Political declaration of the European Regional Meeting of the ICMLPO, Copenhagen, May, 2011
Let us prepare for the sharpening of the class struggle
In the capitalist world still in deep crisis, the wind of popular revolts and of revolution is coming from the Maghreb and countries of the Middle East. The people of these countries have risen up, one after the other, against regimes of tyranny, often sold out to imperialism. They are struggling for democracy; they want to live in dignity, to work, study and contribute to the development of their country and to get rid of the corrupt regimes that have enriched themselves at their expense by selling the country and its wealth to the imperialist powers.
The revolution began in Tunisia. The resistance of the working class, of the youths, peasants, democrats and popular sectors was organized in spite of the ferocious repression of Ben Ali’s regime, supported until the last minute by its imperialist godfathers.
In this fight, the Communist Party of the Workers of Tunisia (PCOT) has played an essential leading role. Together with other forces, it is struggling today in order for this revolutionary process to continue to its end. It is the Tunisian revolution that expelled Ben Ali. It encouraged other people of the Maghreb and the Middle East to rise up. From Egypt to Yemen, from Morocco to Syria, movements have developed, provoking a large movement of sympathy among the workers, youth and peoples all over the world.
The imperialist powers that consider this region as their private hunting ground have been taken by surprise. They pretend to support these popular movements, in order to try to make use of them for their own interests. In Libya they have found forces ready to collaborate with them, and Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama launched a war that is plunging this country into chaos. For the first time in its history, NATO is intervening militarily in this region, to show the will of the imperialist powers to halt the popular movements and to establish their total control of all of Libya’s resources, especially oil, gas and water. They are also interested in Libya’s geostrategic position on the African continent and in the Mediterranean region.
As the G-8 summit has shown, the big imperialist powers are speaking of “helping” these people, but they are trying to enchain them with debts. Today the debt mechanism is an essential instrument of the neocolonial policy of imperialism. We denounce this policy of enslavement and say that on the contrary, these people do not need new debts.
It is not over yet, but with these movements, the class struggle has taken a new dimension, a new scale internationally. These people are standing up and are giving a new breath to the revolution, to the fight for national and social emancipation. They have shown that it is the people who make history and that a people united can overturn the imperialist order, can overthrow dictatorships.
The idea of the revolution is again on the agenda
The working class, the toiling people, the youth and the peoples of the world are in solidarity with this fight that inspires and stimulates them to reinforce their struggle against the capitalist imperialist system that makes them pay for its crisis. Far from being over, much less overcome, a new crisis is threatening to explode: the state debt crisis, especially in the EU. The financial oligarchy, the monopolies have put the States into debt in order to save the financial system, the banks and big monopolies. For this, billions in public money, taken from the social budgets, have been used. At the same time, wages have been lowered, and misery and precariousness have struck ever larger sectors of the masses.
The financial markets are speculating on the bankruptcy of States; they are demanding more austerity, new privatizations and new cutbacks in social rights. In order to save Euro, the leaders of big powers in the EU, the IMF and the ECB [European Central Bank] want to impose a mega-austerity plan; the so-called “stabilization plan”, which, in reality, will push even more workers of the cities and the countryside, the youths and working women into misery and insecurity, and will increase the super-exploitation in the companies. To impose such a policy of social regression, the governments of the right, social democrats and social liberals are reinforcing the reactionary laws in order to criminalize the developing social struggle. They do not hesitate to copy the racist themes of the extreme right parties which are developing a populist propaganda. We denounce the reinforcement of “fortress” Europe and say: “it is not the immigrants who should be expelled, but Sarkozy, Berlusconi and company!”
The working class, popular masses and peoples are resisting, refusing to pay for the crisis of the capitalist system.
In several countries, the youths, who are the first victim of mass unemployment and precariousness, are taking to the streets and occupying public places in cities, shouting their anger at a society that has no future to offer them. In all the countries, from Greece to the United Kingdom, from Portugal to Italy, from Ireland to Spain, the working class and popular masses are demonstrating; resisting, expressing their refusal to pay for the crisis of the system.
We are working to develop this resistance, to develop the international solidarity and to merge these fronts of struggle into a general challenge to the capitalist system, which is responsible for the crisis, wars and accidents, as the one at the Fukushima nuclear plant. It is the race for maximum profit that is sacrificing the security of the workers and peoples. We support the struggles of the workers and peoples of Europe who refuse to pay for the debts of the capitalist and we say that it is the rich, the speculators and big shareholders who must pay for them.
We support the struggles against privatization and liquidation of public services, in health, education, social protection…
We support the strikes and struggles of the workers for higher wages, the mobilizations against layoffs, against lowering of wages and worsening of social conditions.
