The following leaflet is currently being distributed by the No War But Class War committee in Toronto, Canada. It addresses and responds first and foremost to a situation that is seeing the emergence of a certain workers’ combativeness in the face of attacks on living conditions and lay-offs. This has been expressed in a number of recent strikes, often authorized by a significant mandate from the membership. There have been strikes involving public service workers as well as more recently meat plant workers at Cargill. A potential strike of Toronto Transit Commission workers was averted at the last minute, preventing what would have been a very disruptive strike.

TURN THE IMPERIALIST WAR INTO A CLASS WAR

Recent weeks have been marked by one escalation after another, driven by the ruling class in the West in the face of the developing debacle that is their Ukraine policy, which is unfolding at the same time the perceived legitimacy of Western powers is at a record low due to providing political, diplomatic and military cover for the atrocities its client Israel is carrying out in Gaza and the West Bank. Every red line that they have imposed on themselves regarding the war in Ukraine – no lethal aid to Ukraine, no heavy weaponry, no long range strike weapons, no fighter jets – has been crossed, in the name of defending Ukraine. How benevolent of them! Having crossed these self-imposed red lines that they have defined as Russian red lines, the Western ruling class have convinced themselves that they can cross actual red lines. As the military situation in Ukraine has gone from bad to worse, the response of Ukraine’s Western sponsors has been to double down and gamble everything on the reckless bet that the Russian ruling class’s warnings about nuclear war are a bluff.

These political representatives of the Western capitalist classes are openly talking about sending NATO troops to Ukraine in the guise of trainers and of “allowing Ukraine” to strike deep inside Russian territory with Western-provided cruise and tactical ballistic missiles. Do not be fooled. These guided missiles require participation of NATO personnel at every step, so it will in fact be NATO that is striking Russia.

Drone strikes targeting components of Russia’ strategic early warning radar, the purpose of which is to detect incoming nuclear ballistic missiles, is the context in which a consensus has emerged among Western governments to authorize Ukraine to strike inside Russia with Western missiles. Alongside this, the ruling class is attempting to force workers to pay for the crisis and for rearmament. Workers in many industries have responded with strikes, but to succeed in opposing the imperialist designs of “our” ruling class, these strikes must generalize, combine and unify on common demands. We can only win by fighting as a class and not as workers in a specific corporation.

As internationalist workers in Canada, we condemn the recent decision by the Canadian government to authorize direct attacks on Russian territory using Canada supplied weapons. We call on workers in Canada and elsewhere to transform the imperialist war into a class war against our oppressors and exploiters, and we call on our comrades in Russia, however few in number they may be, to bring the same message to workers there. There is no “aggressor” or “defender” in this inter-imperialist war. All sides are imperialist and are willing to go to extreme lengths to defend their own position on the imperialist chess board. Across the entire globe, the main enemy of the working class is the capitalist class in their own country.

NO TO WW3!
WORKERS IN ALL SECTORS – PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, UNIONIZED OR NOT – TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO STOP THE MARCH TO NUCLEAR WAR!
REJECT THE SACRIFICES DEMANDED FOR THE WAR! VOTE IN ALL WORKPLACES FOR STRIKE ACTION! SET UP WORKPLACE STRUGGLE AND AGITATION COMMITTEES FOR THIS PURPOSE!
THOSE THAT ARE ON STRIKE, SPREAD THE STRIKE TO NEARBY WORKPLACES TO DEMAND PAY RAISES ACROSS THE BOARD AND A HALT TO THE SPIRAL OF ESCALATION!