Imperialists prepare¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter, titled “Imperialists prepare,” argues that the immediate post-war period is not a genuine peace but a tense, unstable interregnum before a planned third world war. The core narrative thrust is that Anglo-American imperialism, despite its rhetorical hostility to the Soviet Union, is temporarily incapable of launching a direct attack. The text cites MacKenzie King’s statement in the Canadian parliament expressing hope that diplomatic relations with Russia would not be broken over the atom bomb spy crisis, Eisenhower’s cynical reference to troops’ desire to go home as a barrier to war, and the cancellation of a US battleship cruise in the Mediterranean for fear of provocation. These are presented as evidence of ruling-class impotence, not goodwill. The chapter claims that political, economic, and psychological conditions are not yet ripe for an immediate assault on the USSR, and that Stalin is therefore pressing the imperialists for concessions on all fronts.
The historical context drawn upon is the interwar period after 1918, when the victors of the First World War quarrelled, with Britain and France even waging a proxy war through the Turkish-Greek conflict, but fear of the masses prevented a direct showdown. The text asserts that because of capitalism’s decline, relations between the powers are even more uneasy than in the 1918–39 epoch, predicting a series of crises and skirmishes with far more embittered bickering. The Persian issue, brought before the United Nations, is described as a “dress rehearsal” for the coming conflict, with the interests of the Persian people receiving scant consideration from either side.
The chapter’s polemic is directed against Stalin’s power politics and the notion that the fate of the Soviet Union will be decided by diplomatic manoeuvring. It argues instead that the outcome will be determined by the proletarian revolutions on the order of the day in Europe and the world. The text poses two stark alternatives: world socialism or world chaos. It concludes that the Fourth International will utilise this “breathing space” to carry its propaganda to the masses, rejecting both Stalinist accommodation and imperialist war preparations as paths to the same catastrophe.