Introductory contribution by Gotthard Krupp, co-initiator of the European Conference, member of the ver.di Berlin-Brandenburg regional board

Dear colleagues,

Carla has underlined the great resonance of our initiative for a European conference „against war – against social war“ in 15 European countries, for today’s European videoconference, as well as for a live conference in Winter or early 2024.

I would like to thank all those who have supported this conference with their contributions and messages of support. The ideas you have developed have been incorporated into my following introduction.

They are an expression of the growing resistance movement of workers and peoples while NATO and the governments in Europe, under the US government’s command, are pushing for a new level of escalation of war in Europe.

The NATO summit in Vilnius is entirely devoted to fuelling the war against Russia through an ever more massive military re-arming of Ukraine.

For example, the German government’s plan under Scholz to further strengthen NATO’s eastern flank provides for the permanent stationing of a battle-force unit of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers in Lithuania.

Our Spanish colleagues are right to warn: „the increase in military spending by all European governments is brutal„.

More and more massive sums, running into billions, are being poured into financing arms deliveries to Ukraine and to the Zelensky’s system of domination. It has to be said: they are going to a clan of oligarchs who are amassing gigantic private fortunes based on the plundering of the people, and whose management has been entrusted to the BlackRock financial markets group.

And Putin? He is not defending the people, but is also the head of an oligarchy that exploits mining resources and raw materials for their own private enrichment.

It is not the war of the Ukrainian, Russian or any other peoples. It is the warmongering governments under American command that are dragging all the European countries further and further into this war.

The majority of the population says no to the extension of the war. They are speaking out against the governments that are threatening the planet with a third world war.

The demonstrators demand an immediate ceasefire!

Dear Colleagues,

The dangerous spiral of escalation prompts us to step up our fight against war and social war in our own countries.

On this subject, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said: „If they spend more on defence, there will be fewer resources for health, education and so on„.

An assertion that Scholz, as he proudly announces, “ makes it 100% his own„.

The government’s policy involves that the entire economy is subjected to the requirements of war. The German federal budget has to convert into a war budget. Finance Minister Lindner has called on all ministries to cut their spending – with the exception of the War Ministry.

As a result of the economic war that Biden has unleashed against Europe and its leading industrial power, Germany, notably with the policy of sanctions against Russia, Germany has been hit by a wave of de-industrialisation. Nearly one out of six German industrial companies are outsourcing its production and jobs abroad because they cannot afford the high cost of energy.

Inflation and rising prices – among other consequences of the sanctions policy – are requiring the reinforcement of the austerity policy against the welfare state. Wage cuts are being decreed, over 1,000 hospitals are to be closed, and there are clear cuts in schools and local authorities…. Child poverty is spreading…

Their policy has provoked resistance, mass demonstrations against the war „for an armistice, negotiations and the end of the sanctions policy„, and the biggest strikes in the public services… Demonstrations and struggles in hospitals, schools…

I only mention Germany here as an example of the close link between the military war and the social war against the people.

You all know the images of the mass uprisings against Macron’s pension reform in France and now of the youth who are being robbed of their education and future. One person out of six does not have enough to eat, as our French colleagues report.

In Romania, the comrade reports that in response to the inflation caused by the war, major protest movements have shaken the country in the sectors of health, education and railways.

Comrades of Denmark write that their country „is slowly but surely being transformed from a so-called welfare state into a military warfare state„.

That, dear colleagues and comrades, is our common experience:

Almost all the parties, even those claiming to represent the interests of the labour movement, are submitting to this war policy. Struggles, demonstrations and growing resistance movements have come up against them.

The governments‘ warmongering and socially destructive policies are meeting with growing rejection. The anger of the social majority is expressed at the electoral level by protest votes in favour of far-right parties, such as the AfD in Germany, which is now outpacing the SPD in the polls with almost 20% (July 3rd). Because this party is the only one to speak out – demagogically – against the war and arms deliveries to Ukraine, against the established parties.

You probably all know the decision of the steering committee of the Die Linke party to ask Sahra Wagenknecht to resign her seat in the Bundestag.

The decision by the left-wing party leadership is designed to stifle this voice against war. We say: it is not Sahra Wagenknecht or any other MP who are raising their voice against war, who are violating their MP mandate – no, they are fulfilling their mandate, because they are giving voice to the will of the majority of the population: against war, against arms supplies and sanctions.

By referring to the fact that, in a „period of upheaval“, far-right parties have also grown in strength in other countries, Scholz is trying to hide the fact that it is his government’s policy that is now allowing the AfD, which is fundamentally far-right, to emerge in the East Germany Länder as the strongest force of protest against the government’s policy.

Dear colleagues, dear comrades, I thank you,

Neither Putin – nor NATO!

We have all experienced in our respective countries that a solution can only be forged through the resistance of workers and peoples against the warmongering and socially destructive policies of each government.

To recall Karl Liebknecht’s words: „The main enemy (the imperialist war party) is in our own country !“ (May 1915) Or to quote Rosa Luxemburg, as colleagues in France have reminded us: „At this time of the madness of armaments and orgies of war, it is only the determined fighting position of the working masses, their capacity and readiness for powerful mass action, that can still (…) preserve world peace“ (30 April 1913).

In a situation where governments want to push peoples and workers ever further into military escalation, it is of the utmost urgency that the forces of resistance share their experiences and discuss the means to foster their liaison at European level, the means by which they can organise themselves into a network at European level, as proposed on several occasions during the preparation of this conference.

How can the resistance movement organise itself as a counterweight to the governments in office? This is the subject of our discussion today. How can we help the workers, the peoples, to mobilise for action against the war and against the social war waged by their governments in every country? In this sense, shouldn’t we set ourselves the objective of creating a European liaison committee „against war – against social war“?