ICMLPO: Resolution on the West African Region and Mali

Since 2010, the West African region and particularly the sub-Saharan zone has been marked by the armed interference and intervention of the imperialist powers. The objectives of those actions are:

* Political, geostrategic and military, related to the struggle for the redivision of the world and of the African continent.

* Economic (access to the petroleum of the Gulf of Guinea and the Ivory Coast; to the uranium of Niger and the precious metals that abound in the region; to solar energy; cacao, coffee, etc.

* The struggle of the Anglo-Saxon (U.S. and Great Britain) and French imperialists to prevent the penetration into the region by new actors such as China, India, Brazil, etc.

* The will of the imperialist powers to crush any type of protest by the popular masses, who are condemned to misery and lacking in political freedom, as well as the repression that they suffer carried out by the corrupt puppet powers, and their desire to crush any revolutionary insurrectionary movement.

The military-political crisis after the military coup d’état of the National Committee for the Defense and Restoration of the State (CNRDE) of March 22, 2012, as well as the military occupation of the North of Mali, begun January 22, 2012, which covers two thirds of the national territory, an occupation carried out by the National Movement for the Liberation of AZAWAD (MNLA) and the “jihadists” (AQMI, ANSAR, DINE, MUJAO, BOKO, HARAM…) must be put in this context

The military-political crisis in Mali has grave consequences for the neighboring countries, particularly Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, etc. and the group of the countries of the west African region (destabilization of States, proliferation of arms, massive displacement of populations towards the South of Mali, and thousands of refugees in other neighboring countries).

The military-political crisis in Mali is also a threat to the interests of imperialism, particularly French imperialism, in that country and the whole region. That is why there are preparatory maneuvers for an open military intervention that the troops provided by the members countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) can carry out, with the consent and logistical support of the great imperialist powers (France and U.S.A.) and of the UN under the pretext of “making a secure transition,” of “restoring constitutional life” and of “restoring Mali’s territorial integrity.” This is a reactionary plan by the imperialist powers and their allies in the region to maintain and reinforce their domination.

Faced with this serious situation, the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO):

* Denounces and condemns the puppet powers that have opened their territories (particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mauritania and Senegal) to the troops of imperialist aggression.

* Denounces and condemns the proclamation of independence of the State of AZAWAD by the MNLA, instrument of French imperialism.

* Denounces and condemns the crimes perpetrated against the peoples of the North of Mali by terrorist group AQMI and the Islamist groups ANSAR-DINE, MUJAO and the MNLA.

* Supports the brave resistance of the peoples, particularly of the youth, against oppression and medieval and obscurantist practices.

* Denounces and condemns the reactionary plan of the ECOWAS in Mali.

* Calls on the proletariat and peoples of the imperialist countries, particularly France, to support the Malian people in their struggle for a revolutionary solution of the military-political crisis.

* Calls for solidarity and support for the struggle of the peoples of the West African region against imperialist domination and their African lackeys.

Tunisia, November of 2012.

Unity and Struggle (issue 25, October 2012)

Anasintaxi 381 (1-31/12/2012 B)

- The decision that “Ragousis’ Law” for the immigrants is unconstitutional is fascist and racist
-CP Colombia (m-l): “Mao Zetung Thought” anticommunist theory and practice
-Paul Robeson: Thoughts on Winning the Stalin Peace Prize (“Freedom”, January 1953)
-Andrew Rothstein: The revolutionary Moscow trials (1936-1938)
-ICMLPO: Handing the Nobel peace prize to the EU is an insult to the peoples of Europe and the whole world
-ICMLPO: For the situation in the region of West Africa and Mali
- More than 5 weeks strike in Neupack in Hamburg and Rotenburg (Wümme)

November 14th: All into the streets against austerity - for international solidarity

On November 14th general strikes have been called in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Malta against austerity policies, for jobs and solidarity. At the same time important mobilizations are prepared in the other countries of the European Union. On this day the longing of the workers for a coordinated and unified international response to these policies will be expressed.

The heads of the EU governments have imposed a whole series of neoliberal measures, such as the new Financial Treaty, that place the burdens of the crisis on the shoulders of the workers, of the European peoples. Facing a new recession they now demand lower wages, longer working hours, more flexibility, reduction of pensions and social benefits, tax increases, new privatizations, cancellation of labor contracts and further elimination of the labor, social and political rights of the workers.  All this leads to massive redundancies, while the financial oligarchy reaps maximum profits.

This day is an important opportunity unite the different struggles and develop the international solidarity of the workers and the peoples who are hurt by the same policies that only serve the interests of the capitalist monopolies.

On November 14th we take to the streets to resist these attacks, to defend our interests through struggle and unity. We call on the workers, the unemployed, the youth, migrants, women of the popular strata to participate and be an active part of the general strikes and mobilizations on November 14th to construct the unity of the working class and the popular unity of all those who are the victims of these policies.

Let us unite in a huge front of struggle against the capitalist offensive, political reaction and the threat of imperialist wars, and against the plundering of the natural resources. We fight for a revolutionary rupture with neo liberalism and social liberalism, with the system that engenders the crisis.

We express our condemnation of the governments and institutions of monopoly capital and affirm the right of the peoples to leave the European Union of the monopolies, of reaction and war, as well as Nato, the armed branch of imperialism.

From all the countries where the communists are struggling we express our combative solidarity with the workers and peoples in Europe, with the revolutionaries and workers who bravely fight capitalism and imperialism.

November 14th is a first step towards something new and better.

Long live the struggle of the working class and the international solidarity of the workers and the peoples!

Organisation pour la construction d’un parti communiste ouvrier d’Allemagne

Parti Communiste des Ouvriers du Danemark – APK

Parti Communiste d’Espagne (marxiste – léniniste) – PCE(ml)

Plateforme Communiste d’Italie

Parti Communiste des Ouvriers de France – PCOF

Organisation Marxiste Léniniste Révolution de Norvège – Revolusjon !

Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire de Turquie - TDKP

Parti des Travailleurs de Tunisie - PT

Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire de Côte d’Ivoire – PCRCI

Parti Communiste du Bénin – PCB

Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire Voltaïque – PCRV

La Voie Démocratique du Maroc

Parti Communiste du Travail de République Dominicaine – PCT

Partis Communiste du Mexique Marxiste Léniniste – PCMML

Parti Communiste Marxiste Léniniste du Venezuela – PCMLV

Parti Communiste Marxiste Léniniste d’Equateur – PCMLE

Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire du Brésil – PCR

ICMLPO: Resolution on the Situation in Syria

The plenary of the ICMLPO, held for the first time in Africa, reaffirms its support for the right of the Syrian people to live under a democratic regime: a regime that guarantees freedom, equality, social justice and dignity, as well as assures the unity and total independence of the country, including the recovery of the Golan Heights occupied by Zionism since 1967.

