(The following article is from the May 16-31,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

People's Voice Editorial

The full impact of the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig blowout is gradually becoming apparent. As attempts to block the huge oil spill fall short, it appears more likely by the day that this corporate catastrophe may turn much of the Gulf of Mexico into a virtual dead zone, destroying the sealife and the environment which provide a living for millions of workers and their families. Yet this event was entirely predictable. Driven by the need for profits, offshore drilling is just one of the environmentally risky tactics used by the capitalist system to extract the oil necessary to keep functioning. While this is only the most recent and spectacular such disaster, imperialism has already turned much of the earth's surface into death zones.

     On the "recovery" side of the capitalist ledger, cautious voices are already warning against euphoria. Stock prices, the most visible indicator of confidence in the system, continue to experience wild swings. As this issue goes to press, stocks are up on the news of the trillion-dollar "bailout" of the Greek economy. But if anyone thinks that Greek working people will quietly agree to pay the cost of this massive deal, they are quite mistaken. Faced with the "choice" between surrendering their wages, pensions and social programs, or continuing to resist, the people of Greece will not retreat. Their general strikes and huge demonstrations are only the beginning of a working class fightback which will inevitably spread across Europe and around the planet.

     Truly, capitalism today is a system going up in smoke. It has no future to offer our world, and it must be replaced by the socialist alternative. That means building powerful, united, mass struggles for peace, jobs, equality, the environment, and genuine human progress. We have no alternative.