We live in an epoch of war. Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza, backed by the West, has spilled into Lebanon. The Ukraine War is careening towards its bloody denouement. These and many other conflicts are a product of the crisis of capitalism, which is sharpening the divisions between the imperialist powers, and sowing instability everywhere. What is the solution? On 15 November, 18:30 GMT, the Revolutionary Communist International’s lead theoretician Alan Woods will deliver a speech on the question of war and imperialism today.

Having failed to destroy Hamas or return the hostages, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel’s strategy has changed. The whole population remaining in northern Gaza, some 400,000 men, women and children, are being subjected to a policy of ethnic cleansing.

This year marks 40 years since the release of the film Threads, one of the clearest and most harrowing depictions of the consequences of nuclear war ever produced. With wars and conflicts escalating around the globe, the stark message of this film has never been more relevant. The fight against the barbarity of militarism and imperialism is an existential struggle that communists have a duty to take up.

Issue 47 of In Defence of Marxism magazine – the quarterly theoretical journal of the Revolutionary Communist International – is out now! We publish here Alan Woods’ editorial for this issue, in which he traces the lessons of the international communist movement from the times of Marx and Engels to today, and the revolutionary tradition of struggle against militarism, imperialism and war, which communists continue down to the present. Get your copy of issue 47 of In Defence of Marxism magazine now!

A year has passed since Israel launched its genocidal war in Gaza, which has now spilled over into Lebanon, threatening a wider conflict that could engulf the region. A mass protest movement for Palestine has been underway continuously for the past 12 months, and despite ebbs and flows, it rallied last weekend for this grim anniversary. Comrades of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) mobilised in force at demonstrations and rallies worldwide, calling for a revolutionary solution to the nightmare in the Middle East.

In the early hours of 1 October, the Israeli army crossed the border of Lebanon and started a land invasion of the country, following two weeks of heavy air strikes. This is a thoroughly reactionary war, backed and funded by US and western imperialism, which threatens to engulf the whole of the Middle East into open war, which could last for years and leave harrowing suffering in its wake.

After massive air strikes on the Dahiyeh district of Beirut, the Israeli military succeeded in assassinating the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, together with other top commanders of the organisation. It seems that the head of Hezbollah’s southern front, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Netanyahu ordered the strike personally and he is clearly provoking both Hezbollah, and its main backer Iran, to enter into all-out war with Israel. This danger is now closer than ever.

At least nine people were killed – including a 10-year-old girl – and over 2,800 injured, many of them left in a critical condition, when pagers they were carrying exploded, in an unprecedented coordinated attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon. American officials said Israel was behind the attack, which had been prepared for months and takes place as Netanyahu’s cabinet just voted to widen the war aims to include the return of those who had been displaced from the north of the country to their homes, which is code for launching an invasion of Lebanon. 

“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”  (Lewis Carol, Alice in Wonderland)

As I write these lines, the headlines of the newspapers are dominated by the shock announcement that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its allies if they lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range western missiles for the purpose of deep strikes on Russian territory.

“War is a terrible thing? Yes, but it is a terribly profitablething,” Lenin once remarked. The ongoing aggravation of inter-imperialist conflicts and proxy wars is once again proving Lenin entirely right. As thousands are being butchered in Gaza, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan and elsewhere, and as defence spending is rocketing globally, a handful of capitalists are lining their pockets. The working class is having to foot the bill for this deadly spending spree.