‘Peace’ in Europe¶
Core Argument¶
Here, the editorial board of Socialist Appeal dissects the immediate aftermath of the German surrender, not as a moment of triumph, but as the prelude to a new phase of imperialist rivalry. The core argument is that the end of the European war does not signal peace, but merely the conclusion of one theatre of a global conflict for capitalist mastery, with the Pacific war continuing unabated. The chapter’s narrative thrust is to strip away the illusions being peddled by the Labour leaders and the Stalinists, who present the victory as the basis for a ‘just and lasting peace’ or ‘permanent peace’ via the Yalta Agreement.
The text grounds its polemic in a direct historical parallel: the First World War. It recalls that Labour leaders then promised a ‘war to end wars’, which instead produced the Versailles Treaty—described by Lenin as the most unjust in history—and the subsequent rise of fascism. Lenin’s warning that a third world war would follow unless the workers seized power is invoked as even more pertinent now. The evidence for this inevitability is drawn from the immediate post-war military budgets: the Soviet Union’s 1945-6 armaments expenditure exceeding that of the war years, America’s programme for the largest navy and air force ever seen, and Britain’s talk of vast ‘preparedness’ schemes despite its economic ruin. The chapter argues these preparations are driven not by security, but by the deepening rivalries between British and American imperialism, and by the Stalinist bureaucracy’s fear of a future onslaught from its current ‘allies’. The disagreements at the San Francisco conference are cited as a shadow of coming conflicts.
The chapter’s polemic is twofold. It attacks the reformist illusions of the Labour and Stalinist leaders, accusing them of a base deception that will, if successful, stem the revolutionary wave and usher in a new and worse form of fascism, misery, and war. It also implicitly argues against any ‘practical’ or ‘realist’ view that capitalism can deliver peace and prosperity. The conclusion is a direct appeal to the Fourth International as the only party telling the truth, preparing workers for the coming battles, and uniting them on a programme for a socialist Europe and world. The text is a stark warning that without socialist revolution, the cycle of capitalist decay, reaction, and war will repeat on an intensified scale.