The ICMLPO:

1. Denounces the dangerous development of events in Syria. The popular movement of protest has been transformed into a destructive civil war. The bloodthirsty repression is striking the people, and since the beginning, the Assad regime has rejected any democratic reform that would satisfy the aspirations of the Syrian people. This situation is the consequence of the foreign reactionary, imperialist and Zionist intervention, through Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which masked by the so-called “Free Syrian Army” and under the pretext of “saving the Syria people”

2. We reaffirm that this war has nothing to do with the interests of the Syrian people and their aspirations. On the contrary, it serves the reactionary forces of the country, the region and internationally. Syria is at the moment the place of confrontation between, on the one side the U.S., France and Israel and Arab and Turkish reaction that are trying to subject Syria to Western rule and make it break its ties with Iran and Hezbollah. On the other side, Russia and China are supporting the regime to preserve their strategic interests in Syria and the region, after having lost their influence in Libya.

3. We reject all intervention by NATO in Syria under any pretext, given the dangers that this represents for the Syrian people, the peoples of the region and world peace in general. The Conference calls on the Turkish people to oppose Turkey’s intervention in Syria. It sends a call to the workers and peoples of the Western countries, in the first place of the United States, Great Britain and France, whose leaders are threatening military intervention in Syria, to pressure their governments to stop them from carrying out their criminal strategy that caused disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, etc. in the past

4. It is up to the Syrian people, in all cases, to determine their own future. The ICMLPO calls on the Syrian patriotic and democratic forces to unite to save their country from the claws of the Assad regime and the armed gangs and to prevent the foreign powers from mortgaging their future and making use of a part of their minorities to undermine their unity. The ICMLPO calls on those forces to strive to build a new, democratic, secular, independent and united Syria in which the different religions and nationalities live together in freedom and equality.

5. Calls on the patriotic, democratic and progressive forces of the region to urgently mobilize and to undertake the necessary measures of solidarity to support the patriotic and democratic forces of Syria, forces that must act to end the slaughters perpetrated against the Syrian people, to stop the destruction of the country and prevent the foreign intervention, to facilitate dialogue among its inhabitants to achieve their aspirations and break with the tyranny and foreign domination.

Organisation pour la construction d’un parti communiste ouvrier d’Allemagne
Parti Communiste des Ouvriers du Danemark – APK
Parti Communiste d’Espagne (marxiste – léniniste) – PCE(ml)
Plateforme Communiste d’Italie
Parti Communiste des Ouvriers de France – PCOF
Organisation Marxiste Léniniste Révolution de Norvège – Revolusjon !
Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire de Turquie – TDKP
Parti des Travailleurs de Tunisie – PT
Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire de Côte d’Ivoire – PCRCI

Anasintaxi 380 (1-31/12/2012)

Greek Civil Servants To Hold 24-Hour Strike On December 19

ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) has declared a 24-hour nationalwide strike on December 19.

GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers) has declared a 3-hour nationalwide strike on the same day.

The Movement for the Reorganisation of the KKE 1918-55 supports the strike and has released posters, flyers, etc. to support the struggle of the workers in Greece.

Handing the Nobel peace prize to the EU is an insult to the peoples of Europe and the whole world

Communist platform KPml

The European Union (EU) is not a peace project. The EU is not a "People's Europe".  The EU is and has always been the Europe of the monopolies.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee continues unabated to scandalize the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel testament to a degree that evokes head-shaking and embarrassment abroad as well as at home. Under the leadership of former Norwegian Labour party leader and current Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee is already guilty of handing the award to the belligerent U.S.  President Obama. And now to the EU!

Supposedly, the reason for awarding the prize to the EU is that "the Union and its predecessors have spent more than six decades helping to promote peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe."

This is like spitting the peoples of Europe right in the face. What "human rights?" More than 25 million people across the European Union are struck by mass unemployment. Half of the young people are without work and countries such as Greece and Spain are being battered with welfare cuts and misery to an extreme extent, with the prospect of even worse attacks to come. The "national" governments in the most crisis-ridden member states have become administrative bodies. They are threatened and instructed by the troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF – to cut funding for schools, pensions, hospitals and wages down to the bone.

A war project

The EU is supposed to have created "peace" in the Balkans. Here we are speaking of the same EU, with Germany as a particularly active player, that encouraged and provoked civil war in Yugoslavia in the 90's! Since then we have witnessed how especially France and Britain, but also other European powers, have been the main aggressors in relation to the bombardment of Libya in 2011. At this moment they are using a similar threatening rhetoric against Syria.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee mocks the European workers and peoples. But it also mocks the people and workers of Norway, who by no means regard the Union as a peace project. That is one of the reasons that seventy percent of Norwegians say no to Norwegian EU membership.

We ask the peoples of Europe and the whole world for forgiveness and beg they understand that the political elite and the ruling class of Norway does not represent or respect the people of Norway; they only respect and obey big capital, the U.S. and the European Union bosses.

The Europe of monopolies is an imperialist structure with two possible outcomes. Either it could become a "successful" imperialist union under German leadership that exploits workers at home and abroad and wages war against other states and peoples. Alternatively, the contradictions between the Union's member states and capital groupings will lead to fractures, trade wars and perhaps open war between the great powers themselves.

Whatever the final outcome, the EU is anything but a project for peace.

Anasintaxi 379 (1-30/11/2012 B)

Anasintaxi 378 (1-30/11/2012)

Long Live the heroic Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 - We continue the anti-fascist anti-imperialist struggle

Long Live the 39nd anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 against the military Junta (1967-1974).

Refusal to pay the entire DEBT – Greece, here and now, OUT of: Euro-EMU-EU

The occupation of the Polytechnic in November 1973 by the students is an important part of the history of fascist-anti-imperialist struggle of the youth, the working class and people. A squat held despite opposition and hostility of all bourgeois parties together and the social democratic leaders of "K" KE(es.) and "K" KE which in order to prevent the occupation accussed through "K" Ne-AntiEFEE the students of Law and Physic-mathematic department as "agents" of CIA («PANSPOUDASTIKI" No. 8) and then fought desperately for the "disengagement of students from the University" ("KOMEP", 11/1976, page 98).

The occupation has sparked the popular uprising and eventually led to the overthrow of the military-fascist dictatorship of the local capital and the US-NATO imperialism.

39 years later the people is to conduct another tough fight. This time against the triple economic and political control by the international Troika (EU-IMF-ECB) which deepens dependence, against the absolute misery brought by local capitalism and exacerbated by the global capitalist crisis of overproduction, the bankruptcy of the Greek economy which took place in the "fateful 6 years 2004-2009 " ("Kathimerini", 25/3/2012, p.2) ) and "memorandum" measures demolishing the gains and rights of the working class, the people, the youth and destroying the future of the country, with the plunder of wealth from foreign monopolies with new measures recently passed by the government of ND-PASOK-DHMAR. According to recent surveys, the average annual salary in Greece amounted in 2011 to 10,110 euros, against 13,098 in 2010 and this year is expected to fall even lower. The official youth unemployment has reached 58%, while the number of unemployment people is expected to reach 2 million. The retirement age jumped to 67 years.

