When Russia invaded Ukraine, the world situation changed dramatically. It became clear that the economic crisis was now so deep that the imperialist powers were forced to confront each other on a historic scale and that the world was once again threatened by a general imperialist war. In this new historical situation, the Swedish bourgeoisie was forced to reconsider its imperialist alliances.

Sweden had historically been neutral during two world wars and later officially non-aligned, but in reality, after the end of World War II, completely tied to the Western bloc with an extensive exchange of intelligence with the USA and NATO. During the late 1960s, Sweden distinguished itself with a more critical stance towards the USA through criticism of the war in Vietnam and with various disarmament initiatives. But through this, Sweden was able to fulfil an important role for NATO and the Western bloc as a Trojan horse in relation to non-aligned states and former colonies in the Third World.

After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, there was a slow formal rapprochement with NATO through, for example, the "Partnership for Peace" (PFF) in 1994 and the Enhanced Opportunity Program (EOP) in 2014 as well as through joint military operations with NATO in, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya, for example.

After Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish bourgeoisie got cold feet. The agreements and understandings that already existed were no longer enough. They wanted a binding obligation for military assistance in the event of war as NATO's Article 5 provides, so they applied for membership and on March 7, 2024 became a member of NATO. In August 2024, the Defence Co-operation Agreement (DCA) with the USA came into force. This agreement tied Sweden even closer to the USA and gave the USA military access to 17 Swedish military bases.

In line with the increased imperialist tensions, the military armament in Sweden has also increased considerably. 170 billion Swedish crowns ($16.41 billion) extra has been allocated to the defence and a new plan to spend 300 billons on military armament financed by credits has been made. The government and the opposition are trumping each other in new armament proposals. At the People and Defence Meeting in 2024 (a annual meeting of the defence community in Sweden), the former Social Democratic Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist proposed that a third U-boat should be ordered from SAAB, and at the most recent People and Defence Meeting in 2025, the former Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson proposed that a fourth radar reconnaissance aircraft, GlobalEye, should be ordered. The war fever is taking on completely hysterical dimensions. At the annual meetings of the People and Defence political and military leaders are trying to prepare the population for the coming war. The then Chief of Defence (ÖB) Micael Bydèn declared in 2024 that all Swedish residents should now prepare for war.

The Minister of Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin said that on an individual level, everyone must mentally prepare themselves for the possibility of war in Sweden. At People and defence 2025 Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Sweden is “not at war but not at peace”.

A booklet has also been distributed to all households in Sweden with the title “If the Crisis or War Comes” as another way of preparing the population for war. It clearly states that everyone between the ages of 16 and 70 is subject to full military service. This applies to all Swedish citizens in Sweden and also those living abroad. Furthermore, it applies to all foreign citizens living in Sweden. As part of this, general conscription was reintroduced in 2017. Now with Trump and the uncertainty about whether the US stands by Europe, the rush has completely exploded and a rush package of 800 billion euros within the EU has been decided.

The Left and NATO

Among the currently weak and almost extinct Swedish NATO opposition, we see, even supposedly from the left, more or less only nationalist arguments built on naive ideas about ‘our democracy’ and ‘national independence and self-determination’ and/or ideas characterized by a one-track minded ‘anti-imperialism’ where the US, and only the US, is the root of all evil and imperialism in the world. But the confusion is great.

For example, the Left Party voted against joining Sweden to NATO but has nevertheless voted for every new delivery of weaponry to Ukraine and thus supported Ukraine and NATO in its war against Russia. With this the vote against NATO membership becomes just an empty gesture and in the end you are still defending NATO and the Swedish homeland.

The Communist Party (formerly KPML(r) (Swedish Stalinist) came out strongly in its opposition to NATO. But was this based on some kind of internationalist position? We quote: "Through a reintroduction of general conscription and a return to an invasion defense, even a small country like Sweden can defend its borders" (Proletären, 25 February). In other words no internationalism here either but an open defence of capitalist Sweden, thus once again defenders of the fatherland.

