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In the early hours of Saturday 28 February, Tehran was suddenly awakened by the sound of massive explosions as US and Israeli missiles began raining down on the Iranian capital. Once again, the forces of so-called Western ‘civilisation’ threaten to unleash yet more horror in a region that has been battered by war and crisis for decades.
More than 1,000 Iranians – overwhelmingly civilians – have already been killed by US-Israeli attacks, including the horrific case of 165 schoolgirls murdered by American bombs. Israel has seized the opportunity of renewed hostilities with Iran to launch a bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon. More than 700,000 people have been displaced so far.
The conflict is already sending shockwaves through the world economy. At the same time, the political repercussions of the war are being felt around the globe, not least in the United States, where a majority already oppose the conflict.
While it is difficult to predict what will happen next – much will depend on how long the conflict lasts – the war has added further fuel to the enormous stock of combustible material that has accumulated at every level of world capitalism.
As a worried article from the mouthpiece of capitalist Ireland – The Irish Times – aptly put it:
“Operation Epic Fury, the US name for the attack, might well be named epic gamble. The stakes are huge and the outcome is far from clear.”
Shamrocks and bombs
This war could hardly have come at a worse time for the Irish ruling class. At time of writing, only a few days separate us from that slavishly servile pantomime known as the “Shamrock Ceremony” – when the Taoiseach flies across the Atlantic to kiss the ring of his American Godfather, Don(ald) Trump.
This humiliating spectacle is already despised by many workers and young people as it is. But to present a bowl of shamrocks and engage in pleasantries while the US is so blatantly carrying out imperialist aggressions – that is a different kettle of fish entirely.
For the Irish ruling class the problem is clear. Ireland is deeply economically dependent on the US, therefore the establishment is desperate to avoid falling foul of Trump’s mood. After all, the administration in the White House has already singled Ireland out for ‘being Pro-Palestine’, with internal sources warning The Irish Times of the possibility of “severe political and economic consequences for Ireland”.
While the ruling class would be happy to simply heap praise onto the President to avoid any outbursts, the mounting hatred for US imperialism following years of genocide in Gaza and intensified aggressions in the Middle East make this an extremely unpopular prospect at home.
The panic within government circles is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Just look at how they reacted when President Connolly offered even the mildest criticism of the war. Without even explicitly mentioning the US or Israel – nor the Irish government – Connolly stated that “the violations of international law we are witnessing are shocking and numbing.” One could hardly imagine a softer way of putting it.
Yet the government was immediately up in arms. “The responsibility for foreign affairs rests with the Government,” they barked back at her. How dare she speak out – doesn’t she understand it’s a ‘complex situation’?
When directly asked, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee answered she “can’t say” whether the US and Israeli strikes on Iran are war crimes or not. Micheál Martin even had the gall to blame it all on the 7 October attack by Hamas while speaking in the Dáil.
And to be sure, it is not only through silence that they are complicit. An investigation by The Ditch found that Shannon airport was used at least twice by the American military in the run-up to the attacks on Iran.
The ruling class are doing everything in their power to prove themselves reliable lapdogs of American imperialism. But at a time when Trump is tearing apart even the faintest fig leaf of so-called international law, this is putting them in an increasingly uncomfortable position at home. They are already deeply discredited in the eyes of hundreds of thousands in Ireland. This can only further inflame anger against them.
Cost of living
While the imperialists and their faithful lackeys in the Dáil prepare new horrors for the Middle East, workers and young people in this country will pay for their adventures through higher bills and a rising cost of living. The war has driven oil prices up by nearly 40 percent to around $100 per barrel. Wholesale gas prices in Europe have already increased by 72 percent.
In Ireland we are already feeling the impact. The price of kerosene – used to heat 30 percent of Irish households – has almost doubled, from roughly €500 per 500 litres to €870. Petrol has surpassed €2 per litre, potentially adding €1,000 a year to household expenses. But the impact won’t be confined to fuels alone.
Energy economist Muireann Lynch explained to The Irish Times that if gas prices remain elevated they will drive up electricity prices, which then feed into household bills and “just about everything else in the economy.” In other words, we could be facing a new cost-of-living crisis, only this time compunded by years of rising prices.
Imagine what that would mean for hundreds of thousands of struggling working-class families. Already 320,000 households are in arrears on their electricity bills. One in five children live below the poverty line. 42 percent of workers are left with next to nothing after covering their monthly bills, and a further 17 percent struggle to meet basic financial obligations. Things could now go from bad to worse.
Yet Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has been quick to push back against calls for support. The government has ruled out universal cost-of-living payments like those introduced in previous years.
The message is clear: it is the working class that will have to pay for the wars of the rich and powerful.
Horror with no end
As Lenin once put it, capitalism is horror without end. And it is precisely this that we are seeing play out. But at the same time, the deepening crisis of world capitalism and the horrors produced by imperialism are pushing an ever-growing number of workers and youth to draw revolutionary conclusions.
The horrors of capitalism can be ended by overthrowing the system itself – and for that we need to build a powerful revolutionary communist party. The Revolutionary Communists of Ireland are fighting to build precisely such a party, together with our comrades in the Revolutionary Communist International around the world.
This April we will hold our third National Congress, the high point of our activity for the year. Our immediate goal is to reach 100 active members by the congress and use this as a launchpad to grow to 200 members by next year. We urgently need to build a sizeable organisation capable of intervening in the events that are unfolding internationally and here in Ireland.
If you agree with the ideas in this paper, don’t stand on the sidelines. Join us. Help build the forces of revolutionary communism. And help put an end to this system of war and exploitation once and for all.
