Download PDF of this full issue: v8n2.pdf (8.4 MB)

Halt the US-USSR Arms Race: Weapons Are For War, Not Parades or Talks

By VVAW

WEAPONS ARE FOR WAR NOT PARADES OR TALKS

The bomb falls to its target and explodes. A few homes are knocked over, small fires but haphazardly, and soldiers die. It is the work of the newest weapon developed by the U.S.--the neutron bomb. The restricted area where the blast is effective, and the short range where heat is a factor are actually just byproducts of the explosion, necessary to trigger the release of neutrons. These neutrons pass through buildings, tank, workers and soldiers; people die from fits and heart failures caused by neutron radiation. It's quick death for those within eight blocks of the blast.

Within one hour of the explosion, the area can be secured. The only long term effects of the radiation is on those not close enough to the deadly area to die immediately; they suffer the effects of neutron radiation for three or four days until they, too, die. The war may still rage as the last of them die, but the rich now can fill the still-standing factories with workers who will be exploited--just as the workers who died in the initial blast. Before the dust can settle, production can resume--the assembly lines roll, the new work force seats and slaves. Business as usual for the benefit of one class--the profit reapers.

Spurred on by a report (financed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund) that describes the rising Soviet threat and questions the effectiveness of NATO as a defensive alliance, and by a government study that says the U.S. and Western European Allies have a very remote chance of stopping a Soviet attack without loss of territory in Europe, Carter and his rich cronies developed the weapon for use as a big stick to prod at the military superiority of the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, the USSR is looking for a bigger club, claiming that new types of weapons cannot intimidate them, and that they will not stand idly by while the U.S. produces and "inhumane and barbaric weapon."

While each side blames the other for the responsibility of escalating the arms race, both proceed with continued war preparations at a quickened pace. The U.S. and USSR talk about peace, squabble about terms of a SALT agreement, and hold meeting after meeting that end deadlocked. Each side has tried to appear to be working hard for peace while only hoping to buy time to keep the other side from gaining whatever superiority it can. The fact is that neither privileged class has ever slowed down the arms race for a second and it is for their 'inhumane and barbaric" system of exploitation of workers that they have raised the arms race to its present height.

Washington has laid plans for the FB-111 strategic bomber, accelerated production of cruise missiles, produced not only a new class of subs but longer range and more destructive missiles to go with them. Almost limitless spending by the U. S. has gone into producing nuclear weapons, along with developing the neutron bomb, while vets from their last war of profit stand in unemployment lines, barely eek out survival on the GI Bill, and face unavailable healthcare. Moscow, not to be left behind, has developed more ICBM's, begun producing the backfire bomber, and has the T-80 tank ready for mass production. The increased technology and production of awesome weapons shows the viciousness of both rich classes and exposes their ever-consuming need for profit. Bullets, grenades and artillery shells still exist in growing numbers--the path they rip through bodies still maims, wounds, and kills, while the rich are safely directing the war from thousands of miles away. Tanks and missiles have been improved for pinpoint accuracy, all to sacrifice our brother GIs to the profit system. In true fashion, the rich rivals expose themselves and their schemes to control more markets, more resources, and the lives of workers through their meaningless words of peace and open acts of war.

The rich rulers of the U.S. dragged us into Indochina, providing arms, support, and troops to keep the door from closing on the abudance of workers they could exploit and the natural wealth they could rape from the land. Their hunger for profits has forced them to keep their eyes wandering, looking for another country to help "get on its feet," ready to pounce on it and establish the flow of profits. Ask any vet whether he was fighting for the freedom of the Indochinese people, or being used to protect the profits of Standard Oil, Caltex, or whatever corporation you want to name. Ask any vet who lost a buddy in Vietnam, or a family whose father was killed in a steel mill here if they died because of freedom, or because the rich squeeze the life out of any soldier or worker if they can add to their profit-lined pockets.

The bosses of the Soviet Union are playing exactly the same game, and in most of the same ballparks. The superpowers' toe-to-toe stand against each other is dictated by one golden rule--Expand or Die. This rule pits the two groups of bloodsuckers against each other, each wanting the spoils of the other. They know there is room for only one too dog. And further that the bone this top dog is eventually going to pick up is industrialized Europe. At the present, though, the spoils of Europe will have to await the outcome of the other fronts they are fighting on.

This hasn't stopped them in their preparations for the future. Europe is the apple of the eyes of both rich classes, with its highly developed industries and natural wealth. The U.S. capitalists maintain their interests through NATO while the Soviet social-imperialists continue exploiting workers in Eastern Europe and use the Warsaw Pact. European defensive units breakdown to an impressive military strength. (See chart)

While assembly lines speed up to supply the front, the brass of both militaries have organized more war "games" and maneuvers on the European continent and surrounding waters. 280,000 U.s. troops aren't concentrated in one area for a full dress parade--and the weapons they're armed with are used for only one thing--war.

Billed as a strong deterrent to war and a major defense against a Soviet tank invasion in Europe, the rich in the U.S. developed the neutron bomb for "peace." For them, peace means continued exploitation of workers in Western Europe, tightening their stranglehold on these countries and their markets, without losing their grip to the USSR.

Other features of this weapon make the bosses gloat even more. A limited nuclear war on the European front between the two superpowers with present nuclear warheads would have a devastating effect on their foreign markets and the wealth they produce. Both sides would suffer millions of fatalities, the economies of friendly countries would be destroyed, and the serious long-term effects of radiation would render land, factories and assembly lines useless for many years. With the neutron bomb, however, only people would be sacrificed, leaving the walls of the factories standing and the assembly lines in working order, with production and profit to be resumed as fast as workers can be thrown into the factories.

In attempt to forestall the inevitable war and smokescreen the public, Carter has now announced that the U.S. would not produce the neutron bomb--if the Soviets cut back on their Warsaw Pact tank build up. At the same time, Carter ordered the go-ahead to develop the Lance missile and artillery shell to be able to deliver the neutron bomb, and agreed to send over 8,000 more U.S. troops to NATO next year. Jimmy stated, "we can readily afford the costs of our military forces, as well as an increased level if needed, to prevent an adversary from destabilizing the peace of the world." Cannon fodder is cheap, and the cost is something the rich man's system can readily afford. It's clear to any vet who's been used by this system and is now trying to collect on the lies and empty promises!