CND demo at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, April 2025. It is one of the main US bases in Europe, hosting nuclear weapons again from last July. Photos Workers.
Rising international tensions and the threat of wide scale war are clear for everyone to see. The question for British workers is whether we accept that the government knows what it is doing and needs our support. Or do we believe that it is set on a course that is potentially ruinous to our country and its future – that we must challenge what it is doing.
Where do we think the threat to Britain lies? Is it from Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela or Cuba? Or is it from the USA and NATO and its political arm, the EU? Or is it actually from our own government, intent on war abroad as it fails at home?
Whichever view, it would be folly to assume that there is a stable policy and that the world can be divided into good and bad so all we need do is hope the government chooses the right side. Unless workers say loud and clear that war will be bad for Britain and therefore wrong, the threat to Britain will increase.
The number and intensity of conflicts have both grown. Long-running differences and tensions between Ukraine and Russia (exacerbated by the EU) led to Russia’s invasion. NATO and the USA became involved to support Ukraine, then Trump said he would create peace. The fighting continues – and NATO has expanded closer to Russia by admitting formerly neutral countries.
The Middle East region has suffered for over a century from imperial interference. The violence, terror and counter-terror go on, again with no sign of real resolution.
President Trump has acted directly against a sovereign state, Venezuela, and taken it over for blatantly economic reasons. And threatens to do the same to Cuba. He has forced a nominal ally, Denmark, to cede partial sovereignty over Greenland on the pretence of defending the USA (not Europe) against Russia.
'Unless workers say loud and clear that war will be bad for Britain and therefore wrong the threat to Britain will increase...'
The latest and most dangerous escalation is the massive US military build up against Iran. This is supposedly because of the suppression of internal demonstrations and the potential to use nuclear weapons against Israel and other US allies. The signs are that the USA is using these as pretexts for bombing Iran – an approach it has adopted many times before.
What’s the reason for this aggression? To gain control of resources, and to protect the economic and military interests of the USA. And in turn, to protect the capitalist world order.
In this unstable world situation, what are Keir Starmer and his government doing? Supporting Trump at every turn! As well as the ongoing military activity in Europe and the Middle East, British forces are now stopping ships in international waters and are sending a detachment to the Arctic “High North”.
At the time of writing Starmer has said no to using US bases in Britain for an attack on Iran. On past form, he’ll give in – or the US will go ahead anyway.
Workers should be asking: what is Britain doing with US bases here? Why do we have sovereign bases in Cyprus used for operations in the Mediterranean and beyond? What are we doing with a base in the Indian Ocean, which the US uses?
And more fundamentally, workers should consider the purpose of the British armed forces. Above all, it must be to defend Britain, the nation state to which we belong. And that does not mean those forces should be used for imperialist adventures and aggression.
The ruling class and its government like to pretend that threats are everywhere, often overstating them. Yet the involvement of Britain, the US and NATO almost always makes things worse. And the threats they talk about are really to the stable world order – US hegemony – and not directly to the people of this country.
No, Britain does not need imperialism – the military or economic domination of other countries – so that international capitalism can thrive. Britain needs industry to thrive, including industry for our own defence. And we need resources to invest in infrastructure, health and education. We must leave NATO and rebuild Britain for the needs of all who live and work here.