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342 THE COMMUNIST
far inferior to that of France, Italy will not be in a position to force the redivision of the world by means of war. Because of this, Italian fascism demands parity with France. Parity with France, however, is not being understood by the Italian delegation as the right of Italy to build to the same level of France. At the present time there is no treaty, even in the bourgeois sense, to prevent Italy from building the same number of submarines and cruisers as that of France. At the present time, with the sharpening crisis of Italian capitalism, and the impoverishment of the masses, Italy will not be in a position to reach by 1936 the same naval program as set by French imperialism, of having a navy of 736,000 tons. Therefore, what Italian fascism is interested in, is a reduction of the French naval strength to such a level that will permit the financial resources of Italian fascism to maintain a navy equal to that of France. No class conscious worker, and not even the bourgeoisie itself, takes seriously the statement of the leading delegate of the Fascism delegation in London, Grandi, to abolish navies, or to greatly reduce the naval strength of the imperialist powers. At the present time Italy has nothing to lose from a greater reduction in the naval strength of America, England, France, and Japan. On the contrary, it has everything to gain, because the financial resources of Italian fascism will never make possible for Italy to be successful in a naval race with the richer imperialist powers.
RE-GROUPING OF FORCES
Even prior to the last world war, and today, there is taking place a rapid re-grouping of fores. Not only is the bourgeoisie preparing politically for ware, not only is the working class becoming militarized and the war machinery put into shape, but from the point of view of alliances, there is definitely being crystallized two hostile camps, with United States imperialism leading one, and British Imperialism leading the other. Side by side with competition that exists in the various European smaller imperialist powers, there is taking place a definite re-grouping of forces, definite allignments are being made according to the camps of the two leading hostile imperialists powers. The common imperialist interests of the former allies were severed immediately, as soon as Germany was proven defeated. In this new regrouping of forces, the United States is occupying the dominant position, in fact it is the prime mover in the preparations for the armed re-division of the world.
IMPERIALIST PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
One has only to look at the war budget and the military expenditures of the various imperialist powers to come to the con-