In the series of articles on U.S. foreign policy run in UNITY over the last four issues, we presented an analysis of the overall state of U.S. foreign policy and its future. We looked at the reasons why the U.S. changed from being the premier world power after World War II to the declining superpower it is today. We looked at the defeats U.S imperialism has suffered over the last 20 years, the deepening problems in the U.S. economy, and the difficulties the ruling class faces responding to these problems.
In looking at the rivalry between the U.S. and its chief imperialist competitor, the Soviet Union, we saw that the U.S. is on the strategic defensive. The U.S. imperialists have suffered some serious reverses over the last 20 years, and their spheres of influence have shrunk. In contrast, the Soviets have been able to expand their circles of political and economic domination. Militarily, the Soviets have caught up with the U.S. in nuclear and conventional weaponry. The Soviet leadership certainly faces problems – there are serious weaknesses in their domestic economy; morale among the Soviet people is low; and. a growing number of countries have come to see and oppose the Soviet Union’s expansionism. But the long-term relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union will be marked by a continued decline of U.S. strength relative to the Soviets. Because of this strategic offensive posture of the U.S.S.R., it remains the main source of a new world war between the superpowers.
U.S. imperialism’s relationship to Western Europe has also changed over the last decade. The Western European economies have grown stronger and are competing more with U.S. businesses. Western Europe is becoming aware of its own independent interests in the world and is no longer content to follow Washington’s footsteps on all questions of foreign policy. Public opinion in Western Europe is increasingly resistant to seeing Europe used as a chessboard in the superpowers’ rivalry. Although it is unlikely there will be a major rupture in the Atlantic Alliance, the coming years will see more political and economic conflicts between the U.S. and Western Europe.
The decline of U.S. influence in the third world will also continue. The struggle of the less-developed countries for economic and political independence from imperialism will advance. The third world still faces many economic problems, political divisions and conflicts, but the long-term trend will be towards more self-reliance and less dependency on foreign powers.
The picture for U.S. imperialism is clearly not a rosy one. The U.S. ruling class is quite concerned about how to hold onto its declining power and prestige. What kind of foreign policy can we expect from the, U.S. rulers? What kinds of actions will they take?
Over the last ten years they have tried various approaches, from the “detente” of Nixon and Kissinger, to Carter’s “human rights,” to Reagan’s current “get tough” policies. But none has succeeded in halting the U.S. decline. The problem is that the world today has changed: the U.S. ruling class faces objective limitations which make it impossible for it to regain its preeminent position of the past. The ruling class’ options today are more limited – it cannot as easily order other countries around. It cannot count on domestic support for any actions it takes. The U.S. ruling class even has a hard time uniting on what policies to pursue. Reagan faces disagreements within his own Republican Party over many foreign policy questions.
But while the continuing decline of U.S. imperialism is inevitable, the U.S. ruling class is more than capable of embarking on an adventuristic course in a desperate attempt to reassert its power. Reagan today is laying the groundwork for possible U.S. military aggression abroad. He is spending billions of dollars on the most extensive military buildup since World War II and is trying to prepare public opinion to support the possibility of an intervention. To attempt such a reckless adventure would precipitate worldwide condemnation and massive domestic opposition.
The U.S. government tries to convince the American people that we share a common interest in defending U.S. interests overseas. Washington talks about how the whole world is ganging up on “us,” and how America isn’t appreciated anymore. But the American people have no interest in supporting U.S. imperialism. U.S. imperialism’s international empire is a source of strength for the ruling class, and therefore weakens our struggle here. U.S. business interests grow fat off the resources and capital they plunder from the third world. The stronger they are economically, the more clout they have against the struggle for socialism. We have no stake in the ruling class’ attempts to hold onto its declining power.
To defend their interests overseas, the imperialists have sent tens of thousands of American youth off to fight and die over the years. And they may well do so again. The U. S. imperialists also use the threat of shifting their operations abroad to suppress the struggles of U.S. workers for better working conditions.
We have a common interest with the people of the third world in weakening U.S. imperialism. The people of the third world are fighting the same monopoly capitalists who are responsible for the problems we face here, and our struggles reinforce each other. Over the last 20 years, the third world has been the main force fighting imperialism. It is the third world that has most consistently resisted the aggression of the two superpowers.