The popular struggle against the imperialists dependence - a dependence which its existence deny not only the bourgeois parties but also the "K" KE. - and the suffering it causes not stop time, in any season, against difficulties within any circumstances. In this historic battle was always Leading the[…]

Today we fight:

• For the combative defense of the interests of the people and regain the conquest demolished years, which have resulted in the utter misery of the working class and the broad masses
• Against the criminalization of popular struggles, the violation of Asylum, racism, nationalism-chauvinism and fascistication promoted by ultranationalists-racists-Samaras-Dendias in collaboration with the nazi-fascists "Golden Dawn", especially the fascist murderous pogroms against immigrants
• For immediate exit of the country from the EU-EMU-EURO and the total refusal of foreign usurious debt payments - for unilateral refusal
• Against Fascism, capitalism, imperialism and war and for the withdrawal of Greece from the EU and NATO

November 2012

Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party (1918-1955)

Full-alignment of Papariga-Tsipras-Kouvelis with the strategic choice of the big capital for Greece staying in the EU– even pro-Euro statements

Translation of Anasintaxi, issue 377 (1-31/10/2012 B)

It is known that the social-democrat Alexis Tsipras, leader of SYRIZA, is openly in favor of Greece STAYing in the European Union, a position that is in complete alignment with the current strategic choice of the imperialists and the local capital.

Tsipras does not miss the chance to repeat this position whenever it deems appropriate and necessary "is not an objective or goal of SYRIZA the country leaves euro," he said in an interview in ANT1 (10/15/2012). Rushed even warned that "the consequences of this major tectonic vibrations from the breakup of the euro would be unprecedented and extremely important for the entire global economy, not only for Greece," a statement which makes it clear that the aim of SYRIZA is the stability of the global capitalist economy and its alignment with the interests of the imperialists.

A statement which is essentially a continuation of earlier statements. In an interview with CNBC Network and the Associated Press where he said: "An exit of Greece from the euro zone would  be disastrous " ("Ethnos", 5/11/2012). The new element is Tsipras’ attempt to convince Greek people that the struggle to exit eurozone is either futile or would have catastrophic consequences for Greek workers and the unemployed.

"Unfortunately" for Tsipras, his statements were preceded by corresponding statements of his "Triplets" of Social Democrats Papariga ("K" KE)-Kouvelis (DHMAR), which all come from the same ideological and political power, that of Khrushchev's revisionism: Aleka Papariga:"A solution outside the Euro and return to the drachma in the present circumstances would be catastrophic" ("Rizospastis", 31/5/2011, p.6., can also be found here). and Fotis Kouvelis: "exit from the euro would mean greater destruction" ("Real News", 4/12/2011).

The statements by Papariga-Tsipras-Kouvelis aim to blunt the class struggle against the destructive effects of the country’s stay in EU-EUROZONE and serve both the interests of the imperialist EU and the local big capital and reflect their current strategic choice.

---

See also:

Social-democrat Papariga: Prima Ballerina of the Greek capital and the EU monopolies

ADEDY: 3-hour strikes on November 13 & 14

ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) has declared a 3-hour nationalwide (10:00-13:00) strike on November 13 and 14.

The Worker’s center of Corfu and the Worker;s center of Heraklio (subsesctions of GSEE) has declared a strike on November 14.

Till now no other Worker’s centers have declared a strike on that day.

November 14: Rallys in Greece but no general strike

Greece's two main unions GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers)  - ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) have called for rallys November 14 to protest government plans to pass new austerity measures including spending cuts, tax increase and state-asset sales.

ADEDY has declared a 3-hour nationalwide (10:00-13:00) strike on that day.

It is important to note though that there is no general strike declared in Greece for this day.

Government brings budget vote on November 11

GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers) calls on all workers, pensioners and unemployed to participate at the rally to be held Sunday November 11, 2012, the date of the budget vote (austerity, taxes, unemployment) to 5 pm the Syntagma Square (Athens).

PCEML: They put price to the vote

Called the electoral process for the 2013 elections, the bargain deals is present as has happened in the past. The demagoguery takes shape in both messages and offerings electoral right-wing candidates, manipulating poverty and popular hope, playing with people's basic needs that need urgent attention.

There is not any difference on the right political organizations are traditional or rubberized on the XXI century. To sample what happens these days about the so-called Development Bond.

In recent months, various sectors, mainly in rural areas-sued its increase to $ 50, but the government remained deaf. But close to the electoral process, and having taken Guillermo Lasso that proposal, Correa also endorses, and to show "radical" and an enemy of the corrupt bankers proposed fund with profits obtained by them. Now he does say that in the last five years the financial sector has earned 1.64 billion dollars.

When from various sectors did denounce to the bank as beneficiary of government management, the Carondelet was total silence, and could not be otherwise, if from this sector Correa took a few thousand dollars to fund his campaign, claims that the the government has not denied.

Correa wants to buy the vote of nearly two million ecuadorians with a bonus of fifty dollars; Gutierrez has put a higher price and offers sixty-five. Demagoguery does not have limit. And so we will see new jobs, more cheatings.

A bonus, as we refer, it is necessary to alleviate urgent problems of the poor, but does not end poverty. Our people need to implement structural measures that guarantee steady work, fair prices for their products, wages, etc. Poverty does not want to be used by demagogues as a mechanism to maintain power.

Anasintaxi 377 (1-31/10/2012 B)

Anasintaxi 376 (1-31/10/2012)

Greek unions call 48-hour strike November 6-7

Greece's two main unions GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers)  - ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) have called a 48-hour general strike November 6-7 to protest government plans to pass new austerity measures including spending cuts, tax increase and state-asset sales.

The last general strike was on October 18.

The Movement for the Reorganisation of the KKE 1918-55 supports the strike and has released posters, flyers, etc. to support the struggle.

Archive: Greek unions call general strike October 18 - Greek unions call general strike September 26 - Greek unions call 48-hour strike February 10-11 - Greek unions to hold new general strike February 7 -Greek unions call strike December 1 -Greek unions call 48-hour strike October 19-20 -Greek unions to hold new general strike October 19 and nationwide civil service strike October 5 - Greek unions call 48-hour strike June 28-29 - From our intervation to the June 15 general strike - Greek unions to hold new general strike June 15 - Mobilisations of GSEE-ADEDY on June 4 - Greek unions to hold new general strike May 11

Greek unions call general strike October 18

Greece's two main unions GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers)  - ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) have called a 24-hour general strike October 18 to protest government plans to pass new austerity measures including spending cuts, tax increase and state-asset sales.

