This episode uses a recent film about nuclear war as a starting point to discuss the continuing danger of nuclear weapons. It notes that films and stories about a leader pressing a “big red button” highlight how catastrophic nuclear conflict would be, but the real concern is that such destructive power is concentrated in the hands of political leaders and military systems. Even though the popular image of a literal button is exaggerated, governments still maintain complex systems that could launch nuclear weapons very quickly, making the risk of accidental or deliberate war a persistent threat.

The continued existence of nuclear weapons is linked to the structure of the global system of competing nation-states under capitalism. Military competition and geopolitical rivalry encourage countries to maintain and modernise nuclear arsenals despite the catastrophic risks. As long as this system persists, the threat will remain; therefore, a socialist society based on global cooperation and common ownership would remove the conditions that produce nuclear arms and the possibility of their use.

Taken from the March 2026 edition of The Socialist Standard.

World Socialist Radio is the official podcast of The Socialist Party of Great Britain. We have one single aim: the establishment of a society in which all productive resources – land, water, factories, transport, etc. – are taken into common ownership, and in which the sole motive for production is the fulfilment of human needs and wants.

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Featuring music: ‘Pushing P (Instrumental)’ by Tiga Maine x Deejay Boe. Source: Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0