The European rearmament drive is forcing a question the left has shelved for thirty years: what should socialists say about armies and conscription?
Christian Zeller, ecosocialist theorist and professor at the University of Salzburg, argues that the reflexive rejection of conscription — however understandable — functionally endorses the professional army, historically the more reliable instrument of capital’s class power. Drawing on the democratic soldiers’ movements of the 1970s and 1980s, and on the experience of Ukrainian popular resistance, he makes the case for an emancipatory military policy that links defence of democratic and social rights to a strategy of working-class self-organisation — including inside the armed forces. [AN]
The entire left spectrum is unprepared for the challenge of defending democratic and social achievements in Europe against external and internal threats from authoritarian states and forces. The question of the character of armies and military service is increasingly at the centre of debate — a question that socialists have barely engaged with over the past thirty years.
Militarisation and conscription
Russia launched its war against Ukraine in 2014. On 24 February 2022, the Putin dictatorship began its full-scale invasion against the Ukrainian population.
The entire left spectrum is unprepared for the challenge of defending democratic and social achievements in Europe against external and internal threats from authoritarian states and forces. The question of the character of armies and military service is increasingly at the centre of debate — a question that socialists have barely engaged with over the past thirty years.
Militarisation and conscription
Russia launched its war against Ukraine in 2014. On 24 February 2022, the Putin dictatorship began its full-scale invasion against the Ukrainian population.
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