Rescue creditors are demanding that Greece's conservative-led government slashes a further €11.5 billion in budget costs over the next two years — resulting in a new round of wage and pension cuts.

The last general strike was on September 26.

The Movement for the Reorganisation of the KKE 1918-55 supports the strike and has released posters, flyers, etc. to support the struggle.

Archive: Greek unions call general strike September 26 - Greek unions call 48-hour strike February 10-11 - Greek unions to hold new general strike February 7 -Greek unions call strike December 1 -Greek unions call 48-hour strike October 19-20 -Greek unions to hold new general strike October 19 and nationwide civil service strike October 5 - Greek unions call 48-hour strike June 28-29 - From our intervation to the June 15 general strike - Greek unions to hold new general strike June 15 - Mobilisations of GSEE-ADEDY on June 4 - Greek unions to hold new general strike May 11

Anasintaxi 375 (1-30/9/2012 B)

Photos from the demonstrations against A. Merkel’s visit (October 9, 2012)

The European Popular Democracies of the 20th century: a specific form of the dictature of proletariat

The European Popular Democracies of the 20th century:

a specific form of the dictature of proletariat

1. Between August 1944 and May 1945 the Red Army, in its overwhelming advance toward Berlin, freed from the Nazy rule Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Czechoslovakia and the East Germany, favouring also the liberation of Jugoslavia and Albania.

In those countries were set up against the Nazi occupiers some antifascist fronts (for example, the Patriotic Front in Bulgaria, the Indipendence Front in Rumania, the National Antifascist Front in Czechoslovakia, the Antifascist Front of National Liberation in Albania, and so on). With the exception of Albania, where the Communist Party (afterwards, the Party of Labour) undertook by oneself the direction of the new democratic-popular State arised from the war of liberation, in other countries taked shape some coalition governments with the partecipation of several political parties, expression of different social classes.

The communists who took part in those governments had, at the beginning, the task of assuring the democratic development of those countries against the reactionary and fascist survivals, of constructing inside the Front a bloc of left-wing forces, and of preventing the right-wing forces from strenghtening their traditional ties with the urban middle-classes and the country folk. Profound agrarian reforms were bringed about and some nationalisations were introduced; new organs of popular power were established, as the Popular Counsels in Albania, the Committees of the Patriotic Front in Bulgaria, the Committees of the National Front in Czechoslovakia, and so on.

But from the theoretical and political point of view, the problem of prospect. Which was the class nature of these new regimes of popular democracy? And which «road» they should xxxx follow in their development towards socialism?

In this article we intend to examine - through the declarations of some leaders of the communist parties of those countries - the positions assumed by their parties, and how those positions were later modified through a process of profound Bolshevik criticism and self-criticism. (Editor's bold face).

2. «The struggle for socialism is different to-day from the struggle of 1917 and 1918 in the tzarist Russia, in the times of October revolution. It was essential, then, to overthrow the Russian tzarism, it was essential the dictature of proletariat in order to pass to socialism. Since then, more than thirty years are elapsed, and the Soviet Union, as a socialist State, has become a great world power. […] Is indubitable that both the great and the little nations are destined to pass to socialism, because that is historically inevitable for the little and the great peoples. The crucial point of the question, and we marxist-leninists should know it well, is this: every nation will carry out the passage to socialism not through a road already drawed, not exactly as occurred in the Soviet Union, but proceeding along its own road, in accordance with its historic, national, social and cultural peculiarities» (G. Dimitrov, Report to the Congress of the Bulgarian Worker Party, February 1946).

«Our people is for a parliamentary republic which should not be a plutocratic republic. It is for a popular republican regime and not for a bourgeois republican regime. What means this? This means: 1) that the Bulgary will not be a soviet republic, but a popular republic in which the leading function will be performed by the very large majority of the people - by the workers, the peasants, the artisans, the intellectuals linked to the people. In this Republic no dictature will be, but the fundamental and decisive factor will be the labouring majority of the population» (G. Dimitrov, Discourse of September, 16, 1946).

«The experience and the marxist-leninist teachings show that the dictature of proletariat and the construction of a soviet regime are not the only road leading to socialism. In certain conditions, socialism can be achieved through other roads. The defeat of fascism and the sufferings of the peoples have revealed in many countries the true face of the dominant class and have increased, at the same time, the confiance of the people in itself. In similar historical moments new roads and new possibilities do appear. […] We are marchng on our road toward the socialism» (K. Gottwald, Discourse to the Central Committee of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party. October 1946).

«We must show how the edification of the popular democracy and the road leading to socialism are interdepending. The communist parties have learned, in this last quarter of century, that there is not a single road to socialism, but that the only road leading effectively to this aim is the road followed taking into account the situation of each country. […] Only the popular democracy allows to our country the march toward socialism through the social evolution, without the civil war» (M. Rakosi, Discourse to the 2nd Congress of the Hungarian Communist Party).

3. In these analyses, in these theoretical and political positions, are evident some indefinitenesses, confusions and errors, owing both to an initial and not very mature experience of the «new roads», and to a not clear relation between the immediate task (the consolidation of the new democratic regimes arised from the antinazi and antifascist victory) and the long-term tasks of the edification of socialism. There is also an excessive and unilateral emphasis on the national element, who is «isolated» and untied from its links with internationalism.

Thiese declarations acknowledge and state rightly that each nation will carry out the passage to socialismo not «through a path already drawed», but «according one's own road, in conformity of its own historical, national, social and cultural peculiarieties». There were some particularities in that historical situation: for example, the driving out of power of the old dominant classes not at the conclusion of a civil war, but on account of the armed presence of the Red Army on the territory; the survivance of the parlamentary institution (an inheritance of the pre-war period) who coexisted with the new organs of popular power. But these particularities are confused with the fundamental question of the class nature of the new power. Is not asserted, or is overshadowed, the leading role of the working class and of its party - the communist party - in the power system of the popular democracy (a role that is decisive and irreplaceable in the dictature of proletariat).

In the following years these errors of analysis and perspective were autocritically rectified, as we have above mentioned. But one must not forget that, inside some communist parties, there were also some right opportunistic tendencies wich arrived to the open theoretic revision of the fundaments of marxism-leninism.

The more organic revisionist position was the one expressed in the Unified Worker Party of Poland by the right tendency represented, in those years, by its general secretary Wladislaw Gomulka. In his discourse of 30 November 1946 to the Assembly of activists of Warsaw of the Polish Worker Party and of the Polish Socialist Party [that lately fused themselves in the Unified Polish Worker Party], Gomulka so expressed his views:

«The Polish Worker Party has established its conception of a Polish road to socialism that not implies the necessity of violent revolutionaries shocks in the evolution of Poland and removes the need of a dictature of proletariat as the form of power in the more difficult moment of the transition. On the basis of real elements, whe have realized the possibility of an evolution toward socialism through a popular democratic system in which the power is exercised by the bloc of the democratic parties».

