Contribution of the Communist Workers Party for Peace and Socialism Finland

Contribution of KTP for the ECA Teleconference on the topic:
“The War Machine of Euro-Atlanticism, NATO and the EU against the peoples - The communists’ proposal for a way out in conditions of intensifying imperialist competition”

 

What is War like?

Dear comrades,

Before I elaborate the causes of the War and the current developments that are leading increasingly towards a generalization of the current inter-imperialist wars and conflicts, I would like to paint a picture of what the experience of preparation for war feels like.

The Finnish people, for the last 80 years since the end of WWII, have experienced the absence of large scale militarization and imperialist wars. The Finnish state maintained a fragile “neutrality” as a capitalist country with extensive economic ties with the Soviet Union. After the counter-revolution in 1989-91 in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Finnish ruling class decided that it was most beneficial for it to rapidly integrate into the newly strengthened EU, joining it in 1995.

The recent shock that went through society and world politics with the outbreak of open imperialist war in Ukraine in 2022 led the Finnish ruling class to once again place its bet with Euro-Atlantic imperialism and make a bid to join NATO in May 2022 – not three months after the outbreak of the full-scale war. While NATO accession really only cemented the military cooperation that was already in place before this point, it nonetheless constituted a new qualitative step. Finland, with its 1200 km long border with Russia poses a strategic threat to Russia, first as it completes the encirclement of its access to the Baltic Sea, secondly as a possible staging ground of an invasion by Land threatening the population and industrial center of St. Petersburg and thirdly constituting a land route for the transportation of troops and materiel between the Baltic Sea ports and Norway.

But what does accession to NATO mean for the people of Finland, now in times of preparation for the next imperialist slaughter. It means that Finland wants an active role in preparing for the next world war – also wants to share the spoils of that war. It means higher military spending, for example EUR 10 bn for a new generation of fighter jets and by financing all this through new state debt – paid from the pockets of the working people – and always new social cuts, amounting to another EUR 10 bn during 4 years^[1]. It also means new military exercises in which those new fighter jets tear through the skies over Finland, for example during this year's Arctic Challenge exercise. During Steadfast Defender last year, the largest NATO exercise since 1989 in which 90 000 soldiers were active the streets of Finland were full of armored transports, the sports hall in a closeby village was made into a field hospital, it meant that a company headquarter was set up in the village and that we woke up one morning to a tank in our backyard. These are pictures reminiscent of the “Cold War”. It means that Finland withdrew from the Ottawa treaty, banning the use of anti-personnel mines^[2], which makes it possible to recreate the areas infested with mines and unexploded ordnance that make up 23% of the area of Ukraine and so many other former hotbeds of war, that maim and kill for generations to come. The cost of clearing the affected areas in Ukraine has been estimated at USD 37 bn and that, according to a Alexander Lobov at the UNDP “Mine action should become the culture of Ukraine ‘because it will [ordnance disposal will remain a task] for decades’”^[3].

War means the loss of friends, relatives, family and colleagues. It means that millions need to flee the war ravaged areas. It can mean famine, lack of clean drinking water and the outbreak of infectious diseases, as we are seeing currently in Sudan, but also in Palestine where it is used criminally as a weapon of war. It means the destruction of homes and workplaces, making life impossible for years and decades. It means widespread environmental destruction, with surface and groundwater becoming exposed to explosives residues, toxic chemicals from burned out buildings and vehicles, spills of oil and fuel, the scattering of destroyed vehicles that are left on the battlefields and of completely new environmental hazards like the millions of kilometers of fiberglass that are used to steer wire guided drones in Ukraine. I have not even begun to mention the possibility of nuclear strikes that become increasingly likely as belligerent nuclear armed states are being pushed into desperate positions. We already saw the fighting around and shelling of the Zaporishia nuclear plant, which could be used as a “dirty bomb”, to pressure the opponent into making concessions. Imperialist war and the specter of a generalized world war means the utter devastation of people’s livelihoods, of the complete destruction of the social reality of the working people, of leading us headfirst into unknown depths of misery and despair. The previous World Wars were the greatest disasters in world history and yet the belligerent capitalist states have no trouble adding fuel to a fire that has already been kindled and is ready to engulf the people.

 

Monopoly capitalism and War

Dear comrades,

Marx already laid out in Capital that the reason for the cyclical crises of capitalism is the overaccumulation of capital. Lenin – expanding on the political-economy of Marx – formulated that at a certain stage of development the concentration of capital and its centralization forms monopolies, and thus a global system of monopoly capitalism, or imperialism. The highest expression of this tendency is the forming of finance capital, the joining of industrial and banking capital. On the grounds of this high concentration of capital it becomes increasingly difficult to find profitable outlets for this capital, which is why capital export gains in importance, i.e. the national frame of capital becomes too small and it seeks to expand its operation overseas to less developed areas. This inevitably brings it into conflict with other imperialist states. The struggle over the access to markets for commodity and increasingly capital export, sources of raw materials to lower their cost of production and access to cheap labor power by political and military means is its necessary result. The contradictions between capitalist countries and their settling ultimately by wars is thus unavoidable. It springs from the development of capitalism itself and can only be overcome by destroying the capitalist system at its root. Militarism and imperialist capitalism thus become inseparable, military expenditures being the means by which overaccumulation can be partially overcome and new markets be captured. In this way capital can profit twice, once from the destruction caused by the military capture of markets and once by the reconstruction of the affected areas. This is especially obvious in the flouted plans to turn Gaza into a holiday resort, that shows how capital is not deterred by even the most barbaric of acts as long as it can expect plentiful profits. The victims in Gaza and the Westbank are the Palestinians, just as the working people everywhere else the war machine is being prepared.

 

Euro-Atlantic Imperialism and the “Way Out”

Dear comrades,

Much could be said on the shifts that are taking place in the imperialist system and that are often labelled as “mulitpolarity” to align the working people with the aims of “their” capitalists. The analysis of our Party and the fraternal parties of the ECA can be found in the statements of previous meetings, as well as our Parties’ materials. The following is of course incomplete without this analysis, which points to certain conclusions.

I now however want to discuss the second question posed by this meeting’s title: The communist proposal of a way out.

The answer must lie in first of all promoting the interests of the working people independently from those of capital. We have seen that capital not only provides the ground from which competition and war spring, but also pushes these conflicts to their catastrophic resolution in line with the rationale of profit maximization.

To be able to lead the working class to the overthrow of the capitalist class, we must elaborate our strategy and rebuff any attempts to halt the movement half-way, to rebuff any illusions in bourgeois democracy and intermediate stages. The crisis of capitalism will always bring with it the most reactionary measures of the capitalist state. As the methods of integration fail and the liberal illusions lose their attraction in the eyes of the working people, the capitalist system increasingly shows its real face and has to rely on open terror to maintain its rule. Only if we are united on the basis of a firm conviction for the historical inevitability of the revolution can we maintain our principled stance in the face of severe hardship.

 

^[1] Yle News. (2025, September 8). How Finland’s budget cuts affect you. Yle. https://yle.fi/a/74-20181616

^[2]  Yle News. (2025, April 1). Finland prepares to leave Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Yle. https://yle.fi/a/74-20153181

^[3]  The deminers helping Ukraine’s farmers make their fields safe again. (2023, July 8). UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1138477#:~:text=The%20World%20Bank%20estimates%20that,mine%20action%20in%20the%20country.