We appeal to reinforce in each country and internationally the combat against the “pact of stabilization”.
We denounce and combat racism and struggle for equality of rights, between all the workers, which permits to struggle together against our common enemies.
We denounce imperialism’s war policy and call for solidarity with the struggles of the peoples in the Maghreb and the Middle East.
We call for a large movement of solidarity with the revolutionary process in Tunisia and for support to our fraternal party, the PCOT.
We are working to unite the forces that oppose the policy of the bourgeoisie and reaction, the policy of imperialist war, for building fronts in the struggles, among the rank-and-file, in action.
The class struggle has accelerated in a few months
We appeal to the working class, the youths, the toilers of the city and countryside, the women of the popular sectors, to intensify their struggles to defend their social and political rights and gains.
We call on the political and social organizations that want to break with this system, for social change, to prepare themselves for the new developments in the class struggle, for the battles and confrontations at a higher level.
Copenhagen, May 2011
Solidarity With the Struggle of the Arab Peoples!
We, the parties and organizations of Europe that are members of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO), affirm that the popular uprisings in North Africa and the Near East have been caused by the terrible material conditions of life of the popular masses and the imposition of despotic regimes in those countries.
These conditions have objectively gotten worse as a result of the worldwide crisis of capitalism.
There are deep problems related to the question of democracy, and above all to the social question, the exploitation, poverty and inequality, created by the imperialist policy of looting and oppression of the peoples of the dependent countries.
These democratic and revolutionary processes are continuing, fighting to overthrow the despotic regimes and reactionary forces, to completely eliminate the privileges of the oligarchies, to win political liberties, to break the dependence on imperialism and to open the perspective of a new society.
These events demonstrate the revolutionary abilities of the peoples of the dependent countries, of the oppressed young people, who are the real protagonists of the process in motion.
These are very important for the proletariat, because they weaken the positions of capitalism; they can transform the dependent countries from reserves of imperialism into reserves of the proletarian revolution.
These movements in general have a progressive nature and offer precious lessons for the international proletariat, because they educate the exploited through struggle, and they instill confidence in their own one force and again put the idea of the revolution on the agenda.
We resolutely support the revolutionary and liberation movements of the oppressed peoples, which strengthen the international front of struggle against imperialism. In particular we must support the democratic revolution of the Tunisian people against the dictatorship of Ben Ali, a revolution in which the Communist Party of the Workers of Tunisia (PCOT) is playing an important role, acting with decisiveness and clarity of ideas in this revolutionary process.
Imperialism is trying to crush or control these revolutionary processes by various means, among others economic suffocation. Therefore we propose to carry out a broad campaign of international solidarity to demand the cancellation of Tunisia’s foreign debt. This debt is an important weapon in the hands of imperialism to strangle the peoples and maintain the countries in conditions of dependency.
From the beginning of the popular revolts, imperialism, particularly U.S. imperialism and the European powers such as France, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Spain, etc., have intervened in the region, directly or indirectly, to regain control and take advantage of the situation.
The war that the imperialist powers are carrying out in Libya through their military arm, NATO, is a reactionary, imperialist war of looting of the dependent countries, of social and national oppression, to suffocate the revolutionary movements.
Its objectives are: to install a puppet government in Libya that will allow them to obtain advantageous prices of petroleum, gas and water; the appropriation of Libya’s financial wealth; to take control of a strategic area, preventing and drowning the popular revolutions; and to expel other rival capitalist powers from the region.
This is the first time that NATO has intervened in this region, and this is part of its new strategy to control the region and the continent. We must unmask and reject NATO’s criminal policy of war and terror, in which the EU is also taking part.
We demand the immediate end of the war, the withdrawal of the imperialist armed forces from Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq; we demand withdrawal from NATO and the EU, the closing of U.S. military bases, the use of public money for social service and assistance and not for war. We will pursue a policy of peace and solidarity with the peoples in struggle.
We support the development of the popular movement and defend the sovereignty and national independence of every country. We denounce the interference and threats of new imperialist interventions especially in Syria.
We reaffirm our solidarity with the Palestinian people and the population of Gaza who are suffering from a cruel blockade, organized by the racist State of Israel, and we demand its immediate end. We support the fight of the Palestinian people for effective recognition of their full national rights. We condemn the criminal Zionist policy and at the same time we denounce the complicity of the EU with Israel on the political, economic and military level.
We demand the end of the racist and xenophobic policy against immigrants, a policy that extends across Europe; we denounce the militarization of the Mediterranean by the imperialist powers that at the same time speak hypocritically about human rights.
We denounce the parallel that the reactionary forces are making between Islam and terrorism.
We say No to the maneuvers of the European Commission in its relations with the African countries, to the policy of free markets, to privatization and the destruction of public services!