The American people have a long and rich history of struggling against the intervention of the U.S. government in the affairs of other countries. With the current turmoil in U.S. foreign policy and the rightward shift pushed by Reagan, it is crucial that we maintain our struggle against the U.S.’ reactionary activities abroad. We must demand actions that promote world peace and equality among nations, oppose aggression and foreign intervention in the affairs of other countries, and support popular movements for justice and progress.
The following are some of the main demands and perspectives that working class and progressive people need to fight for in the arena of foreign policy. We should raise these to the U.S. government as part of the working class’ and people’s struggle against monopoly capitalism.
• Immediate negotiations with the Soviet Union on the freezing, reduction and abolition of all nuclear weapons. Between them, the two superpowers have over 50,000 nuclear warheads. Washington and Moscow are the ones chiefly responsible for the nuclear arms race and the growing danger of nuclear war, and therefore they have the responsibility to begin the process of nuclear disarmament.
• Major reductions in the military budget. Redirect money to social programs. There can be no justification for spending billions of dollars on new weapons systems when the U.S. is already armed to the teeth with the most massive array of arms. Despite the government’s claims to the contrary, the U.S. military apparatus has nothing to do with self-defense or national security. It is designed only for aggressive purposes, to bully and intimidate other countries and force them to heel to U.S. will.
• No intervention in the affairs of other countries. No U.S. aid to right-wing military dictatorships. The U.S. government should immediately cease its meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. The U.S. is the most notorious backer of antidemocratic, dictatorial regimes the world over, such as El Salvador, South Africa, Israel and south Korea. It has undermined democratically elected governments and destabilized economies of other countries. The people of other countries must be allowed to decide their own affairs, free from U.S. meddling, subversion and influence.
• Close all U.S. military bases on foreign soil. The hundreds of American military installations in other countries are outposts of U.S. imperialism and serve as forward bases for the deployment of American military force against other countries. They serve to pressure third world and second world countries into following U. S. policy interests, and heighten the danger of war.
• Independence for Puerto Rico and all other U.S. colonial possessions. The U.S. should withdraw from its remaining colonies and acknowledge their right to political independence and self-determination. The people of these nations have struggled for decades against domination by U.S. imperialism, and the continuing legacy of colonial domination weighs heavily on their lands.
• Send beneficial aid to third world countries. Support demands for a new international economic order. U.S. foreign aid today is designed to make foreign economies dependent on the U.S. and undermine their economic and political independence. Laboring under huge burdens of debt to U.S. banks, it is impossible for third world countries to develop their economies in an all-rounded way. The third world’s demands for a restructuring of the international economic order are just, and will help create a more stable international economy.
• Respect for the socialist countries. Treat them on the basis of mutual respect and equality. No interference in their internal affairs. The U.S. should stop its antagonistic attitude towards China. Washington has consistently violated the principles of the Shanghai Communique signed by President Nixon in 1971 by selling arms to Taiwan. Reagan is even attempting to resurrect the old “two China” policy by trying to maintain “official” ties with Taiwan.
The U.S. should normalize relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (north Korea), and respect the Korean people’s demands to reunify their country. The U.S. military has occupied the southern half of Korea for three decades, preventing the Korean people from reunification.
• No appeasement of Soviet aggression. Despite all of Washington’s anti-Soviet rhetoric, the U.S. acquiesces at times to Soviet aggression and intervention. The U.S. tacitly acknowledges the legitimacy of Soviet “spheres of influence” in Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa and other places, in return for Moscow’s acknowledgement of U.S. spheres of interest in Latin America. U.S. grain sales to the U.S.S.R. take pressure off the Soviet economy, enabling Moscow to devote more resources to military endeavors. U.S. electronics corporations sell high-technology equipment with military applications to Moscow. The U.S. should stop all economic deals with the Soviets that strengthen Moscow’s military capabilities and profit from Soviet aggression.
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The above are some immediate demands we make of the U.S. ruling class. Clearly it will take persistent struggle to win these demands, since the U.S. ruling class will strongly resist them. But it has happened before that the government was forced to take actions it didn’t like. And it will happen again.
Ultimately, to create a thoroughly just and peaceable foreign policy will require a socialist revolution and the establishment of a people’s democracy. Under socialism, there would be no drive for profits pushing corporations to expand overseas. There would be no economic incentive to exploit other countries. A socialist government would have no need to war against other countries to open their lands to exploitation. Only a socialist government would consistently implement a foreign policy based on the principles of equality, nonaggression, national independence and self-determination and peace.