Military spending splurge needs to be resisted by the left

Ongoing rearmament efforts by European NATO members led to the sharpest annual growth in spending in Central and Western Europe since the end of the Cold War, with 2025 marking the record increase.

While this is sombre news from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), resisting rearmament offers the British left a historic opportunity to link working class material gains with anti-imperialist struggle.

Military spending continues to rise

Between 2024 and 2025, global military expenditure rose by 2.9 per cent to $2887 billion, the eleventh consecutive year of growth. European NATO rearmament efforts have largely driven the increase, which led to the sharpest annual spending surge in Central and Western Europe since the Cold War, even as US spending declined.

Although the decline in US military expenditure in 2025 is likely to be short-lived — US Congress has approved more than $1 trillion for 2026 and President Trump’s latest budget proposal could raise spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027 — the 2025 decline shows transfers to Ukraine by the US are falling.

Xiao Liang, a researcher with SIPRI’s military expenditure and arms production programme, said:

Given the range of current crises, as well as many states’ long-term military spending targets, this growth will probably continue through 2026 and beyond.

Lining the pockets of arm dealers

The real question is who is benefiting from this eleventh consecutive rise in military spending.

BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, Thales and Leonardo led a record $5 billion shareholder payout in 2025, according to Vertical Research Partners.

British BAE Systems has paid a total of $16 billion to its shareholders since 2016. Its shareholders are the usual suspects — America’s Capital Research & Management Co, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd, WCM Investment Management LLC, Fidelity Management & Research Co, and The Vanguard Group. Together, they hold more than 25% of the company’s equity.

The wealthiest 10% of Americans hold 93% of all stocks, the highest level ever recorded. Therefore, the profits from this military spending surge flow overwhelmingly to the wealthiest American households.

War and death are opportunities for the arms dealers of the world. The FT summarised their fortunes well recently:

Many defence contractors have seen their fortunes transformed by the Ukraine war, with order books and revenues hitting record highs. The Middle East conflict promises another injection of cash into the sector as the US and its allies rush to refill their weapon stockpiles.

Resisting rearmament as a political strategy

The UK, as a part of NATO, has clearly subordinated itself to the needs of US monopoly capital. The extensive dealings of the UK government with Palantir are another case in point.

Britain’s subordination to US monopoly capital is evident in its support for three pillars of US grand strategy: NATO enlargement, Zionist hegemony in West Asia, and strategic confrontation with China.

Climate Vanguard recently published a primer on why resisting British rearmament should be a primary strategic focus of the British left.

The four reasons they articulate are:

1. Resisting rearmament can provide material gains to the British working class while weakening imperialism. It is a historic opportunity to link material gains for the British working class with the imperative of anti-imperialism.
2. Resisting rearmament has the potential to re-energise, unite, and strengthen a scattered left.
3. Resisting rearmament is a wedge issue that can fracture the far right’s coalition. It distinguishes the left as a genuine insurgent force from the far right’s faux populism.
4. Resisting rearmament is necessary to prevent the two existential threats of our time: thermonuclear war and ecological breakdown.

While the news from SIPRI is somber, Climate Vanguard is right to argue that resisting rearmament presents a historic opportunity: one that links material gains for the British working class and weakens US imperialism.

Featured image via the Canary

By Nandita Lal

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