There are plenty of reasons for as us adolescents to organize and fight together. In the last weeks we barely heard of other topics than “war” and militarization from the bourgeois media. The imperialist war propaganda machine is running wild, while it tries to picture Putin as a mad man, who alone is to blame for the war in Ukraine. It is our duty to clearly reject these positions. This system means war, and not just since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The continuous power struggle between different imperialist forces that try to enlarge their respective spheres of influence by all means possible is the fundamental reason for their wars or the wars between their geopolitical proxies. War in Ukraine may not be the immediate prelude to World War III, but it is a big step in that direction and is used by German imperialism to justify its efforts to prepare its army and youth for a great war once more.
The youth is going to play a decisive role in this war as in any other war before. The Ukrainian state sends young adults to the battlefield after only a few days of training and without protective equipment and then continues to celebratethem as national heroes, although in reality they are not much more than cannon fodder for an imperialist war. But also in Germany discussions about the reintroduction of compulsory military service arise. Its mostly young adults that are to be send to war to defend the interests of German imperialism. Year after year the Bundeswehr (German army) visits our schools trying their outmost to fill young workers with enthusiasm for war. Especially considering the discussions about compulsory military service we are the ones that must prepare the German army the welcome it deserves and prevent it from convincing our class siblings to enlist.
To reach a level playing field with its competition in terms of military Germany an enormous armament. In only a matter of a few weeks 100 billion Euro were provided for the German military although this meant to change and introduce laws and even “adjust” the German constitution. At the same time the funds for the educational system are cut drastically. Where does all that money come from? Clearly, the working class is the one that shall pay the bill.
It is cynical to let the working class pay for these 100 billion Euro, war will have a massive and long term impact on the economy as well. This is obvious since the earliest days of the war. Clearly, the imperialists try to disentangle the international production chains and capital integration, particularly between Russia and the EU. The interruption of these production chains and the rocketing energy prices already lead to closures of several production plants in Europe and Germany.
The consequences for the working class won’t be any milder. The rate of price increase, that was enormously high already, will rise even higher according to the predictions of bourgeois economical experts. First estimations mention inflation might rise as high as 10%.
The social democratic yellow unions anyhow have shown overly obviously already that they are not going to seriously fight for a compensation of the real wage losses we are going to face. Quite the contrary, their first reaction to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine were so called “solidarity meetings” they organized together with the employer’s associations and the public declaration that “everyone has to tighten the belt”. Especially the latter, while many trainees did not know how to sustain themselves with the little compensation they received, even before crisis and war broke out, shows quite clearly on which side the yellow unions are on.
It is quite shocking how little time it took to make the militarization socially acceptable again. Not only in bourgeois, but also in so called leftist social circles. The call for more and heavier weapons to be delivered to Ukraine and other means of military support for this country follow the motto “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. At the same time, anti Russian propaganda, anti Russian racism and anticommunism grow ever more aggressive. The day of remembrance of the German liberation from Nazi fascism (8th of May) was marked by public discussions about whether the Soviet soldiers should not be publicly commemorated. The Soviet memorials become common targets of vandalism and Russian people in Germany are forced by their banks to provide proof of their nationality, as otherwise their accounts would be frozen.
An imperialist war as in Ukraine is always lead according to the interests of the great companies of the imperialist countries. Those, who suffer, are – as always – the youth, women and workers. Thus, there can only be one consequence for us: Fight against war, fight for our future! But what must be our goal in this struggle? We firmly believe that a world, in which people are not slaughtered for profits anymore is only possible by overcoming the capitalist society, which sets the hunt for maximum profit above everything else. The society, we are fighting for, is a socialist society, in which we take all maters in our own hands and the necessities of our population are decisive.
German army out of our schools!
The youth shall not pay for the economic crisis!
War on war!
Long live the socialist revolution!
