14th Plenary of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO)

English translation found in http://redrebelde.blogspot.com/ The introductionary paragraph is from the blog.

The following is a translated statement by the ICMLPO on the current crisis of capitalism, it was originally published in Spanish on Dec. 3, 2008 in the International Section of En Marcha. The ICMLPO calls for the unity of all progressive and revolutionary forces to face capitalism and demand our economic and social rights, which they are slashing as we speak. The Plenary was held in Santo Domingo, Rep. Dominicana and under moderation by the Communist Party of Labour. All translation errors are my own.

In the Dominican Republic and under the responsibility of the PCT, on November 14, 2008; the Plenary of the ICMLPO took place.

In an environment of camaraderie and openness important conclusions and resolutions were developed.

The discussions put emphasis on the treatment of the current crisis of capitalism and imperialism. The participating parties and organizations expressed their concerns on the issue and exchanged views. The Conference concluded by noting the existence of significant levels of unity in the analysis of the crisis and also recorded some differences of assessment with regard to some secondary problems.

For our parties it is clear that the extent and depth of the crisis will be prolonged and that the forces of the monopolists and imperialists to quickly resolve it will demand considerable time and resources.

We believe the crisis will hit the workers and the peoples hard, but simultaneously creates much more favorable conditions for organization and the struggle for the working class, peasant, and youth and creates a new challenge for the proletarian revolutionaries, who must work hard to use the conditions generated by the crisis to advance the revolutionary process.

The conference adopted a declaration on the crisis that we must agitate in the struggle against its effects. The conference designated a part of its work to analyze the experiences of our parties in the organization of the youth in the perspective on the Revolution.

Our Parties are actively involved in the task of organizing the working-class youth and the people to be victorious in bringing the larger sections of the masses to win The Revolution; in this task we face the anti-communist offensive of the bourgeoisie and international imperialism, and the reformist positions of Social Democracy which must be unmasked and cornered by revolutionary positions.

We welcome the congresses of our sister parties in Mexico, Brazil, and Turkey. To balance the work of the Conference, and the parties we registered important advances to progress the ideological, political, and organizational characteristics. We affirmed the internationalism of our parties, the need for cooperation and mutual support, duties, responsibilities and rights in the face of the Conference.

Statement of the International Conference of Marxist Leninist Parties and Organizations on the current crisis of capitalism in its imperialist phase

When the tragic events occurred; characterized by the collapse of the former socialist bloc countries in Eastern Europe, led by the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the spokesmen of imperialism and reaction sang victory everywhere, once more they sang the "Requiem" to the doctrine of Marxism; declared that the revolution was a thing of the past, that humanity had reached the "end of history" that capitalism was able to exist, develop without difficulty and it was a eternal social order.

There was no need to wait much longer for the essential falsity of all this confusion and lying. The dynamics of the bourgeois system itself has been responsible for its burial. From this moment, crises and conflicts took place unabated: 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003 accompanied with the stagnation in the European and Japanese economy, leading to the current crisis that expressed all the accumulated problems earlier.

Bourgeois economists have recognized that the current crisis can be compared to that which occurred in 1929. A feature of this crisis, which distinguishes it from the previous one, is that it has been generated in the United States, and from here is spreading to all parts of the world. It is a crisis of grand dimensions expressed initially in the area of circulation and finance, but that originated in the productive economy. This is a crisis of over-production that accumulates on large stock of goods that cannot be realized due to the lack of money in the hands of the working class and people in general, it is limited in the extreme degree to consumer goods and services that capitalist system produces in an anarchist fashion.

In a short time we have seen the economies of the United States, England, Germany and other powers experience negative growth, including in industrial production. All of this reduces the chances of capitalism to cushion the effects of the crisis as it did before. In 2001 they were able to resolve the crisis with financial measures, which are not possible today.

We affirm that the crisis will be prolonged and deepened; no country will be outside of its effects, despite short-term developments. This crisis stems from the intensification of irresolvable contradictions of capitalism: anarchy in production, competition and the social character of production with private accumulation of wealth. This crisis demonstrates the failure of neoliberal politics. This crisis included the crisis of real estate, energy, food and environmental which contributed to its deepening effects.

Economic, Political and Social Consequences

Monopolists seek to transfer the brunt of the crisis on workers of all countries, peoples and dependent nations. The fundamental contradictions (capital-labor, imperialism-the people, international monopolists and international imperialist) of the capitalist system and its imperialist aggression is increasingly deepened.

Despite significant financial support from public funds by the imperialist states, big banks and financial institutions are bankrupt, large and medium industrial enterprises are closed upon, mergers of banks and new businesses occur for the benefit of a few monopolists at the expense of others. The crisis hurts the workers: hundreds of thousands of workers are being thrown to the streets in all countries, in the U.S. this year more than 2 million workers have been fired; wages slashed, social rights and achievements cut, if not eliminated.

The crisis demonstrates once again that development and social progress of the people under capitalism is not possible and also shows that the liberation of the working class and the people can only be achieved by Socialist Revolution.

The Struggle

As Marxist-Leninist Communists, we proclaim our condemnation of those responsible, and the beneficiaries of the crisis: the imperialists and monopolists, who are mostly Americans. We condemn the policy of transferring the crisis to the workers and because of the consequences we are struggling to make the monopolists and the rich pay.

We call on the workers to form a large front against layoffs and cutbacks and union busting. We demand increased wages and salaries. It is necessary to achieve the great unity of the people against imperialism in opposition to the payment of foreign debt, and the privatization of fundamental services.

We call for the unity of the democratic, patriotic, and revolutionary left forces to face this crisis.

Only the fight will give us what capitalism and imperialism seek to deny us.

Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic

November 2008