A recent report by the United Nations Development Programme estimates that the war could cost 36 Asia-Pacific countries nearly $300 billion and plunge up to 8.8 million people into poverty. In Africa, Nigeria has seen petrol prices rise by over 50 percent, while Kenya hiked diesel prices by 24 percent in mid-April. The surge in natural gas prices has driven fertilizer costs out of reach for many farmers, threatening famine in regions where subsistence agriculture prevails.
While workers pay this staggering price, the war is a bonanza for the corporations and financial oligarchy. The world’s major oil conglomerates are projected to collect additional profits of over $230 billion this year alone.
The war on Iran is not an isolated event. It is one front in the early stages of a third world war, alongside the US-NATO war on Russia in Ukraine and active preparations for military conflict with China. The imperialist powers are scrambling for advantage in a violent redivision of the world, indifferent to the catastrophic impact on billions of workers.
The parallels to the period preceding the Russian Revolution are striking. In 1916 and 1917, food riots erupted across Europe in response to the imperialist slaughter of World War I. The most consequential were protests demanding bread in Petrograd, which marked the beginning of the February Revolution. Eight months later, the working class took power under the leadership of Lenin, Trotsky, and the Bolsheviks on a socialist program that brought the world war to an end.
Mass opposition is already emerging in the current war’s first weeks. Beginning April 10, tens of thousands of industrial workers in India’s national capital region launched strikes and protests against war-driven price hikes. Similar protests have erupted in countries as diverse as the Philippines and Ireland.
The global nature of the crisis demands an international response.
Workers in Iran, the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa share a common interest in ending the war and the bankrupt capitalist order that produced it. The International May Day Online Rally 2026 will articulate the revolutionary socialist program and perspective workers around the world require to fight imperialist war and its barbaric consequences.
Register today, and encourage your coworkers and friends to do the same.
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