As imperialism keeps intensifying through new and expanding military operations around the world in the drive to access new markets for the capitalist class, communists must understand why we should view soldiers as workers. We also need to consider how to persuade them to support our political beliefs rather than being swayed by right-wing ideologies.
Many soldiers understand the oppressive nature of our government and recognize the lack of social programs in our society. They experience the privilege of universal healthcare but have also experienced the pain of private healthcare. They see how much less stressful life is when you don’t have to worry about whether you will have housing or not. They are well aware of life outside the military, where over 26 million people, a large portion being veterans, make up the unhoused community.
On social media, there’s a tendency among ultra-leftists to dismiss service members as a kind of warrior elite with no potential to contribute to class struggle. This view can be disproved by centuries of history, as well as a clear analysis of our current material and military conditions.
Historically speaking, in every revolution, a segment of the military has broken away from the oppressive state and taken sides with the oppressed. By excluding enlisted soldiers from our analysis and organizing efforts, we create an opening for right-wing ideology to take hold.
The class history of warfare
During early antiquity, an army’s rank and file were filled with the lower strata of peasant farmers and craftsmen. One’s class position would determine what jobs were performed while in service, with those of more wealth having better equipment and more prestigious positions.
This class inequality in warfare continued under feudalism. Throughout medieval times, soldiers from the peasant class were conscripted into armies by their feudal landlords. During this period, peasants not only had to serve, but also were required to outfit the lord’s army, often to the detriment of families and communities who all had to bear this additional burden.
In the past 40 years, with the rise of neoliberalism, an economic draft has come into effect due to significant declines in living standards and austerity measures that have gutted social-safety nets.
During the US Civil War, soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides were drafted from the most marginalized communities, such as newly arriving immigrants, landless workers, and Black Americans (both enslaved and free) to fight the battle for which labor process (proletarian or chattel slavery) would reign supreme. During the two World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, it was again the working class who were called upon by the capitalist class to fight their battles for plunder and profit.
It is no different today. What Eugene Debs so eloquently stated in his Canton, Ohio speech in 1918 (a speech for which he was arrested) still holds true in the 21st century:
The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose — especially their lives.
Class dynamics in the military today
It is important to understand the class relations and dynamics within the United States military in order to help further understand that enlisted soldiers are workers. These dynamics are a microcosm of how class operates in greater capitalist society.
In the civilian world, we see a clear distinction between classes — the bourgeoisie and proletariat, the bosses and the workers — and how their class privilege or lack thereof determines the social conditions under which they labor.
Within the environment of the military, the role of the bourgeoisie is filled by the officer corps and senior non-commissioned officers, while the ranks of enlisted soldiers and junior non-commissioned officers correspond to proletarians. Just like workers and bosses, these two classes are opposed to one another. One class is charged with and seeks to enforce and carry out the orders of the imperialist ruling class, which they will in theory benefit from. The other class is baited into service for their own security, used as the cudgel, then tossed away like last night’s trash when no longer needed.
Unlike cops, soldiers can be radicalized. Throughout history, many soldiers have been won over to working-class and revolutionary consciousness.
Like the bourgeoisie, the officer corps in the military hold their power through their economic privileges. To be commissioned as an officer in the military one has to have a four-year degree. Although the degree can be in anything, a college degree is a huge barrier to entry for those from working-class backgrounds, who would have to take on crippling amounts of student debt in order to obtain one.
Class becomes an even larger hurdle when military academies are taken into account. In order to gain admittance into an elite military academy like West Point, an individual has to have very high grades throughout their academic career, and get a letter of recommendation from an individual in federal office — such as a member of Congress. West Point only admits 12 percent of those who apply.
To walk off the streets and enlist to be an everyday “ground pounder,” you only need to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test (ASVAB). This is a placement test that selects the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in which you will serve, with the lowest-scoring people serving in the most hazardous and dangerous jobs. Just like in the civilian world, coming from an advantaged class background allows for valuable privileges, opportunities, and safeguards; in contrast, coming from a disadvantaged class background increases the risks of chronic stresses, strains, and hardships.
