Nato: Creature of Cold

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"It is no good shadow boxing with disarmament, and it is no good dealing with the symptoms of a disease without dealing with its cause ... It was NATO that decided last year that Britain would have Cruise missiles ... It is consistently NATO, through operations such as Operation Crusade and Square Leg, which adopts a Cold War posture and threatens world peace. It is NATO we must get rid of comrades; NATO is truly the cancer James McAllister, Basingstoke CLP "This Conference believes that the next Labour Government should withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It considers that alliances of this type are not for the defence of democracy and are a threat to world peace, and it is inconsistent for a maintain the Cold War and spend ever-increasing amounts on nuclear and other weapons of of Europe." THE NATO alliance in April 1949 was an attempt by British and American imperialist leaders to regroup the capitalist countries in Europe in an anti-Soviet bloc.

World War 2 had crushed Churchill's early hopes of a British-Nazi alliance against the Soviet Union, and left imperialism weakened, with two major powers Germany and Japan - militarily defeated.

On the other hand, the Red Army - carrying the brunt of the war against Hitler in Europe - hạd moved into Eastern Europe supported by popular struggles against vicious profascist regimes - struggles which they were quick to repress.

Stalin and the Kremlin bureaucracy had learned bitter lessons from their near-defeat at the hands of the Nazis.

Militancy

They resolved to defend the borders of the USSR not by revolutionary, but by old fashioned bureaucraticmilitary means - by maintaining a ring of 'buffer' states against attack from Western Europe.

Though Moscow at first attempted to establish only capitalist coalition governments in Eastern Europe, using the Red Army to protect such regimes from the militancy of the working class, the imperialist leaders were not satisfied.

Conscious of the acute economic weakness and disarray of European capitalism and the post war militancy of the European working class, they feared further setbacks to their power.

Aid With this in view the American imperialist leaders recognised the need for the USA - which had emerged economically unscathed and in a dominant position among:... • the capitalist countries « to embark upon a two-pronged programme to reconstruct capitalist Europe.

On the one hand there were moves to secure military alliances against the Soviet Union. The keynote for such alliances was struck pronouncing the "Truman Doctrine" in March 1947.

"It must be the policy of the United States of America to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure."

This doctrine was the prelude to the sending of a massive $400 million in military aid to combat Stalinist-led partisan struggle in Greece and bolster the Turkish government.

Marshall

The second prong of the Us strategy was the economic reconstruction of capitalism.

General George C. Marshall's Programme for European Recovery was announced in June 1947: With this combination of carrot and stick together with increasingly hysterical Cold War propaganda the European working class was to be ushered into a strengthened capitalist straitjacket.

But it was not only capitalist politicians who led the way. Labour's Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was a prime mover In steps towards SNATOR+- *4.220 mass destruction ...

In January 1948 he proposed a "Western Union" anti-communist alliance. In March 1948 Bevin put his signature to the Brussels Treaty, comprising capitalist governments of Belgium, France, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Britain.

And Bevin was the first to applaud the suggestion three months later that the Treaty be expanded to carrying out socialist Royal Tunbridge Wells CLP include Canada and the USA. By April 1949 after necessary legislation in the USA NATO. was established - pledged to defend the "way of life" of the capitalist class in Europe and In response to these moves to consolidate a bloc against the Soviet Union, Stalin moved to assert firm control over* the buffer'

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