Then he explained «the three principal differences between the road of evolution of Soviet Union and our road»:

«The first difference is this: the social and political changes were accomplished through bloody revolutions, whereas in our country they are accomplished in a pacific way. The second difference consists in the fact that, whereas the Soviet Union had to pass through a period of dictature of proletariat, in our country this period not existed and can be evoided. The third difference that characterizes the roads of evolution in the two countres is that, whereas in Soviet Union the power is in the hands of the Counsel of Deputies. or Soviet, that reunites in itself the legislative and executive functions, and that represents the form of socialist government, in our country the legislative functions and the excutive ones are separate, and a parliamentary democracy is at the base of the national power.

[…] In Russia the dictature of proletariat remained a government form necessary also after the knocking down of the counter-revolution. […] Today the dictature of proletariat has changed its form and was going to extinguish itself with the disappearance of the class of exploiters and of their ideology; its place has been occupied by the soviet democracy as the government form of our country. The enemies of the Soviet Union, who do not understand the significance of the dictature of proletariat, go on asserting that this dictature is still existing in Russia. This is naturally a political nonsense (sic!)».

[…] So we have chosen a Polish road of evolution, and have named it the line of Popular Democracy. On this road and in these conditions, a dictature of the working class, and let alone the dictature of one of the parties, is not necessary and would be aimless. We think that the power should be exercised by the coalition of all the democratic parties. […] The Polish democracy exercises the power through a parliamentary system of many parties, whereas the Soviet democracy accomplish the power of the people through the Soviets. […] The Polish road to socialism is not the road that leads to the dictature of the working class, and the form for the exercise of power by the working masses should not personify itself in a system of Counsels».

Gomulka - who went so far to deny the existence of the dictature of proletariat even in the Soviet Union - so synthesized the essentials characteristics of the Polish popular democracy: «The elimination of the reaction from the power in pacific way, and the accomplishment of great social refoms by the democracy without a bloodshed, without revolution and without a civil war».

These anti-leninist positions (that - it's correct to remember it - never had any right of citizenship in the Party of Labour of Albania under the firm political and ideological leadeship of Enver Hoxha) were defeated later in Poland in consequence of the sharp class struggle developed inside the party. But they re-emerged with Krusciov in the 20^th Congress of CPSU, arising the principal trend of modern revisionism.

As much burdened of errors, and particularly meaningful, is this definition of the countries of popular democracy supplied, in Hungary, by Eugene Varga in the first years of the post-war period:

«It is neither the dictature of the bourgeoisie, nor the dictature of the proletariat. The old State apparatus was not destroyed as in Soviet Union, but it renews itself through the continuous assimilation of the supporters of the new regime. They are not capitalist States in the usual sense of the word, but not even they are socialist States. Their evolution toward socialism is founded on the nationalisation of the principal means of production and on the distinctive character of these States. Even though the State power is maintained as it now exists, they can pass progressively to socialism pushing forward the development of the socialist sector that already exists beside the simple-mercantile sector (peasants and artisans) and beside the capitalist sector that is losing its dominant position».

4. In the second half of 1947 the international situation went through some profound changes, as a result of the passage of the American imperialism to an aggressive and expansionistic politics (creation of military bases in the eastern part of the basin of Mediterranean, loans and military aides to the reactionary regimes in Greece and Turkey, rearmement and support to all reactionary international forces): a politics who had its utmost expression in the «Truman doctrine», the «Marshall plan» and the violent ideological anti-communist campaign unleashed by the American imperialism all over the world.

In his Report to the Conference of Information of the representatives of nine communist parties (Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, France and Italy), set in Poland in September 1947, Andrej Zdanov denounced the tendency of the United States of America to the world rule, underlined the formation - at the international level - of two camps (the imperialist anti-democratic camp and the anti-imperialist democratic camp), and criticized the tendency, present in some communist parties, to interpreting the dissolution of the Communist International as if it meant «the liquidation of any link, any contact between the brotherly communist parties».

As the conclusion of that Conference was build up the «Information Bureau of Communist and Worker Parties», and inside the parties were reconsidered some important questions of theoretical and political nature, inclusive those relatives to the class nature of the States of popular democracy.

5. In his Report to the 5^th Congress of the Bulgarian Worker Party (19 December 1948), G. Dimitrov stated:

«In order to proceed with decision and firmness on the road leading to socialism, it's necessary to utterly clarify the ideas about the character, the function and the perspectives of the popular democracy and of the State of popular democracy. On that matter, we must define with more precision some positions we had until now, and rectify other positions, starting from the experience accumulated up to now and from the more recent data on this complex question. Briefly, in what lies the question?

Firstly. The State of popular democracy is the State of a period of transition and has the task of ensure the development of our country toward socialism. This means that, although the power of capitalists and of large landowners has been demolished and the goods of these classes have become property of the people, the economic roots of capitalism are not extirpated, the capitalistic elements aiming to restore the capitalistic slavery remain and still develop. Therefore the march toward socialism is possible only conducting an implacable classs struggle against the capitalistic elements in order to utterly liquidate them.

Secondly. In the conditions created by the military defeat of the aggressive fascist States, in the conditions of the rapid worsening of the general crisis of capitalism and of the huge strenght of the Soviet Union, our country, like the other countries of popular democracy, having obtained the assurance of a strict collaboration of the USSR, is seing the possibility of accomplishing the passage to socialism without the creation of a soviet regime, through the regime of popular democracy, provided that this regime will strengthen and develop itself with the aid of Soviet Union and of the countries of popular democracy.

Thirdly. The regime of popular democracy, representing in these particular historical conditions the power of the labouring people under the guidance of the working class, can and must - as the experience has already proved - exercise with success the functions of the dictature of proletariat in order to liquidate the capitalistic elements and the landowners knocked down, in order to crash and liquidate their attempts of restoring the power of capital».

As much important and rich of teachings is the analysis performed, in his Report to the First Congress of the Unified Polish Worker Party (December 1948), by the new secretary of the Party, Boleslaw Bierut, who had denounced the positions of Gomulka as the issue of a «nationalistic narrowness» and of a «petty-bourgeois mentality», as «a return to opportunistic social--democratic conceptions, no utterly defeated and unceasingly coming alive again; against them our party has incessantly conducted and must onduct a without quarter fight».

In that Report, Bierut so indicated the role and character of the State of popular democracy:

«The Polish road to socialism, in spite of its particular characters, is not something of essentially different, but only a variant of the general road of development in direction of socialism, a variant which can exist just thanks to the victory of socialism in USSR, with regard to the specific nature of the new historical period which determines the conditions of the historical development of Poland.

«What is a State of popular democracy according to the marxist-leninist theory? How is definable the essence, the class contents and the character of the popular democracy? Some people were inclined to think that the popular democracy was a system qualitatively and essentially different from a system founded on the dictature of proletariat. In the definition of the system of popular democracy in Poland as a specific Polish road toward the new regime, its particularity was often understood in the sense that it was considered a special process of development whose point of arrival was impossible - from what some people said - to establish previously.