The economic draft
A common trope is that the US military is an all-volunteer military, and therefore the recruitment process is just and equitable. This oft-repeated line gives the illusion that everyone who joins the military does so enthusiastically in order to “defend their country.” This is a gross distortion of reality.
Although there is no longer a draft lottery pulling your selective-service number, young people still have to register for the draft when they turn 18, and that draft can be reinstated at any time. However, in the past 40 years, with the rise of neoliberalism, an economic draft has come into effect due to significant declines in living standards and austerity measures that have gutted social-safety nets.
Vietnam was the last US war with an official state-sanctioned draft. Since then, the cost of healthcare has increased from $150 per person annually in the 1960s to $12,500 per person annually in 2020. The cost of college tuition has tripled in the same time period. Community colleges, the institution usually championed as an educational stepping stone for the working class, have increased their tuition costs by an average of 49 percent over the last 20 years. The median price for a house in the 1960s was around $12,000 compared to today’s median price, $420,000.
With the rise in the cost of living, the military is able to employ a carrot-and-stick approach to recruiting. The military offers healthcare, housing, and education benefits for “free” — you just have to risk life and limb in order to get it.
This is why, as revolutionaries, we argue that today’s military is made up of individuals who have been economically conscripted into service, and that an individual’s decision to join is not out of a sense of patriotism or some desire to uphold this system, but rather self-preservation. The vast majority of soldiers, regardless of political ideology, will say they joined for a paycheck, for job security, for benefits, and for the myth of traveling the world — but rarely for patriotism.
As long as the military holds these resources hostage, the working class will never obtain them, and the military will always be seen as a way to improve one’s material conditions, albeit at the expense of others.
Through slick advertisements and car-salesman-like tactics, recruiters and the military’s marketing offices sell the idea that if you join you will be doing something to be proud of, something that can benefit you when you get out. These are things most jobs today don’t offer. The military has cultivated an image that depicts it as an advanced and technical military and its service members as highly proficient in marketable skills. This is enticing in theory, especially to young people who don’t exhibit their best decision-making skills at the age of 18.
The reality is that military service is no more complicated than any job. Helicopter repair sounds like a highly skilled profession that requires lots of training and that could translate into a good career when you get out. The fact is that it is the equivalent of being a Jiffy Lube worker, but for helicopters.
There is one important difference between military jobs and civilian jobs. The standards for military training aren’t there to insure a quality product; the standard is to make you compliant in order to aid the imperialist project. “Shoot, move, and communicate”: this is what you are told is all you need to be able to do.
Why soldiers aren’t cops
If you listen to many leftists, you may conclude that soldiers and cops fulfill the same role in society, and that there is no potential for radicalization amongst the ranks of the US military. There are certainly similarities: both soldiers and cops wear uniforms, use similar weapons, and follow government orders.
But unlike cops, soldiers can be radicalized. Throughout history, many soldiers have been won over to working-class and revolutionary consciousness, even up to the current day with the George Floyd uprising and the Palestine solidarity movement.
Soldiers have proven time and time again that they are unreliable to the state. They have rebelled against the system by refusing orders, laying down arms, and joining militant movements. Common soldiers even went as far as turning their weapons against their military commanders during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Veteran soldiers formed the Arditi del Popolo, an anti-fascist militia in revolutionary Italy. The rate of “fragging” of officers by enlisted soldiers in the field is widely considered to be a factor in the US’s withdrawal and eventual defeat in Vietnam. Up to 450 officers were killed in fraggings.
Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation is the most recent example of an extreme protest by a common soldier against the imperialist war machine. These actions are powerful because they strike at the heart of the system and its militaristic ideology, functioning to weaken and delegitimize the ruling class.
