By David Sole, November 17, 2024
The split in the U.S. ruling class that was so evident in the contentious presidential election campaign of 2024 also extends into international issues. But since the struggle is between two factions of the capitalist ruling class, the goals of both factions are the same while some tactics may differ.
The entire twentieth century saw the world torn apart by imperialist rivalries among the economically advanced capitalist countries. V.I. Lenin, leader of the great 1917 Russian revolution exposed this in his seminal “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism” published in 1917 in the very midst of the revolution.
Vicious colonialism subjugated peoples across the globe. And when colonized people rose in rebellion war and genocide rained down upon them. The First World War (1914-1918) saw the imperialist thieves fight over redividing the world at the cost of tens of millions killed and injured. The Second World War was a replay of the First, but also included an attempt to crush the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which had emerged from the First. The cost was many tens of millions more of killed and wounded.
Out of the Second World War came successful national liberation struggles and independence for many former colonies. And of course, successful socialist revolutions emerged that infuriated (and still infuriate) the imperialist powers.
The last big split between two wings of the U.S. ruling class came during the Vietnam war of liberation. Vietnam had fought against Japanese imperialism before and during World War II. Then the Vietnamese communists drove out the French colonialists following France’s crushing defeat at Dien Bien Phu (1954)
The United States tried desperately to destroy Vietnam’s freedom fighters, taking over from the French. Despite committing over one-half million U.S. troops, enormous quantities of weaponry and the U.S. Air Force and Navy to the war, the U.S. kept losing. Unable to defeat the Vietnamese and confronted by a growing anti-war and anti-imperialist protest movement at home, the U.S. ruling elite split over whether to withdraw from or to escalate the conflict. This division in the ruling class was the last big public disagreement they had.
The 2024 U.S. elections revealed a deep split over domestic policy among the U.S. billionaire class. The so-called “liberal” section is worried that the Trump wing’s commitment to roll back all social gains by the working class and oppressed people will provoke a firestorm of protest that could grow into a rea revolutionary movement.
They are less divided in their imperialist goals and tactics involving the rest of the world. There is little difference between them on the issue of controlling the Middle East and its oil riches. That means military domination of the entire region. Essential to this predatory goal is total support for the military garrison, settler-colonial zionist state. The zionist entity’s job is to be the frontline troops against Arab nationalism and especially against the Palestinian people whose land was stolen to create this imperialist outpost in the heart of the Middle East.
The incoming Trump administration will now vary from the decades of support given to the zionist state from both Democrats and Republicans. Trump’s picks for his cabinet are all hard-right supporters of zionism.
There seems to be a rift in the ruling class over the issue of the Ukraine proxy war against Russia. The only reason this has arisen is because the aim to weaken the Russian Federation by having Ukraine fight an endless war has not gone according to plan. Ukraine is losing. Russia survived massive economic sanctions and is now advancing on all fronts militarily.
Some in the ruling class want to keep the fighting going or even escalate the conflict using U.S./NATO forces directly. The grouping around Trump appears to be advocating a negotiated settlement.
But the Ukraine “peace” option has nothing to do with some so-called Trump-Putin connection. Russia entered Ukraine to stop that neighbor from putting NATO military bases on its border after the CIA engineered the 2014 coup in Kiev to put in a puppet regime.
The imperialists, if they allow a Ukrainian peace deal, are really intent on directing all U.S. resources toward a confrontation with socialist China.
That is also behind the Trump promise to impose high tariffs on imports, especially from China. Tariffs are form of economic warfare that aim to raise prices thus reducing the sale of foreign goods into the U.S. Of course this could easily provoke retaliation and start a trade war, since U.S. sales to China are also large.
In 2022 Chinese goods exported to the U.S. amounted to $536 billion. And U.S. goods exported to China were $154 billion plus an additional $40 billion in services exported. If Trump impose tariffs on many other countries, it could result in a world-wide economic depression. https://www.uschina.org/reports/us-exports-china-2023-0
The ruling class factions seem to be united about continuing to wage economic, covert operations or military pressure against all of the other countries that are trying to maintain some independence from the West. For 65 years the U.S. has tried to crush socialist Cuba no matter which political party controlled the White House or Congress.
Also, in the crosshairs of imperialism are Venezuela, Iran, the DPRK, Zimbabwe and many others. Only a world-wide anti-imperialist, pro-socialist movement can defeat this exploitative economic system. This movement must also include a strong force tight in the belly of the beast.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
You must be logged in to post a comment.