Some people imagined the outcome as a «sui genesis» syntesis of capitalism and socialism, as a particular socio-political system in which lived togheter, on two parallel tracks and on the basis of a reciprocal acknowlegement, the socialist and the capitalistic elements. Other people, believing that the system of popular democracy was a temporary effect of the specific situation determined by the post-war conditions, strived to temporarily stabilize this situation, in the hope that was possible the return, in a second time, to the situation preceding the September [he alludes to the Nazi invasion of the Poland of the 1^st September 1939, Editor's note].

[…] The popular democracy is not a form of syntesis or of a steady coexistence of two social regimes of different nature, but is the form through which are undermined and progressively liquidated the capitalistic elements, and in the same time is the form that allows the development and strenghtening of the future socialist economy.

The popular democracy is the particular form of revolutionary power arised in the new historical conditions of our epoch, it's the expression of the new array of the class forces at international level.

[…] The development of our march toward socialism tooks place through the accomplishment of the basic principles of marxism-leninism in new conditions and in a new international situation.

The principles are these:

1) necessity of the conquest of political power by the working class at the head of popular masses;

2) prominent position of the working class in the alliance with the peasants and in the democratic national front;

3) leadership entrusted to the revolutionary party;

4) class struggle without quarter, liquidation of great capital and of large landowners, offensive against capitalistic elements.

6. The historical experience of the worker and communist international movement is an extraordinary heritage of conquests, of elaborations and events: in virtue of it, some fundamental pages in the search of the road leading to communism have been written. The capability of verifying in the practice the theories and the political positions, of correcting and overcoming the errors, of arriving to new formulations and conclusions, is a distinctive feature of marxism-leninism.

In the last century, the revolutionary creativity of the working class and of the popular masses has produced, in specific historical conditions, different forms of the dictature of proletariat, from the Soviets to the regimes of popular democracy, that we communists must to take heart as powerful tools for the development of our theory and revolutionary practice.

The coming of the popular democracies as new forms of State power of the proletarian dictature, as socialist States in the first phase of their development, that run across various stages and adopt different measures in order to destroy the bourgeois production relations, has a great historical and present importance.

The study of the forms in which is embodied the necessity and inevitability of the political rule of proletariat at the head and in alliance with the labouring masses for the passage to the society without classes is essential for the today's communists. We have the task of conquering the vanguard of proletariat and leading the masses to the conquest of power, applying the principles of marxism-leninism and finding the specific forms of approach to the proletarian revolution and to the construction of the new society, in accordance with the historical conditions and the characteristics of each country.

The idea of the popular democracy is still alive in the conscience of the working class and of the labouring masses, and maintains its great force.

Italy of the future will be a popular democracy? Surely, in the new century opened not long ago, in which we communists go on with our battle, new proletarian revolutions will shake the world and new States will arise from them: but each State will be a particular form of the dictature of proletariat. «Is absolutely sure that all nations will arrive to socialism, but all will arrive with some particularity, each nation in the one or the other form of democracy, in the one or the other variant of the dictature of proletariat» (Lenin).

July 2012 Communist Plat-form (Italy)

The capitalist economy of the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period in prolonged stagnation and deep crisis

At "Unity and Struggle" issue 23 (November 2011) we published an article with the title The working class in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period was no longer the owner of the means of production

At "Unity and Struggle" issue 24 (May 2012) we published the second  of this article with the title In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, labor power had been anew converted to commodity

The third part published in our blog has the title The commodity economy of the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period: a complete and permanent capitalist economy

Here is the fourth part:

The capitalist economy of the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period in prolonged stagnation and deep crisis

The restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union did not only bring about the emergence of all the characteristic features of capitalism in the country’s economy but it paved the way for a prolonged economic stagnation, especially during the Brezhnev period, and led the whole society to an unprecedented bourgeois degeneration and in a deep and all-sided crisis that included all the known scourges of the old decadent, rotten and superseded bourgeois society.

During this period, not only was there a long-term, general economic stagnation but also a decrease of the national income, a drop in the industrial production and productivity. These were facts that even the then Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin had already admitted as early as 1965. In his speech during the Plenum of CC of CPSU (September 1965), he pointed out: “it must be concluded that during the last years there has been a certain decrease in the national Income and the industrial Production…The increase rate of productivity in industry, an additional important index measuring the efficiency of the social production, has been in decline over the last years” (Α.Ν.Kossygin: Die Verbesserung der Leitung der Industrie, die Vervollkommenung der Planung und die Verstaerkung der wirtschaftlichen Stimulierung der Industrieproduktion. In: «Die Presse der Sowjetunion», 1965, Nr.113, S.6).

A note from the Tirana Radio Station, under the title “The soviet economy in the whirlpool of crisis”, mentions about this: “Over the last years, the soviet economy is going through a severe crisis. The decrease in the growth rate of the production and labor productivity in many branches of the economy, the long-term phenomenon of incomplete utilization of the productive capacities, the failures in the capital investments, the tendency of technical progress to slow down, the militarization of the economy, the inflation, etc are facts that clearly demonstrate that the economy situation is constantly deteriorating. All this shows the disastrous consequences on the country’s economy stemming from the counter-revolutionary policy implemented by the dominant revisionist clique. A general feature of the soviet economy is the irregularity in the fulfillment of plans. In many Republics the general industrial plan of the previous year and the first semester of 1975 has not been fulfilled” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 5/11/1975).

To show the catastrophic results of the capitalist restoration and the difference with the period of socialism-communism in the Soviet Union, the author of the Marxist editorial compares parts of the two periods: “to get a more clear picture of the catastrophic consequences of capitalist restoration in the soviet economy, we present a comparison with the period during which there was still socialist economy: the annual growth rate of the industrial production in the years 1966-1970 was 33% lower than in the years 1946-1955, in fact it was 58% lower in 1974” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 5/11/1975).

The international economic crisis, that started at the end of 1973, affected also the economy of the Soviet Union for which the author mentions: “the decrease in production, an important characteristic of the current economic and financial crisis, into which the whole capitalist-revisionist world has plunged, has seriously impinged on many branches of the soviet industry and especially the branch of machine-building, the chemical industry, the manufacturing industry, the light industry and the production of goods of wider consumption” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 5/11/1975).

