NATO’s Fascist Origins
When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 it claimed to be “founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Two of its 12 original member states were openly fascist: Spain under Fransisco Franco and Portugal António de Oliveira Salazar. Italy and Germany had been freed from Mussolini and Hitler respectively, but their governments and ruling classes were made up of the same capitalists who had supported them.
NATO’s first operation and reason for existence was Project Gladio. Military cells of fascists, war-hardened and agitated from their defeat in World War II, operated beyond democratic oversight in post-war Western Europe to violently disrupt working class movements and discredit communists who had gained prestige during the WWII for their heroic struggle against fascism.
In the process, NATO rehabilitated thousands of fascists. Adolf Huesinger was one such fascist, wanted in the Soviet Union for war crimes but nonetheless became the Chairman of NATO’s military committee and was among several ex-Nazis who went on to become integrated into NATO’s military ranks. In the new millenium, NATO has trained and armed extremists from Al Qaeda to the Azov Battalion, supporting the spread of terrorism and instability throughout the world.
NATO’s Drive to Nuclear War
In February, 1990, then US Secretary of State James Baker told Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward.” Between 1991 and 2021, NATO accepted 10 former Warsaw Pact member countries as its members through its eastward expansion. Finland and Sweden joined in 2023 and 2024. NATO has continued to tighten its circle around Russia.
In 2014, NATO backed a coup in Ukraine, replacing a government who chose to maintain economic relations with their neighbour Russia rather than signing an Association Agreement with the European Union. In an infamous phone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, Arseniy Yatsenyuk was selected to lead a coalition government composed of far-right and openly fascist parties including Right Sector and Svoboda.
In 2021, President Zelensky asked NATO to station nukes in Ukraine as a deterrent against Russian invasion. NATO allies Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey already host nuclear weapons from the arsenal of the US. The Canadian government is spending $90 billion on F-35 fighter jets that can hold two B-61 nuclear bombs per plane, with each bomb being over three times stronger than the weapons used on the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
It’s no wonder why, in March 2024, Putin stated that he would resort to nuclear weapons if the existence of the Russian Federation was threatened. NATO is now planning to send 60,000 troops to Ukraine, leading Canada and the world towards nuclear armageddon.
Canadian Needs a Sovereign Foreign Policy of Peace
The global arms race is being driven by NATO and their demand that all member states spend 2% of GDP on military expenditures. In 2023, Canada spent an estimated 1.38 percent of GDP on military spending, $36.7 Billion. But pressure is coming from NATO, the United States, and even the CBC, to pressure the Canadian government to reach the 2% floor for military spending, which would add another $20 billion to the budget for war.
The purchase of unnecessary weapons is especially egregious amidst the staggering inflation and stagnant wages for working class people. Workers are being forced to choose between groceries or gas bills, while provincial governments understaff hospital emergency rooms and close schools to try to drive education workers’ wages down. Meanwhile, the merchants of war continue to line their pockets, with no consideration for the future of life on our planet.
In this time of economic uncertainty working people are looking for serious investments into healthcare, education, housing, and compensation nearing the dignity and worth of the human person. Instead of money for war, we say money for public social services.
The Communist Party of Canada continues the fight for an independent Canadian foreign policy based on peace, international cooperation and solidarity. As a necessary first step in developing such a policy, we call for Canada’s immediate and unilateral withdrawal from NATO.
Furthermore, the Communist Party encourages all labour, peace and progressive organisations to take a stand and join the struggle against the acquisition of these dangerous weapons and add their voice to the call for Canada’s immediate and unilateral withdrawal from NATO.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada