Norway: The Epstein Files and Imperialism’s Accelerating Crisis
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an editorial from the publication Røde Fane of Norway, published by Tjen Folket Media on the 13th of February.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
The Epstein Files and Imperialism’s
Accelerating Crisis
In recent weeks, Norwegian bourgeois society has been characterized by a series of scandals triggered by the FBI’s latest releases of documents from serial rapist Epstein. The Epstein scandal has increasingly dominated US politics in recent years. The complex of cases involves human trafficking, teenage prostitution, lobbying and gross corruption, as well as strong suspicions of intelligence operations and political conspiracies.
The case was first used by Trump and his “MAGA” movement as a weapon against the Clintons and the Democrats. Bill Clinton had close ties with Epstein. Epstein flew Bill Clinton to Oslo in his private jet, to meet the Norwegian king and lobby for the “humanitarian” Clinton Foundation, and from 2006 to 2016 the Norwegian state gave more than 640 million kroner to it.
Now the Epstein complex is increasingly turning against the Trump administration itself. Trump promised during the election campaign to make the investigation material from the case public, but after the election he has tried to downplay it all. However, it has been revealed even more that Trump and some of his top supporters and donors, from Elon Musk to Steve Bannon, maintained very close contact with Epstein. Bannon has been described as the chief strategist and chief ideologue of the “MAGA” movement and Trump. Epstein was long an important and secret supporter of Bannon.
The media storm of the civic press is now whipping up all kinds of accusations and theories. For us, it is important to emphasize that the “release” of files, forced on the Trump administration by the majority in Congress, are controlled leaks. The documents have been systematically processed and censored by the FBI. The FBI is led by the handpicked director Kash Patel. FBI Director Patel is one of Trump’s most loyal dogs. We conclude that all we can know for sure about the material being made public is that they will not directly threaten Trump. On the contrary, we expect that the files being published have been selected and processed in line with the interests of the Trump administration.
We further assume that the broadside against Norwegian diplomacy and the Norwegian royal family is a form of “thanks for nothing” after the fuss over the Nobel Prize and the Norwegian support for Danish sovereignty over Greenland. The publication also affects Britain, far into the top leadership of the already crisis-stricken British Labour Party. The British Prime Minister himself risks falling. For Norway, the Epstein revelations have led to the historic event that a former Prime Minister and President of Parliament, Torbjørn Jagland, has been charged by Økokrim with gross corruption.
We see these revelations as one of the expressions of the ever-increasing rivalry between US imperialism and second-rate imperialist powers in the “West”. The background to this is explained, among other things, in the new US National Security Strategy. The Trump administration is demanding a better “deal” for the US. Many second-rate imperialist powers have operated under the wings of the imperial Yankee eagle for seventy years, including through NATO and various free trade agreements. Now the US is demanding that they bear a greater share of the burden for breathing new life into the US economy (“reindustrialization”), for US containment and threats of war against China and for the encirclement of Russia, with the aim of neutralizing the nuclear weapons of Russian imperialism.
Accelerating decay and crisis
For their part, the second-rate imperialist powers are in an increasingly precarious situation. Since the “financial crisis” of 2008, British imperialism has suffered more and more. The economy of German imperialism is still in recession. French imperialism is constantly teetering from one political crisis to the next. Everywhere, including in Norway, we see how productivity growth is slowing down. We see how the burdens are being shifted to the masses with price increases and inflation, interest rate increases and welfare cuts. We see how economic stagnation leads to political crisis. We see how political crisis at the top is reinforced by popular protests from below. All of this is an expression of the general crisis of imperialism, with accelerating decay and parasitism today.
Although the decay and parasitism are most advanced in the sole hegemonic superpower, the United States, the same problems also afflict the other imperialists. The same economic and political problems, the same social unrest, can also be seen in the nuclear superpower Russia, the United States’ main competitor; China, and all the second-rate imperialists – from Germany and Britain to small imperialists like the Netherlands and Norway.
Moreover, all the imperialist powers have in recent years implemented a historic military buildup, with record-high military budgets. This after several decades of cuts in the welfare of the masses and increasing poverty. As a result, none of the second-rate imperialist powers is prepared to voluntarily bear a larger share of the burden to maintain the hegemonic position of US imperialism in the world. Here we see the basis for, among other things, the new “trade war”.
We have written for many years about how the general crisis is also expressed in Norwegian imperialism. This despite certain peculiarities, especially the combination of a very small population, but large oil and gas reserves and a large financial capital (see the oil fund). The economic problems of increased parasitism and decay are expressed in decreasing productivity growth in Norway as well. Together with low population growth, intensified rivalry on the world market and forced rearmament, this creates tremendous economic pressure on Norwegian imperialism. The Norwegian financial oligarchy that has power over the state and society in this country is feeling this pressure more and more.
We have repeatedly stated that when the manger is empty, the horses bite. In other words: when the spoils to be distributed grow more slowly, when public spending increases (for example, on the military) and when the rivalry between the imperialists intensifies, then the internal conflicts within the bourgeoisie become more acute.
At the same time, the pressure from popular protests and class struggle is also growing. This has been particularly expressed in the last two years in the anti-imperialist movement in support of Palestine. Before this, we have seen it in several strikes, more confrontational protests against windmills and toll rings, the “Black Lives Matters” movement and battles against the racists in Sian, local protests against the closure of schools and maternity hospitals, and so on and so forth. In short: The masses are developing more and more struggle and resistance, also in Norway.