Militarization of economy. The restoration of capitalism did not transform Soviet Union only into a capitalist country but, also, into an imperialist super-power which competed the other imperialist super-power of that period, the United States of America, for spheres of influence, having made all sorts of interventions in different countries that included the military occupation of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. The reactionary, anti-communist and anti-stalinist socialdemocratic leadership of Khrushchev-Brezhnev very soon oriented the development of the capitalist economy of the Soviet Union towards militarization. The militarization of the economy was, and still is, one of the main and fundamental features of economy of the all imperialist countries. A note from the Tirana Radio Station, in 1976, rightly points out: “the militarization is determined by the nature of the soviet social-imperialism which collaborates and competes with the US imperialism for global domination”. And: “in order to implement their hegemonic and expansionist policy, the soviet social-imperialists employ the most incredible methods but, mainly, rely on the power of arms. This led to a full and mass militarization of the Soviet Union. The soviet economy is oriented towards war. According to data published from scientific organizations of various countries, the military spending of the soviet social-imperialists is about 100 billion rubles that constitutes 44% of total spending in the state budget in the current year. More then 60% of all enterprises in the Soviet Union work, today, directly or indirectly for the war” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 20/10/1976).

In relation to the arms trade: “The soviet social-imperialists expanded the arms trade outside their borders. Along with the US imperialists, they have become the greatest arms dealers. Since 1955, when the Soviet Union emerged in the arms market, it has sold to other countries arms worth of some dozens of billion dollars. Only in 1974, it sold arms worth of 5,5 billion dollars and surpassed even USA in selling war aircrafts securing huge profits from trading with such lethal tools. This is because such a plane can bring as much profit as the retail of 1000 private cars. According to some data from various news agencies, until the middle of the previous year, the Soviet Union sold more than 14,500 tanks, more than 8,000 surface-to-air missiles and more than 1,900 Ming-21 aircrafts. All these arms were sold to satellite countries and to some developing countries bringing extremely large profits. In this way, the Soviet Union tries to transfer part of the load of the militarization and the arms race to the back of less powerful countries and other peoples. At the same time, the Soviet Union is supplying arms to many reactionary governments…Moreover, it must be mentioned that the soviet social-imperialists have become the main suppliers of the most important strategic raw materials such as oil, natural gas, enriched uranium, titanium and various others of the imperialist and militarist circles of West Germany, USA, Japan etc (“Tirana Radio Station”, 20/10/1976).

Wages – degree of exploitation of the proletariat – class differentiation. After the overthrow of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the victory of the Khrushchevian revisionist counter-revolution, the loss of the political power and the control of the means of production, transformed the working class of the Soviet Union to proletariat, which is forced to sell its labor power in order to survive.

The exploitation of the proletariat through the extraction of surplus value, primarily, in the sphere of production and, secondarily, in the sphere of distribution and through the income redistribution at the level taxes and inflation, is secured, besides the capitalist production relations, by the bourgeois “all people’s” state: “the exploitation and the oppression of workers in the Soviet Union is organized and managed by the state. This is expressed, most and foremost, in the rights of enterprise and kolkhoz directors, in the management and selling of means of production as well as in the corresponding jobs. According to soviet revisionist press acknowledgments, in 5 large cities of the Soviet Union and in two industrial centers of the Republic of Lithuania, there are agencies that sell and buy job vacancies. The revisionist directors decide themselves about the amount of salaries and premiums, the hirings and firings or measures against the workers etc. In Kharkov, an enterprise manager launched 233 discipline measures against 125 workers and imposed money sentences to 350 workers. In 292 soviet enterprises, 70,000 workers were fired because they could not withstand the oppression” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 13/1/1976).

In the Soviet Union, “the degree of exploitation of workers in material production increased by 23% during the 1960-1971 period” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 18/8/1976).

During the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period, the differences between the workers-farmers salaries and those of the new bourgeoisie members were huge: “the capitalist exploitation and oppression of the working class and the wider masses by the new soviet bourgeoisie that is in power is expressed in the income distribution that shows a sharp contrast between working people and the capitalist enterprise directors. While the average wage for a worker reaches 70 rubles and for a farmer reaches 35 rubles, the wage of an enterprise director is about 15 times larges without taking into account other kinds of income they receive in the form of bonuses, privileges and other extras. The director of an enterprise that makes electric lamps in Moscow receives 1,000 rubles as a month salary whereas the wage of a worker is between 60 and 80 rubles… The enterprise directors have the right to determine, according to their wishes, the workers’ wages. Using various pretexts, they push wages downwards or they do not give workers any bonus at all. According to statistics, the 82% of the money sums given to the first 704 enterprises that adopted the new “Schtekino system” of labor rate increase, that is, they introduced the cruel oppression of workers, was shared by the directors, engineers and the technicians and only 12% of these sums was utilized as a “material motive” for the workers. It is, thus, self-evident that the high salaries and the large bonuses of the directors of the soviet capitalist enterprises come from the surplus value created by the workers” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 13/1/1976). “Depending on the position they occupy in the bureaucratic soviet revisionist state and party system, the party cadres, the higher clerks, the technocrats, the enterprise directors and others are getting 10-fold to 25-fold of the average worker’s wage. This is also true for the kolkhozes where the wage differences are about 1:30” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 4/2/1976).

“The new bourgeoisie members have secured high salaries, which are 10-fold to 15-fold larger than the wages of workers and farmers. Hence, the salary of an enterprise director is 1,000 rubles, the salaries of professors, doctors of science and others are as high as 2,000 to 3,000 rubles; all of them lead a luxurious life with cars, villas etc” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 13/2/1976).

While, the living standards of the proletariat and the wider masses were constantly deteriorating not only due to the increased degree of exploitation and the raising prices and taxes, but also due to the under-fulfillment of the plans, the decline in production and the continuous, of unprecedented scale, shortages wide consumption goods (meat, butter, pasta, vegetables, potatoes etc), the new bourgeoisie lived in provoking luxury: “although the necessary commodities for the people are in want, the new bourgeoisie invests large sums for the construction of super deluxe hotels in the Black Sea coast for the rich coming from inside and outside of the country, for the construction of factories that produce Pepsi-Cola and luxury items, super luxury limos and yachts. The production plans for these goods and for the contruction of similar works are always fulfilled on time” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 13/2/1976).

During the Khrushchev-Brezhnev, there was an evident a quick class differentiation in the bourgeois society of the Soviet Union: “the soviet capitalist economy that has been established on the basis of capitalist economic laws and operates according to them, serves as the ground of a continuous class differentiation. The course of class differentiation in the Soviet Union proceeds quickly. On one side, there are all the elements that constitute the new soviet bourgeoisie like the higher cadres of the revisionist party and state, the bureaucratic-military caste, the technocrats and others who receive high salaries and large premiums, and lead a degenerate and luxurious life and on the other side there are the working masses of the town and the countryside. Millions of soviet people, mainly in the countryside, live under the poverty line. In the Soviet Union there are 25,000,000 people that enjoy high living standards, 68,000,000 who live under the poverty line determined by the soviet revisionists themselves. A whole system of taxes introduced by the new soviet bourgeoisie in power, burdens the soviet working people from whom it extracts 11% of their income” (“Tirana Radio Station”, 13/1/1976).

