The stakes in the mobilizations the first country to decide to escalate a conventional war into a nuclear one, the expression first strike' means that the U.S. would start the war with a nuclear strike." (2)
Finally, to fully appreciate the danger represented by the deployment of Pershagainst the missiles ing missiles in West Germany, there is good reason to consider the possibility that a nuclear holocaust could be touched off accidentally. According to various American sources, it takes six minutes to identify a false alarm resulting from com-
In West Germany alone, more than a million people joined in the anti-missile protests on the weekend of October 23.
That represents nearly 2 percent of the entire popula-
According to the Paris daily Liberation, there were 450,000 at tion of the country.
Bonn, 300,000 in Hamburg, and about 150,000 in each of three other cities - Stuttgart, West Berlin, and Neu
In Rome, there were 800,000 demonstrators, in
London 230,000 and in Madrid about 150,000.
This massive outpouring has changed the political map in West Europe. One indication of that is that Willy Brandt, one of the main leaders of the West German Social Democracy and formerly an outspoken supporter of the NATO "Double-Track
Decision" was a featured speaker at the Bonn rally of half a million people.
In West Germany in particular, these rallies represent a smashing victory by the peace movement in the face of a concerted campaign by the government and the media to intimidate the mass opposition to the missiles and isolate the antiwar
The immediately following article describes the issues at stake in the anti-missile
The next one is the editorial from the paper of the West German section movement.
of the Fourth International on the sharpening confrontation between the antimissiles movement and the new warriors. It was published just before the demonstrations.
Jean-Louis MICHEL
The December 1979 NATO decision is being met by a wave of mass mobilizations that is still rising.
This decision was officially called a
"two-track one," because the deployment of the 572 new nuclear warheads, 108
Pershing IIs and 464 Cruise missiles, was supposed to depend on the outcome of the Geneva negotiations between the U.S.
and the Soviet Union on intermediate
In fact, the vicissitudes of these negotiations have shown over long months that Reagan had no intention of negotiating, that the U.S. imperialists were simply going through the motions of these negotiations to undercut the challenge of the peace movement.
The attitude of the U.S. administration was made clear enough by its rejection a few weeks ago of the proposal known as "The Walk in the Woods" com-
According to this agreement worked out by the two delegations in
Geneva, the Soviet Union would reduce the number of its SS 20 rocket launchers
In return the U.S. would drop its plan for deploying Pershing missiles in Europe and be satisfied with installing
75 new rocket launchers, each carrying
4 Cruise missiles.
This agreement seemed favorable to the U.S. side, since it appears that the
Pentagon itself found it quite satisfactory. But then Ronald Reagan decided to reject it without any explanation.
Democratic chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who, as is well known, was one of the main sponsors of the 1979 NATO decision, in fact expressed a certain irritation:
*I was not consulted, any more than the other allies, about the rejection of this plan. As I understand the interests of my country and of the West as a whole, the "Walk in the Woods Accord' was perfectly acceptable." (1)
The U.S. decision to reject a plan that provided for deploying 300 Cruise missiles and thus was far from meeting the demands of millions of antiwar demonstrators, testifies to the Reagan administration's determination to go the whole way in carrying out its war preparations.
In Reagan's war plans it seems, the Cruise and Pershing missiles do not have the same place. The Cruise missiles are designed for saturation bombing enemy defense lines. If they are used, it would be in large numbers and only after the start of an all-out nuclear war.
What is more, the U.S. leaders already have such missiles in their air and naval
The Pershing missiles are specifically first-strike weapons, designed to hit the enemy first and if possible by sur-
It can never be repeated enough that the installation of Pershing missiles would gravely alter the present military balance in favor of the imperialists. what this step means, you have only to think what the imperialist reaction would be if similar weapons systems were installed in Cuba, thereby directly threatening all the nerve centers of U.S. de-
In the same way, the correspondence between the deployment of a weapons system such as the Pershing missiles and the U.S. Army's new doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons is very disturbing.
