A-Infos (en) UK, AnarCom: Capitalist peace is the source of imperialist war! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In global capitalism, peace can only be an interwar period limited in 
space and time. There can be no such thing as "world peace" under 
capitalism. There are always conflicts somewhere. In times of peace, 
States prepare for war through military rearmament. And in times of war, 
military action is taken to secure the conditions for the next peace. In 
capitalist peace, proletarians are exploited - they produce more money 
for capital and the State than they themselves cost in wages. And in 
war, they must kill and die for "their" exploitative capitalist States. 
Capitalist peace is not an alternative to imperialist war, but its source.

Peace and war in the Ukraine

Between States and blocs of States, peace is the non-military form of 
competition for raw material sources, sales markets, and geopolitical 
spheres of influence. Above a certain intensity, this competition turns 
into war. Thus, the blocs of States of Western imperialism, the EU and 
NATO, continued to expand their influence against imperialist Russia 
through their expansion to the east. When Ukrainian President Yanukovych 
refused to sign the Association Agreement with the EU in 2013, partly 
due to pressure from Moscow, a social-reactionary movement formed on 
Maidan Square, which was supported by Western imperialism, with a 
pro-Western democratic wing and another ultra-nationalist neo-fascist. 
This social-reactionary movement overthrew Yanukovych in February 2014 
and established a pro-Western regime, while Russian imperialism annexed 
Crimea in March 2014. In eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian "People's 
Republics" seceded. A civil war has developed. The Ukraine was supported 
by Western imperialism, the "People's Republics" by Russian imperialism. 
Thus, the civil war in the Ukraine was also an imperialist proxy war 
between Russia and NATO.

In February 2022, Russian imperialism directly attacked the Ukraine. 
Since then, NATO and the EU have been waging an indirect war against 
Moscow in the form of an increasingly intense economic war, as well as 
the financial, military, and intelligence consolidation of the 
pro-Western Ukrainian regime. The Ukraine and the collective West are 
using each other in this proxy war against Russia. The West as a whole 
is harming its imperialist rival Russia through the Ukraine. The 
Ukrainian regime is trying to stay in this bloody game thanks to 
military weapons supplied by the West.

Both Russian and Western imperialism are waging this proxy war at the 
expense of the world proletariat. At the beginning of the imperialist 
carnage, energy and food prices rose sharply worldwide. This was also a 
major burden for the proletariat in Germany. The DGB trade unions 
supported Germany's economic war against Russia. Western imperialism's 
"solidarity with Ukraine" goes against the wage earners of that country. 
If they work, they are subjected to harsh capitalist exploitation. In 
addition, they are being recruited massively by the Ukrainian State. 
They are expected to kill and die - for the interests of the Ukrainian 
capitalist regime and the geopolitical game of the collective West. For 
Ukrainian wage earners, their "own" State and NATO/EU are structural 
class enemies in the same way as Russian imperialism.

Russia is on the verge of winning the war militarily. US imperialism 
under Trump is very interested in ending this carnage through an 
imperialist peace negotiated with Moscow. But this would imply the 
Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. And Moscow is also demanding 
Ukraine's military neutrality. Neither the Ukraine nor the EU/European 
NATO powers are willing to make major concessions to the Kremlin. And 
Russia does not really want to end the war yet either. And even the 
power of US imperialism is not enough to force both sides to make peace. 
Hence Washington is wavering between peace offers to Moscow and the 
continuation of the war.

For German imperialism, Russia is the number one enemy. It is arming 
itself against Russia and preparing its citizens for war. Balancing on 
the brink of nuclear war is the German State's agenda. This is class war 
waged from above against the proletariat. The welfare States management 
of misery produced by capitalism is bound to deteriorate. Guns instead 
of butter. And perhaps soon it will also mean for German proletarians to 
kill and die in the interests of German imperialism. Initially in proxy 
wars, which greatly increase the danger of nuclear overkill.

World revolution instead of national pacifism

Pacifism often comes across as very nationalistic. While Germany's 
ruling politicians are arming the State militarily and exporting lethal 
weapons to war zones (Ukraine, Israel), national pacifists want Germany 
to be a peaceful nation. In other words, a world where wolves tell sheep 
a nice bedtime story but don't tear them apart. Okay, the ruling wolves 
do tell the ruled sheep wonderful bedtime stories, but they do so to 
lull them to sleep so they can devour them more easily. National 
pacifism is also a sleeping pill. It does not disarm the warring and 
armed States, but rather the class-conscious proletariat.

Pacifism demands that the States finally stop waging war against each 
other. They should only cooperate with each other. This demand 
contradicts the imperialist competition between States, which is carried 
out militarily in wars. Diplomacy, which pacifists hold up as an alleged 
alternative to war, is nothing but a special weapon of competition 
between States. It is based on the economic and military strength of 
States. It is a special way of imperialist interest enforcement. If 
States can impose their interests diplomatically and peacefully, so much 
the better. If not, and if the ruling politicians believe that they can 
and must wage war for these interests, then they will do so. Diplomacy 
prepares for war in peacetime and for peace in wartime.

Pacifism demands the States to disarm. But they will not do so now, at a 
time when the capitalist crisis is intensifying and inter-imperialist 
competition is escalating. There can only be one realistic form of 
disarmament: the world revolutionary destruction of all States!

World revolution? Is that realistic?! Well, there is still the 
possibility that the global class struggle will radicalize in extreme 
exceptional situations and lead to a planetary social revolution. On the 
other hand, how realistic is it that States will stop waging war against 
each other and significantly disarm militarily?

Class struggle against rearmament and arms exports

In Germany, too, proletarian class struggle against rearmament, arms 
exports, and preparations for war is absolutely necessary. The most 
effective form of class struggle is the strike. However, strikes against 
rearmament and arms exports are prohibited in Germany. In this country, 
"political strikes" are considered illegal. Only strikes organized by 
trade unions with negotiable goals - such as higher wages and shorter 
working hours - are legal. The vast majority of trade unions support the 
rearmament and war course of German imperialism. They are deeply 
integrated into the German State. Strikes against German imperialism can 
only be wildcat strikes and organized independently from the unions. We 
would have nothing against such strikes taking place.

English translation: The Friends of the Class War

https://www.autistici.org/tridnivalka/ast-capitalist-peace-is-the-source-of-imperialist-war/

Source in German: 
https://astendenz.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/der-kapitalistische-frieden-ist-die-quelle-des-imperialistischen-krieges/

https://anarcomuk.uk/2026/03/22/capitalist-peace-is-the-source-of-imperialist-war/
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