Consider the following quote:
"En esta lucha certera e implacable contra el revisionismo, Lenin también planteó en la época de la Primera Guerra Mundial que hay que transformar la guerra imperialista en una guerra revolucionaria, hay que desenmascarar a los viejos revisionistas y demostrar que son socialpatriotas."
- Partido Comunista del Perú - Línea Internacional 1988.
Incluso durante la próxima guerra mundial, serán los viejos revisionistas quienes mejor vendan el belicismo y el militarismo al pueblo.
Conclusión
El imperialismo, el sistema mundial que divide a todos los países del mundo en ricos y pobres, opresores y oprimidos, tiene contradicciones inherentes que empeoran cada vez más y, como todas las sociedades anteriores, se dirige a su colapso final. Una muestra de ello es el proceso de hundimiiento del imperialismo que vemos en todo el mundo donde la crisis general se agrava y los imperialistas se desenmascaran ante el pueblo del imperio.
Así, las mismas fuerzas de las guerras mundiales anteriores se encuentran en una crisis económica. No hay nuevos continentes que descubrir, esclavizar y explotar, pero hay que hacerlo a expensas de algún otro imperialista. Por tanto, el imperialismo desarrolla su contradicción en colusión y pugna. La colusión es temporal mientras que la pugna es abdoluta. Actualmente ninguno de estos países tiene el poder y la capacidad de conquistar a los demás mediante la guerra (la continuación de la política por otros medios), pero el Presidente Gonzalo tampoco dice en su discurso que prepara, es decir, equipa, crea alianzas y socava a sus competidores. Una guerra mundial puede estallar por alguna coincidencia histórica, pero no si va en contra de las leyes generales del movimiento. Pero lo que vemos ahora es cómo aumenta el antagonismo entre los imperialistas a medida que se agudizan las contradicciones.
Para los comunistas está claro que debemos centrarnos en la guerra popular mundial, que es lo único que puede evitar la enorme matanza y destrucción humana que conlleva una guerra mundial. Por otro lado, no debemos temer el estallido de una guerra mundial, como los revisionistas de Jruschov que intentan detener toda acción revolucionaria usando esto como excusa, incluso si estamos en contra de la guerra. Cuando estalla la guerra, es nuestro deber y tarea convertirla en una guerra popular en todos los países. En los países imperialistas significa derrotismo revolucionario, así que alegrémonos cuando la banda criminal Kristersson, Åkesson, Busch y Persson van de mal en peor. Los reaccionarios son expertos en dos cosas: derrotar y asesinar a masas desarmadas, dice el PCC, y no podemos detener su derrota, así que detengamos su inminente matanza imperialista del pueblo.