Long live the struggle and international solidarity of the peoples!
Copenhagen, May 2011
European regional meeting of the ICMLPO
Nuclear power and capitalism are a lethal combination!
The Fukushima meltdown disaster proves once again that our environment and the safety of the workers and people may be sacrificed because of the greed for maximum profit that reigns under the capitalist mode of production.
The nuclear lobby has consistently told lies, claiming that nuclear power is “entirely safe”. Fukushima, Chernobyl and Harrisburg prove the opposite. This proof is emphasized by the fact that the financial insurance monopolies themselves refuse to insure nuclear plants.
Even if the plants were “safe”, this still would not solve the problem of toxic radioactive waste. This waste is poisoning oceans and rivers every day. Uranium and plutonium lie unprotected in contaminated areas, and inside the nuclear plants themselves.
Nuclear power is expensive and a limited source of energy.
The safety of the workers in the nuclear power plants and of the people in the nearby areas is ignored. They are forced to work in contaminated areas, and are the first to suffer when accidents occur.
Because of the first strike strategy of the NATO alliance, Europe is also being polluted by hundreds of missiles with nuclear warheads belonging to different atomic powers, mainly the USA. These are a potential disaster for all, friend or “foe”. The peoples should demand that such weapons be banned from their territory, as some countries already have done.
The civil use of atomic energy originated as a by-product of military production. Even today, the civilian and military sectors are intertwined. The military and police are always involved in safeguarding the nuclear energy plants, making them into semi-militarized zones. In this way, faults and accidents can also be kept secret from the public, totally undermining democracy.
Our immediate demands are therefore:
- Immediate start of renewable and sustainable energy production.
- Immediate closure of all old nuclear plants.
- No to new nuclear plants.
- Existing plants must shut down as soon as possible
These demands are entirely just and reasonable. The peoples do not want to be dependent on nuclear power. The people of Italy have demanded a referendum to reject construction of new nuclear plants in their country; in Sardinia 97 precent of the voters said no to nuclear power in a recent consultative referendum.
We demand that the monopolies responsible for the pollution and contaminated waste resulting from the nuclear industry be compelled to pay all costs of the devastation and of dismantling of old power plants.
We still do not know the long-term consequences of the disaster in Fukushima. When a catastrophe of such a dimension occurs in a highly advanced country like Japan, similar disasters may occur anywhere. Capitalism and imperialism are incompatible with safeguarding our environment; this system is incompatible with a sustainable future.
Copenhagen, May 2011
Long live the combative youth!
The youth in Spain are continuing their action in Madrid, Barcelona and dozens of other cities in that country. In Spain, where more than 40% of young people are unemployed, the youth are in the streets for their essential and vital demands. The youth are calling for jobs, a sufficient income, housing, the right to training and education for all, etc.
The youth have united around the slogan "Real Democracy Now!" which expresses their dissatisfaction with the destruction caused by the capitalist system of exploitation and are launching a cry of revolt against it.
The capitalist system is experiencing one of its deepest crises in a century. As always, the bill is presented to the workers, who are in no way responsible for the outbreak of this crisis, while the monopolies and the banks are filling their pockets and coffers. The weight of the crisis is being placed not only on the backs of the oppressed peoples and nations of the world, but also on the backs of the workers and peoples of the advanced capitalist countries. The youth are particularly subjected to these attacks and, as such, they have taken their place at the forefront of this struggle.
By their dynamism, the youth are in the front ranks of the fight, to defend their own demands and contribute their strength, energy and enthusiasm to the previous generations.
The youth of Spain and of all Europe, ready to follow that example, wish to have the best conditions of work and life; they do not want to be condemned to more precarious conditions than those of their parents.
We, as Marxist-Leninist parties of Europe, members of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO), highly value and warmly salute the fight of the youth of Spain. We think that the demands of this movement. in which the communist youth are playing an active role, are very reasonable, achievable and necessary.
We call on the youth of all Europe, and particularly those of Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Great Britain, who have been the object of virulent attacks by capital, to be inspired by the example of the youth of Spain, by their rebellion against exploitation, against reaction, against social injustice, and bring this movement forward.
Since the youth are condemned to live "without work, without a roof, without a future," they will prove, through their mobilization, that they are able to live "without fear!"
Long live the combative youth!
The youth are the future, the future is socialism!
Copenhagen May 2011
European Regional Meeting of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO)
Workers’ Communist Party of Denmark – APKCommunist Party of the Workers of France – PCOF
Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece (1918-1955)
Communist Platform of Italy
Marxist-Leninist Organization Revolution of Norway (Revolusjon)
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCE(m-l)
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey – TDKP
Organization for the construction of a Workers’ Communist Party of Germany (Arbeit Zukunft)
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