Notes on the political and economic crisis of the world capitalist system

The conditions that prevail as humanity enters 2009 cruelly refute the illusions of a new epoch of peace and prosperity that thrived at the dawn of the new millennium. The entire world is engulfed in an economic crisis that is rapidly assuming the dimensions of a historic catastrophe.

Amidst the mounting economic disarray, the conduct of the imperialist powers assumes an openly criminal character. Israeli bombs and artillery rain down on the defenseless people of Gaza, recalling the fascist atrocities of Guernica and the Warsaw Ghetto. American imperialism, itself implicated in the slaughter of countless thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, gives its wholehearted approval to the crimes of the Israeli regime.

The poet Auden’s characterization of the 1930s as a “low and dishonest” decade applies no less aptly to the first decade of the 21st century. And yet, the loss of political illusions is an essential prerequisite for the acquisition of knowledge. The experience of the initial years of the new century refutes the fatuous claims that history (i.e., class struggle against capitalism and imperialism) has ended. Rather, it is becoming increasingly clear that the working class, in the United States and internationally, is entering a new epoch of revolutionary struggles.

Source: International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)