In an ominous sign of coming imperialist carnage, long-time pacifist Japan scrapped its decade-long ban on the export of lethal weapons abroad. Over the 80 years that followed World War II, Japan’s constitution limited its military to self-defense. But the current period is marked by extreme volatility—and an unpredictable U.S. empire that can no longer be counted on by its traditional allies. Japan’s ruling class is busy building up its arms industry to counter looming threats from fast-rising China and an armed-to-the-teeth North Korea (pbs.org, 4/21). At this point, they’ve signed off on channeling warships, combat drones, and other lethal weaponry to 17 countries (AP News, 4/21).
From east to west, from north to south, other capitalist rulers are following suit, eager to join a ballooning arms race that will send millions of workers to early graves. Last year alone, the world’s capitalist bosses set a military spending record of nearly $3 trillion (CNBC, 4/27), enough to feed all the hungry people on Earth for 75 years (UN World Food Programme).
Workers have no stake in this imperialist dogfight. We must prepare to turn the guns around by organizing and fighting with the revolutionary Progressive Labor Party (PLP). In the class war to come, a united and politically conscious international working class will be the deadliest weapon on Earth. Under the leadership of PLP, we will build a Red Army and march on to communist revolution.
Imperialists prep for WWIII
Today’s rapid militarization shows that World War III is on the horizon. The bosses know this all too well, even if they aren’t ready for an all-out confrontation and aren’t sure how the fatal game will play out. Last year, Germany and India joined the top imperialist gangsters--the U.S., China, and Russia--as the biggest military spenders. Prompted by Russia’s war with Ukraine and U.S. Commander-in-Thief Donald Trump’s threats to leave NATO, European nations shelled out a whopping $559 billion. Not to be outdone, Russia raised its military expenditures to $190 billion, up six percent from the year before (SIPRI, 4/27).
Meanwhile, China showed no signs of halting its own massive military buildup. Its rise as an economic superpower has allowed it to funnel more than $400 billion per year into expanding its army, navy, and air forces (CSIS, 9/2). Feeding its imperialist ambitions in Asia, China now commands a growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime, long-range strike, cyber, and space systems that rivals that of the United States.
Going hand-in-hand with these massive investments are renewed efforts to force our working-class brothers and sisters to the frontlines. Germany recently voted to allow 18-year-olds to opt into the military, while Croatia and Latvia reintroduced compulsory service (BBC, 12/5/2025). Cambodia and Myanmar passed stricter conscription laws. And beginning this December, the U.S. will automatically register all eligible men, a potential step toward a wartime draft (CNN, 4/9.
As the rulers compete for resources and markets, and bloat their military budgets in the runup to world war, they are cutting social services, ignoring aging infrastructures, and fueling inflation that impoverishes the working class. Trump wants to finance a mammoth $1.5 trillion defense budget by slashing healthcare, education, and housing (CNN 4/3). Europe’s colossal military spending will come from cutting “butter” for more guns (New York Times, 3/31). The bosses have nothing to offer us but misery and death.
U.S decline drives scramble
U.S. decline is accelerating the drive to world war. From their debacle in Vietnam in the 1970s through more recent defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. death machine has plunged into a downward spiral. Ruthless infighting between its liberal imperialist and Fortress America factions, made even more chaotic by Commander-in-Thief Donald Trump, is pushing the failing empire to the edge—and making it even more dangerous.
The grinding stalemates in Iran and Ukraine paint a bleak picture for the U. S. bosses’ future. Despite its status as the world’s leading military power and merchant of death, with more than 750 bases in more than 80 countries, the U.S. is unprepared for modern warfare. It can’t produce enough weapons and is being stymied by smaller regional powers like Iran with cheap drone technology (New York Times, 4/30). Even if Congress were to pass Trump’s exorbitant $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal, a 42 percent increase over current levels, the U.S. bosses currently lack the unity and political will for a ground war. Their only choice will be more open fascism —both to impose discipline on their own ranks and to enlist workers into their next blood-soaked nationalist crusade.
Turn the guns around
The vicious capitalist bosses are slaughtering workers en masse from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Iran. In 2025 alone, imperialist violence killed an estimated 240,000 workers and children (Washington Post, 1/1). This number will no doubt rise as our class faces the economic, social, and environmental consequences of the bosses’ ever-widening wars.
The international working class is the world’s mightiest army by far. But to win a better world free of capitalist butchery, we must push our limits and win masses of workers to revolutionary communism. Lenin and the Bolsheviks demonstrated how imperialist war can be transformed into communist revolution. Let’s turn the guns around by joining and fighting with Progressive Labor Party for communism, a world run by and for the working class!