This nationalism and defence of national independence is widespread within the left. "The goal of socialists" says Flamman's editor-in-chief Leonidas Aretakis, (Swedish general leftist papper) should be "to develop their own foreign policy within NATO".⁽¹⁾

The Trotskyists then, aren't they internationalists? In Offensiv (ISA) we can read

In Ukraine there is the possibility of forming a determined resistance on the basis of the organization of the masses against the invasion that is not going according to Putin's plan. Socialists support the struggle of the masses against occupation and their right to armed self-defence. But in order to unleash the full potential of the popular working-class-based resistance that exists in the country, self-defence should be organised on a genuinely democratic basis, independent of the political control and centralised leadership of the Kiev government⁽²⁾

Only Trotskyists can do these somersaults – one unmasks support for one side in an imperialist war (Ukraine) by pretending that this war is some kind of working-class resistance/class struggle when in fact it is support for one side in a very brutal imperialist war.

So what about the RKP/IMT? (RCP) They may sound very radical with slogans like ‘Crush NATO’ or statements like:

The Revolutionary Communist International has been against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from day one, but unlike the chorus of liberal hypocrites who howl about defending European “democracy” and “international law”, we did not side with Western imperialism either.⁽³⁾

But in reality, what they are doing is instead a covert defence of Russia. This is not entirely easy to perceive at first glance, but if you scratch the surface a little, you will see:

Nevertheless, it is completely wrong to see this simply as a Russian invasion of Ukraine. It obscures the role that NATO has played and continues to play in increasing tensions. NATO is not a defensive alliance – it is an alliance that is primarily aimed at Russia in Eastern Europe, and that continues to move ever closer.⁽⁴⁾

For example, they supported what they called the ‘Donbass uprising’:

Let us not forget that the 2014 Uprising in Donbass was part of a larger movement that arose in response to the coming to power in Ukraine of a government backed by Nazi paramilitary organizations and advocating a particularly reactionary version of Ukrainian nationalism, deeply anti-Russian and openly drawing on the tradition of the Nazi collaborators of World War II.⁽⁵⁾

and moreover:

The International Marxist Tendency expresses its full solidarity with the anti-fascist resistance in Ukraine and promises to mobilize the broadest possible layers of the labor movement and the youth throughout the world in defense of the democratic rights of those fighting against the authorities in Kiev”… “Down with the NATO- and EU-backed regime in Kiev that is waging a war against its own population⁽⁶⁾

For the RKP/IMT, only the West is imperialist, and they (the RKP/IMT) supports the ‘Donbass uprising’ and more covertly Russia. Despite the radical platitudes, they are not internationalists and they “critically” support one side in this war, proclaiming Russia to not be real “imperialists”.

This is the distorted internationalism that the left defends when they don’t end up directly defending the Swedish nation.

Our Position

The bourgeoisie is constantly trying to mobilise us in defence of democracy, for freedom for Ukraine, for the fatherland. But what does that really mean? We are called upon to defend Western capitalism against Eastern capitalism. We are supposed to defend NATO against Russia, i.e. one form of capitalism against another form of capitalism, and ultimately we are called upon to defend the Swedish fatherland – in other words Wallenberg and Jimmy Åkesson⁽⁷⁾. The state and capital. We must base ourselves on the traditional position of the labor movement and on the position of the Zimmerwald left. That is, that capitalism means war. We must respond to imperialist war with class war. War is inherent in the capitalist system. The economic crisis leads to the fact that the different imperialist factions are forced to confront each other in the struggle for dwindling resources, strategic raw materials or other strategic advantages. Wars do not happen because someone is evil (Putin or Hitler) but because capitalism is an evil system. In other words – it is the crisis of capitalism that produces wars.

In this historically very serious situation, real internationalists must come together to put forward a real alternative in the class and work to unite the fight against the austerity that war preparations and war lead to with the fight against war itself. That is why we support the initiative No War but the Class War (NWBCW). If you are ready to work together with us for this policy, please contact us.

Notes:

Image: en.wikipedia.org

(1) flamman.se

(2) socialisterna.org

(3) marxist.se

(4) marxist.se

(5) marxist.se

(6) marxist.se

(7) Wallenberg is, and has been for generations, one of the wealthiest families in Sweden with interests/ownerships in a huge part of both finance and industry. Jimmie Åkesson is the leader of the ultra-right nationalist/populist party Sverigedemokraterna.