In his 1907 pamphlet “Militarism and Anti-militarism,” German revolutionary socialist Karl Liebknecht wrote,
Modern militarism wants nothing less than to square the circle; it arms the people against the people itself; it is insolent enough to force the workers… to become oppressors, enemies, and murderers of their own class comrades and friends.
Cops, on the other hand, have only ever been slave catchers, strikebreakers, and class traitors. They have never laid down their arms, joined liberatory movements, or turned their weapons on the ruling class in any significant numbers. As Trotksy wrote, “The police are fierce, implacable, hated and hating foes. To win them over is out of the question.”
Soldiers have proven time and time again that they are unreliable to the state. They have rebelled against the system by refusing orders, laying down arms, and joining militant movements.
In an apt illustration of their role in society, cops drew their guns on Aaron Bushnell as he burned rather than help to save a man who was on fire. Cops have always been proven to be the loyal lapdogs of the state.
One example that highlights the difference in the class roles of police forces versus the armed services is the benefits that are used as recruitment chips. A large majority of soldiers go into the military to do their initial contract of three or four years and get out to gain some healthcare security through the Veterans Administration, a college education, and housing qualification. The average yearly wage of a soldier who serves just four years is around $30,000 a year.
Approximately 14 percent of soldiers who come in for this initial contract face food insecurity and qualify for food stamps. It’s important to remember that as long as the military holds these resources hostage, the working class will never obtain them, and the military will always be seen as a way to improve one’s material conditions, albeit at the expense of others.
On the other hand, there is no incentive like college, free healthcare, or housing qualification for becoming a cop. The vast majority of people who join the police force remain until retirement, while only 10 percent of enlisted soldiers stay in for a full 20-year career. The average yearly income for a cop new to the force is around $50,000, significantly higher than a newly recruited soldier. For example, a new recruit to the New York Police Department can expect a salary of over $121,000 after five and a half years on the job and “compensation (that) includes longevity pay, holiday pay, and uniform allowance, along with opportunities for overtime.”
Of course, during a deployment, soldiers, like police, are at odds with the working class of another country on behalf of the US empire. However, only 15 percent of service members, including officers and enlisted, have served in combat, with the remainder of the force serving in non-combat support roles. Most of those who do serve in combat are only there for a year.
Many soldiers join because of economic reasons; but this does not automatically mean that they will be able to see their own exploitation. Like many in the working class, soldiers may hold backward beliefs due to the hegemonic nature of capitalism.
When they are not deployed, which is the vast majority of the time, the soldier’s day-to-day life involves mundane labor like cleaning, inventorying, and maintenance of equipment. Their work resembles the daily monotony that is normal for most of the working class.
By contrast, cops as a whole are at constant war with the working class. Their entire day-to-day existence is to oppress the working class and protect the capitalists’ interest.
Conclusion
As part of the working class, soldiers are important for the victory of socialism. As communists, we should not shy away from organizing in this arena. Veterans and members of communist organizations with ties to the military should utilize their experience and access to persuade soldiers to use their training and arms not to further imperialism, but to support socialism. History shows that revolutionary organizations made up of soldiers are pivotal for success in revolutionary times.
However, we cannot fall into the trap of valorizing or fetishizing them. Just because we view soldiers as having revolutionary potential does not mean we do not hold sharp critiques about the nature of their job and how their participation is crucial to imperialism.
As I have shown, many soldiers join because of economic reasons; but this does not automatically mean that they will be able to see their own exploitation. It is important to remember that, like many in the working class, soldiers may hold backward beliefs due to the hegemonic nature of capitalism. For example they may develop bigoted ideas about the reasons they face economic inequalities. Due to their involvement with the imperial project they are also very susceptible to nationalism.
None of us spontaneously woke up with working-class politics; someone or something highlighted the contradictions within capitalism that we all see every day.
As Lenin said, “without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” As dedicated Marxists, we need to be the ones bringing those contradictions to light for soldiers. If we shy away from this space for organizing we limit ourselves in our capabilities and leave room for the dominant ideology to reign supreme.
Photo: Protest by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 1970
