Marxist Explanations for War and Peace

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Lenin, analyzing the connection between capitalism and conflict had noted that capitalism had five basic features; 1) the concentration of production and capital to a level where it creates monopolies,2) the merging of bank and industrial capital to create a ‘financial capital’, 3) the need for export of that capital to generate profits, 4) the formation of international monopolists organizations to make the generation of profits happen,5) and finally the division of the ‘territory’ by the capitalist monopolies to continue reaping the profits¹. Thus Lenin reasoned that for a capitalist nation to continue to become prosperous, subjugation of the rest of the world to serve as their sources of raw material, which is nothing but imperialism was a natural and logical process. Imperialism as Doyle notes “was a rational strategy to enhance security, prestige, and interests (trade, population, territory, resources) when the costs of conquest were less than the gain”². Since capitalism always persevered to maximize profits where the efforts were always to seek gains over costs, imperialism was nothing but the highest stage of capitalism. This pursuit of profits has given rise to a world system of colonial subjugation and financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the people by a handful of capitalist ‘advanced’ countries who even if they have alliances are predisposed to use coercion to achieve their national interests. These alliances are nothing but temporary truce which is maintained till such time the clash of interests does not become a serious loss of profit. As a result, capitalists are most likely to clash over their pursuit of profits and political advantage³.

Since the discovery of oil in the desert wastelands of the Middle East, the region has remained at the center of geopolitical focus and strife. Oil, to a large extent, outlines the region’s importance to the United States. The National Energy Policy (2001) of the United States enunciates that US energy consumption over the next decade will outstrip its domestic production and that in 2020; US oil production would supply less than 30 percent of the US oil needs⁴. Oil accounts for nearly 40 percent of the US energy need and it accounts for 89 percent of net US energy imports⁵. Oil drives almost 100% of the transportation industry in the US and of course its means to global power – the US military. Thus, oil companies, public and private invariably get tied to a country’s national security. Iraq’s geo-strategic importance to the US lies in its oil reserves. The Economist reports that “Iraq’s proven reserves, of 115 billion barrels, are the world’s third-largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran”⁶. Militarily, Iraq was considered ‘doable’ as the US had previously defeated Iraq in Gulf war I. A BBC news night report claimed that the decision to invade Iraq was also based on the intent on using Iraqi oil to destroy the OPEC cartel through massive increases in production above OPEC quotas⁷. In the months leading up to the actual invasion, Saddam Hussein had reportedly been threatening to convert Iraq’s oil trade from trading in Dollars to Euros⁸, thus challenging the Dollar’s global monopoly. Hence all possible ingredients as per Marxist theories were present; The lure of oil to maximize own profits, the threat of oil being used as a weapon challenging US global hegemony and the military assessment of being able to win the war with minimum own cost were reasons enough for the US invasion of Iraq.

Bibliography

Doyle, Michael W. Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism and Socialism. NY: WW Norton and Coy, 1997.
Herod, Andrew. Geographies of Globalization. NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Lenin, V.I (1915). “Socialism and War.” In War, by Lawrence Freedman, 95-99. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Lenin, Vladimir I. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. Broadway, NSW, Australia: Resistance Books, 1999.
National Energy Policy Development Group. National Energy Policy. Washington: US Government Printing Office, 2001.
Palast, Greg. “Secret US Plans for Iraq’s Oil.” BBC News. 2005. Web.
The Economist. “The Benefits and Curse of Oil.” The Economist, 2008: 42.

Footnotes

Vladimir I Lenin, Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism, (Broadway, NSW, Australia: Resistance Books, 1994), 124.
Michael Doyle, Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism and Socialism, (NY: Norton, 1997),343.
V.I, Lenin, 1915, “Socialism and War”, in Lawrence Freedman ed. War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 95-99.
National Energy Policy Development Group, National Energy Policy,( Washington: US Government Printing Office, 2001), X.
Ibid, 1-10, 1-11.
The Economist, 2008,” The Benefits and the Curse of Oil”, 2008 Vol 388 No. 8593. (New York: The Economist Newspaper Limited. 2008), 42.
Greg Palast, “Secret US Plans for US Oil”, BBC News, 2005.
Andrew Herod, Geographies of Globalization, (NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 196.

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