Some months ago, the Military Review
"The 'Air-Land Battle' doctrine foresees the possibility not only that the U.S. could make first use of nuclear weapons - the previous doctrine provided for that - but that the U.S. might make a first strike. While the formula 'first use' means that the U.S. would be puter error. Reportedly, there were no less than 147 accidents of this type in the U.S. over a twenty month period. same thing happens as often in the So-
But it would take a Pershing missile less than six minutes to hit its target. If these missiles are finally deployed, the scenario of an accidental nuclear holocaust will be a real enough possibility.
The 108 Pershing missiles are to be deployed in West Germany. In December 36 of them are to be shipped to Heilbronn to be assembled, and then they are to be made operational in February or
For good measure, at the same time NATO will install the first Cruise missiles in the Greenham Common base in Great Britain and the Comiso base in
So, a decisive general test of strength has begun between NATO and the European antiwar movement. On its outcome will depend how quickly the imperialists go ahead with their war plans, the future of the mass antiwar movement, and to some extent, the general evolution of the relationship of forces in this part of the
The imperialists have set the stakes. The workers movement and the antiwar movement now have to take up the challenge.
AGAINST THE ARMS RACE, AUSTERITY AND MILITARIZATION
This challenge has to be taken up in all its scope. With the deepening of the capitalist crisis, the arms race has assumed a literally insane tempo. A study carried out recently by the American Arms ConFoundation estimates that this year 660 billion dollars have been spent worldwide for military purposes, that is, 1.3 million
Some 50,000 nuclear weapons ready for use are in the stockpiles of the big military powers.
These nuclear stockpiles are sufficient to destroy all human life 22 times over. Their explosive potential equals three tons of dynamite for every inhabitant of this planet. What is more, the nuclear arsenals are not the only ones that give cause for concern. The stockpiles of bacteriological and chemical weapons are no less formidable, although all information about them is kept under a heavy veil of
Washington Post, May 22, 1983
The stockpiles of conventional weapons themselves have taken no less than 9 million victims since the end of the Second World War. And research laboratories are still working overtime to perfect so-called intelligent conventional weap-
They are called "intelligent" because of their extreme accuracy, "quasi nuclear" because of their destructive capacity which is comparable to that of nuclear weapons systems.
Even these astronomical figures are going to be left behind very quickly. The arms race, which now involves all sectors of military production, is accelerating very rapidly. To explain this, you have to look at the depth of the capitalist crisis. In this context, the armament industry plays the role of a substitute market for regenerating capital accumulation.
It is significant, moreover, that the capitalist ideologues who ready to denounce the "all-pervasive"
state when it comes to attacking the social gains of the working class, are all for a rapid increase in military spending by the capitalist states.
Thus, the one and a half trillion dollars that Reagan is asking for the U.S. war effort for the period 1984-88 would increase the share of the federal budget allotted to defense spending from 25 to
In France, the 830 billion franc military program for 1984-88 approved by parliament last spring will lead to a marked increase in the military's cut of the national budget (it is 20 percent now).
At the same time, in order to keep feeding this bottomless pit of military spending, the capitalists and the politicians who rule on their behalf are mounting more and more determined attacks on the past gains of the working class in the areas of health, education, and social security. Austerity atter austerity measure is being posed on the workers and the youth.
Militarization and austerity are two inextricably linked elements of the capitalists policy for extricating themselves from the economic crisis at the expense of the working class.
FOR PEACE AND SOCIALISM
What the international workers movement needs is a policy for breaking this vicious circle. A few figures can point up how essential this is.
A mere 10 percent reduction in annual military spending would make it possible to eliminate hunger, while today 450 million people are undernourished. The transfer of 10 percent of the military credits to education would make it possible to put 400 million children in school, while today the number of illiterates, which has begun to rise again, stands at 800 million.
An International Labor Organization report published in Geneva on October 7 estimates that total reconversion of