THE REARMAMENT OF THE IMPERIALIST POWERS

[GM112]

Capital is always imperialist and militaristic. This answers the question of those who ask why – given the social consequences of the economic crisis – extremely costly aeroplanes, battleships, nuclear submarines and missiles continue to be produced rather than combatting hunger and ignorance; why the various States spend billions investing in ever more modern weapons systems at the same time as they are cutting social spending and reducing wages and pensions.

A recent example is the case of the Greek State, which was acquiring weapons from France and Germany at the same time as it was implementing a policy which would impoverish large sections of the population. During the economic crisis Greek military expenditure has gone up from 6.24 Billion euros, in 2007, to 7.1 billion in 2010.

Where capital, both private and public, is invested, and how it goes about it, isn’t a moral question but the result of a cold calculation about profit. Anonymous capital is entirely indifferent about whether it produces bombs or medicine: the choice depends on the rate of profit, net of probable risks. So, in periods of social, political and economic instability like the current one, industries linked to the production of armaments are among those which guarantee the greatest profits.

In order to corroborate this statement the comrade cited some figures on world arms expenditure derived from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The key geographical areas into which arms production is divided were highlighted, also the countries which are the main producers and the biggest spenders.

Data on military expenditure in 2010, the year of the general crisis, confirms that it went up in real terms by 1.3% compared to 2009, arriving at the enormous figure of 1,630 Billion dollars.

Arms expenditure had reached a peak in 1988. In the following years, with the collapse of the Russian bloc, it declined, reaching its lowest point in 1998, with a reduction of around 40% compared to ten years earlier. The sharpening of the economic crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted a rapid increase in global military expenditure, above all by the U.S.A. In 2008, the year the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in fact, it had reached the level of twenty years before; and since then it hasn’t stopped rising. However growth in 2010 is slower than before, given that the average increase between 2001 and 2009 was a good 5.1.% per annum.

These basic figures confirm that the economic crisis is driving an increase in global military expenditure; reflecting the parallel preparations for that general war which for Capital is its only way out from the crisis of over-production.