– N. Ribar –
The “Sword of Damocles” is a well-known anecdote which proposes that King Dionysius of Syracuse taught a rather obsequious individual, Damocles, a lesson by allowing him to experience ruling and all its benefits for one day, with the exception that a sword would be held above his head held by a mere string, representing the perilous dangers of power. The Sword of Damocles today hangs over the whole world.
A key aspect of this period, one that is naked for all to see, is the fact that imperialism, led by U.S. imperialism, accepts no rulers, regardless of their class interests, that do not accept its role as the “global leader,” a euphemism used in their ruling circles for world economic domination. The UN, which is located on American soil and is largely funded by Western countries, is an international institution that is largely geared towards protecting U.S. global interests. If this much is not self-evident, take the U.S. April 2022 resolution suspending Russia from the UN’s Human Rights Council. This resolution passed successfully, but not without extreme coercion from U.S. imperialism — Aleksander Vučić, President of Serbia, immediately explained his Yes vote by saying that the U.S. employed the methods of the Sword of Damocles and blackmail, signalling that it would go as far as sanctioning his country if it did not vote Yes. Two other institutions, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and WB (World Bank) are also completely under U.S. subjugation. Like the UN, American funds make up a large part of its budget, and the neoliberal policies of the American government are imposed on countries throughout the world in the name of economic freedom, loans and aid. This is done most often in the form of loans tied to SAPs (structural adjustment programs), i.e. the mass privatization of state-owned property. These enslaving terms create conditions which do not allow for an independent national bourgeoisie that wants national, internal accumulation and opposes international U.S. dictate in their economy. It heavily restricts their activity with the omnipresent threat of the Sword of Damocles.
Page 45 of The Oligarchic Democracy: The Influence of Business Groups on Ukrainian Politics, a 2012 report by Sławomir Matuszak and published by the Centre for European Studies, noted:
“The most widely publicised cases involving ‘the family’ [a term used for those Ukrainian capitalists closely associated with President Viktor Yanukovych — N.R.] included the government’s imposition of quotas on grain exports and the activity of Khlib InvestBud firm. The official reason provided for the new regulations was the need to protect the market from food price rises which could result from excessive exports. It turned out that a definite majority of the orders went to Khlib InvestBud, a firm which had not previously been operating on the agricultural market. The company is 49% state-controlled, and the remaining stake is owned by shareholders from Cyprus and Russia…”
As it turns out, the Ukrainian government of Viktor Yanukovych was attempting to impose a type of state monopoly on grain exports, no doubt in part due to the plundering Ukraine’s agriculture had been subject to since the fall of the Soviet Union. There was a definite wish for internal accumulation, for Ukraine to develop its agriculture and gain a grip over skyrocketing internal prices imposed by the international markets, even as grain harvests were plentiful. The goal of the state monopoly initiative was to protect Ukraine’s grain, gain increased profits for the Ukrainian bourgeoisie and reduce U.S. control over the country commonly known as the breadbasket of Europe.
Such policies always require the U.S. to spring into action to protect its interests. As is well-known, in November 2013 Yanukovych refused to sign loans from the EU and IMF which came with outrageous terms, including amounts Ukraine would never be able to pay back. At this time, then U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland recalled a conversation she had with the President of Ukraine on behalf of the United States government where she issued a clear quid pro quo — go back into negotiation with the EU and IMF, no doubt with SAPs attached, or you will no longer remain the President of Ukraine. What was the result? The imperialists cut the thin string holding the Sword of Damocles. This is no place to go over the well-known fact that the U.S. orchestrated the Euromaidan to remove President Yanukovych, but once again it shows the lengths they are willing to go to in protection of their financial interests.
Later, as the Euromaidan continued into January 2014, the U.S. monopoly Cargill acquired a $200 million stake in UkrLandFarming, Ukraine’s largest agriculture monopoly. At the time, Financial Times reported that we “would see both groups partner up in future grain exports” and stated that there are “hopes to boost exports this season by some 35 per cent.” In other words, it was a statement of U.S. monopoly capital indicating that the Ukrainian state monopoly on grain exports was finished, a signal for the transnational corporations to flood the country and gain any profits they had lost since 2010.
Further reading: Ukraine: The Corporate Annexation. “For Cargill, Chevron, Monsanto, It’s a Gold Mine of Profits”
The Ukrainian economy was then again put in the hands of the international market, spawning the internecine war they’ve been living under for the last 9 years, especially for those in the Donbass. And again, it is overwhelmingly the working class that is paying for the crisis, with millions fleeing the country in fear for their lives since February 2022. Such a situation cannot be allowed to pass.
The period the world has entered since 1984-85 has in no way been ambiguous. It has been one of retrogression, of retreat of revolution, of the unparalleled offensive of imperialism against the peoples of the world. The workers, first of all, face this aggression in the form of cutting the social programs and freedoms which they’ve won from the bourgeoisie through struggle, the ruling class opting for increased militarization of the whole society and placing the burden of paying for the crisis on the backs of the workers. Who pays for the weapons and the war? The vast majority of people. Who pays for the taking over of unprofitable businesses, making them more efficient and selling them back off into private hands? Again, the vast majority of people. This is all done under the pretext of taxes said to be a social responsibility to benefit the whole society. In reality, this is the workers paying for any errors the bourgeoisie make in their anarchy. And it is undoubtedly true that the workers face this threat more thoroughly than any other class, no matter which nation one may take as an example to study.
While negatively impacting the workers the most, such is only proof that they, as the most numerous class in such a bitterly divided society, can become masters of their own destiny. The imperialists play trifles with their statehood, and the nation’s bourgeoisie, which is dependent on international capital, cannot protect even their national interests with its half-measures. That class comes with an often very large section which actively collaborates with the imperialists for a share in its superprofits. In the final respect, the proletariat is at the centre of our epoch, imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Only one class can lead the struggle in lifting the banner of the nation and carrying it forward to the next stage of society. Only one class can lead the struggle for sovereignty, for true independence from the system of imperialist dictate forced upon us. The workers are such a class as can rid their respective countries of the Sword of Damocles for good, and not only that, but can actually turn it against the imperialists as their final days near.