by Jacob Bielski
Massachusetts Teachers Association (Personal Capacity)
Springfield, MA
During the 2024 elections, Donald Trump cast himself as an anti-war candidate, harshly criticizing Biden over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Trump’s slogan, “Prevent World War III and Restore Peace in Europe and the Middle East,” mentioned in his Agenda 47 presidential platform, appealed to working-class people.
Yet, in the same breath, Trump argued for an American-made “Iron Dome” protecting US airspace. He later called for the deportation of “pro-Hamas radicals” from the US without condemning Netanyahu’s genocidal bombing and occupation of Gaza. Furthermore, his platform called to “Strengthen and modernize our military, making it, without question, the strongest and most powerful in the world.”
American workers cannot be fooled again into thinking Trump is an anti-imperialist candidate. While breaking past presidents’ pro-NATO consensus, the Trump administration steers a course for further military interventions in the Americas, carving up Europe and the Middle East between imperialist powers, annexing new territories, and confrontation with China.
Peace Talks in Ukraine Flounder
It is no surprise that Trump’s policies have failed to end either the Israeli state’s war on Gaza or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite promising an end to the fighting in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking the presidency, nearly four months into his term, Trump’s administration looks ready to abandon peace talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the president in saying the US would pass on peace talks if Moscow and Kyiv draw them out.
Even when the administration took peace talks seriously, Trump’s approach was not for the benefit of the working class. Instead, Trump bullied Ukraine into giving up mining and fossil fuel profits to pay for US aid. The so-called “mineral framework” is textbook imperialism, using American military and economic power to coerce smaller economies into submission. Given the pro-billionaire record of “Trumponomics” and “Liberation Day,” the benefits of this mineral extraction will not trickle down to the working classes of Ukraine and the United States. Instead, they will subsidize Trump’s cartel of billionaire inside traders and military contractors while workers see cuts to social services and jobs in both countries to foot the bill.
Blank Check for Bibi’s Genocide
Negotiations in Gaza have been disastrous for the Palestinian people. The ceasefire brokered at the tail end of the Biden Administration collapsed on March 18th after Israel launched a series of surprise air strikes against the Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, Israeli strikes have directly killed 51,000+ Palestinians. The Israeli government continues to blockade humanitarian aid from the Gaza Strip, with “the heads of 12 major aid groups [saying] the humanitarian aid system in Gaza was ‘facing total collapse.’” The genocidal war on Gaza has displaced and potentially killed hundreds of thousands more Palestinians by destroying housing, medical facilities, and the water supply while starving civilians through the blockade.
The Trump administration continues to supply the Israeli military with weapons for the genocide. From January to March, the White House approved $12 billion in Foreign Military Sales to Israel. Where the Biden administration levied certain minimal, inadequate conditions on arms sales to Israel in response to war crimes, the Trump administration has sought to remove any barriers to supplying Israel for its proxy wars. Like the Biden administration, Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have also bypassed Congress to carry out weapons deliveries, abusing executive powers for imperialist ends.
Like with Ukraine, the Trump administration only seeks an end to the war in Gaza insofar as it can benefit American business interests. Trump’s plan for reconstruction involves letting the Israeli state expel Gaza’s 1.2 million residents to build a resort city in the style of the Arab Gulf States. Trump notably retweeted an AI-generated video of “Trump Gaza” in February after making his plan clear.
While he enables genocide to build a new playground for the rich in Gaza, Trump has used the Israeli state’s war as a pretext for attacks on immigrants and higher education in the United States. As little as attending a protest or criticizing the genocide can lead to a revoked visa, and universities that allow protests risk losing their funding or government takeovers that restrict academic freedom.
Rebuild an Anti-War Movement
The Democratic Party refuses to promote peace or restrain US imperialism. Pro-Democrat organizers of the April 5th protests called for strengthening NATO and a return to the global arms race that fueled the proxy wars in Ukraine and Israel in the first place. Rather than being outraged at continued US bombing campaigns in Yemen, Democratic pundits and politicians are more concerned that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is using Signal chats to communicate classified military intel.
Hegseth and Trump are promising a record-breaking $1 trillion military budget, up from Biden’s last proposed budget of $895 billion. Whether a Democrat or a Republican is in power, the capitalist class is determined to increase military spending and the associated destruction of lives and the environment.
Many workers could not bring themselves to vote for Kamala Harris and the Democrats’ pro-imperialist policies last November. However, Trump was no alternative. He’s never been an anti-war candidate. His saber-rattling against Mexico, Panama, and Colombia today is a natural extension of his hawkish regime change policies against Bolivia and Venezuela in his first term. Likewise, Trump channels the genocidal ideology of Manifest Destiny by renaming Mount Denali to McKinley, crushing indigenous protests against oil pipelines, and attempting to take over Greenland—regardless of the opinions of its native people.
The working class in the United States and abroad deserves genuine anti-war leaders who will also fight for economic and democratic rights. A workers’ party in the United States could be a step toward replacing the capitalist system of global exploitation, competition, and genocide with international cooperation and planning to meet everyone’s needs and protect the environment. The Independent Socialist Group called for a vote for genuine anti-war candidates like Jill Stein and Cornel West in 2024 as a step toward rebuilding an anti-war movement like those against the Invasion of Iraq in the 2000s and the Vietnam War in the 1960s-70s. We call on unions, workers, and community organizations to:
- Continue the protests against the genocide in Gaza; end all military aid to Israel and other anti-worker regimes.
- Defend free speech! Block the Trump administration from deporting students and labor organizers for speaking their minds.
- Organize strikes at the point of production and distribution to halt Foreign Military Sales.
- Run independent, anti-war candidates as a step toward building a new working-class party.
- Reject U.S. occupation of Greenland and the Panama Canal. Organize for indigenous rights and self-determination in the Americas.
- Protest for immediate ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, with the release of all hostages and political prisoners.
- Organize for democratically planned, socialist reconstruction efforts in the wake of war, not looting and profiteering by capitalist interests.
Independent Socialist Group 