Furthermore, the general crisis of imperialism does not mean only an economic and political crisis. The decay of imperialism is also expressed in the ideology and cultural sphere of society. The degeneration and decay in it are most abhorrent and conspicuous in the bourgeois ruling class. Declining profit rates generate more greed for benefits, and corruption is rampant. The ruling class is also increasingly assuming the role of heirs to a dying system. Like the Roman ruling class in its final phase, the bourgeoisie is wallowing more and more in luxury and hedonism. The grotesque tales of Epstein’s Caribbean island and the celebrity parties of Sean Combs (“Diddy”) provide a small glimpse into the dimensions of decay. Such characters personify a class that, faced with its downfall, distracts itself from the realities with drugs, sex, abuse, and boundless behavior.
More crisis and more war
It remains to be seen what the long-term consequences of the Epstein scandals will be for the political system in Norway. But as of now, we see how the long-term tendencies we have long since identified are being reinforced by these scandals. The masses are losing more and more trust in the rulers. The bourgeois parties are losing more members. Voters are becoming less faithful. The old “system-supporting” parties, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, are being hit the hardest, and this paves the way for more growth for the “new” challengers. The Liberal Party and the Red Party in particular are taking advantage of this crisis. This is shown in the opinion polls. Even the glorified bourgeois royal family, a figurehead for Norwegian imperialism and Norwegian “class peace”, has tripped over its own legs. The royal house is now teetering from one crisis to the next. In sum, the tendency towards crisis, as we have identified for many years, is increasing.
We must also not forget that this latest scandal comes in addition to the “impartiality scandals”, “sex scandals”, “exam cheating scandals” and “share trading scandals” in recent years in the Labor Party, the Conservative Party and other bourgeois parties. The scandals involve all the top levels of the Norwegian political system. Thus, the scandals increasingly affect not only individuals in the “elite”, but the entire system. Opinion in society is influenced, and contributes both to strengthening the crisis tendency in politics and the tendency towards more popular struggle and resistance.
This is happening within a context where new economic tidal waves of crisis are brewing. We assume that the next cyclical relative overproduction crisis will hit the world economy within the next 5 years, and that this will be even deeper than the previous crisis, triggered in 2020. We are already seeing the signs of a new crisis in increased government debt, more bankruptcies and what bourgeois economists mistakenly call “bubbles” in technology and artificial intelligence.
All this is happening in a world where the dull thud of the drums of war is growing ever louder. Germany’s defense minister says Europe must be prepared for war with Russia by 2030. Britain has decided in recent weeks to double its forces in Norway, from 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers. The United States continues to provoke Chinese social imperialism with its naval maneuvers in the South China Sea. The war is still raging in Ukraine. The genocide continues in Palestine. The Yankee imperialists are preparing new acts of war in Latin America and the “Middle East.” As in the 1980s, the public discourse is dominated by the discussion of the war that may come.
In short: the imperialists are preparing for a new imperialist war of redistribution, potentially a world war, and at the same time they are constantly developing new colonial wars in the oppressed countries.
The challenge is to focus on the revolution
The key issue, however, is neither crisis, decay nor a new war. The main thing for communists and revolutionaries is the proletarian world revolution. The truth formulated by Chairman Mao is still valid today: either the revolution will prevent the war, or the world war will incite the revolution. The billions of the world’s masses are not passive spectators of the imperialists’ games and intrigues. The masses of the people are increasingly rising up to fight. They are overthrowing governments and besieging the imperialists on all sides. The general crisis reveals the weakness and desperation of the imperialists. They are trying to put out new fires, but they only manage to pour more gasoline on the fire.
The “revelations” of the Epstein network only give us a censored slice of the truth. What is published is connected with the contradictions of the enemy. The bourgeoisie itself, and its internal contradictions, determine who is punished and what punishment they receive. Only the party and the revolution can fully expose the dirty intrigues of the bourgeoisie. Only the party and the revolution can give them the punishment they deserve. When the Communards took power in Paris (1871), they gained access to archives that revealed the secret diplomacy of the old state, including vile capitulation agreements. The Bolsheviks in Russia (1917) were better led and organized, partly based on the experience of the Paris Commune, and were able to reveal even more of the secrets of the Tsar and his security services. Again and again the masses have made this experience: only the party and the revolution can fully expose and punish the enemy. We will not get justice within the framework of this rotten system.
The great challenge to communists, and to all who would overthrow this rotten system, is that any revolution requires leadership and organization. Without a communist party, of the Maoist and militarized type, the proletariat cannot seize power. Without a people’s army, the people have nothing. Without new power, based on a united front of all revolutionary classes, there is no alternative to imperialism. No matter how rotten imperialism becomes, it will not fall of its own accord. Sweeping away imperialism requires active, conscious, and planned action.
The process of world revolution began long ago with the Paris Commune in 1871, and has since developed through great leaps forward and temporary setbacks. The proletarian world revolution follows a long and hard road, with twists and turns, and Chairman Mao estimated that it would last about two centuries. In our time, at this historical moment, we see the beginning of a new wave of revolutions within this great historical process. The storm bells are ringing, the thunder is booming louder and louder, and lightning flashes are tearing up the cloudy sky in this country as well. In this situation, we ask our readers: Who will be the next to respond to the great challenge?
The editorial team of the publication Røde Fane
February 2026