In the 1980’s, the prolonged stagnation of the economy, the obsolete equipment of the capitalist enterprises, the large growth of the black market, the false “fulfillment” of the production plans in industry and agriculture, the systematic legal and illegal appropriation, theft, of the state property, the severe financial bleeding caused by the imperialist war in Afghanistan, etc deepened the all-sided crisis that the capitalist-imperialist Soviet Union was going through and led its capitalist economy to total collapse and bankruptcy.

This catastrophic, dead-end made the new anti-communist group of the bourgeois CPSU headed by the traitor Gorbachev, the “favorite child” of the anti-stalinst, social-democatic Brezhnevite clique, to embark on new capitalist reforms collectively known as “Perestroika” which was not “revolution within the revolution” as claimed by the Krushchevian social-democrats but counter-revolution within the revisionist counter-revolution. The implementation of these new reforms ushered, at the economic level, the transition from the state-monopoly capitalism to the classic capitalism of individual property of the Western capitalist countries and, at the political level, the transition from the bourgeois one-party to the bourgeois many-party system of the Western capitalist countries.

Thus, the Soviet Union, instead of entering “communism” in the 1980’s as promised by the consciously lying anti-communist clique of Khrushchev-Brezhnev – that was demolishing at the same time socialism – experienced, as expected by the revolutionary Marxists, i.e. the Leninists-Stalinists, the total collapse of the restored capitalism, that the same social-democatic leading group had established and demagogically presented, in order to mislead the working class and the peoples, as “real socialism” and reached, its demise as a state at the end of the same decade.

Anasintaxi 374 (1-30/9/2012)

MARXISM-LENINISM IS THE GUIDE AND LEADER OF EVERY PARTY AND NOT KRUSHCHEV'S CONDUCTOR'S BATON

From a conversation with a delegation of the CP of Malaya

January 20, 1965

Our party has a high regard for your party because it is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party. Its internationalist solidarity has been a great assistance to us, especially since the Moscow Meeting in 1960.  The Communist party of Malaya has fought and is fighting under difficult conditions against Japanese and British imperialism, and Malayan reaction as well as against modern revisionism.  We have made, are making and have to make still great efforts against these enemies.  But Marxism-Leninism, which guides our parties will defeat the enemies and with struggle and effort we shall overcome all the difficulties.
The modern revisionists have created very serious difficulties in the international Communist movement, and in the development of events in the world, in general, because modern revisionism developed in the USSR, one of the main powers of the socialist camp, as well as in the Communist and workers parties of Europe, with the exception of the Party of Labour of Albania. Besides this, modern revisionism has captured the leading positions in the parties and the socialist states of Europe, apart from Albania.  In these countries modern revisionism has state power in its hands.

Within a period of ten years, modern revisionism has managed, to some degree, to orientate the policy of these states towards dependence on US imperialism, to wage a savage anti-Marxist campaign against the Communist Party and the People's Republic of China, against the People's Republic and the Party of Labour of Albania, and against all other Marxist-Leninist parties.  The revisionists waged this struggle, but of course, they did not achieve the success they had hoped for.  On the contrary, during this short period they have been under serious attacks from the Communist party of China headed by comrade Mao Tse-tung, from our parties, and all the revolutionaries of the world.  Now, in the opinion of our party, we can say that Krushchevite and Titoite modern revisionism has been exposed, but have not yet lost their power and influence.

Nevertheless, in general, modern revisionism has been exposed, and in the international Communist movement, it is facing a difficult situation.  Now, modern revisionism is on the decline.  Splits have a developed in the ranks of the modern revisionists; that unity of opinion, that existed at first when they launched launched the open struggle against Marxism-Leninism, exists no longer.

The modern revisionists did not and could not have a sound political basis, either internally or internationally, because the principles on which they have the developed and continue to develop their policy are anti-Marxist. The policy which they follow was and is a capitulationist one, accompanied with great demagogy.  N. Khrushchev has exerted great influence through his demagogy in order to give the impression that the Soviet Union and the socialist camp had attained such a level of development and colossal strength, that it was possible to cope with the hostile activity of the imperialists through words alone.  The purpose of this demagogy was to cover up the betrayal and hostile activity of Khrushchev and Co.  But they made their calculations and worked out their plans without taking into account the counter-attack of the Marxist Leninists.  Therefore, when the counter-attack by the Communist party of China, our Party, and the other
Marxist-Leninist parties began, this whole revisionists-built "castle", foundered on their demagogy and the holy alliance on all matters with imperialism, was shaken.

It is a fact that Khrushchev's downfall is a result of the struggle waged by the Marxist-Leninists. This has put modern revisionism in a difficult situation and obliges it to try to find a way out. One of the current methods of the fight of the revisionists against us is to try to stop the polemics and struggle. Thus, what they want is that the Marxist Leninists should no longer attack the treacherous views and stands of the modern revisionists.  Their desire and aim is to stop the polemics, because they have seen that the struggle of our parties is soundly based, has exposed them badly, has not ceased, and has not left them free to act and realize their plans. Wherever they have acted they have exposed their real features as anti-Marxists and counter-revolutionaries in the eyes of the Communists and the people's of the whole world.  Therefore, all their efforts now are aimed at making us cease the polemics.

GSEVEE calls to action on 26/9, the day of the GSEE-ADEDY general strike

The General Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen-Dealers-(GSEVEE) decided to participate in the demonstrations for next Wednesday, September 26, day on which GSEE-ADEDY organize a general strike.

Greek unions call general strike September 26

Greece's two main unions GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers)  - ADEDY (the Civil Servants' Confederation) have called a 24-hour general strike September 26 to protest government plans to pass new austerity measures including spending cuts, tax increase and state-asset sales.

Rescue creditors are demanding that Greece's conservative-led government slashes a further €11.5 billion in budget costs over the next two years — resulting in a new round of wage and pension cuts.

The last general strike was on February 10-11.

The Movement for the Reorganisation of the KKE 1918-55 supports the strike and has released posters, flyers, etc. to support the struggle.

Archive: Greek unions call 48-hour strike February 10-11 - Greek unions to hold new general strike February 7 -Greek unions call strike December 1 -Greek unions call 48-hour strike October 19-20 -Greek unions to hold new general strike October 19 and nationwide civil service strike October 5 - Greek unions call 48-hour strike June 28-29 - From our intervation to the June 15 general strike - Greek unions to hold new general strike June 15 - Mobilisations of GSEE-ADEDY on June 4 - Greek unions to hold new general strike May 11

Anasintaxi 373 (1-31/8/2012)

The commodity economy of the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period: a complete and permanent capitalist economy

At "Unity and Struggle" issue 23 (November 2011) we published an article with the title The working class in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period was no longer the owner of the means of production

At "Unity and Struggle" issue 24 (May 2012) we published the second  of this article with the title In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, labor power had been anew converted to commodity

Here is the third part.

The restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union (1953-1990)

The commodity economy of the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period: a complete and permanent capitalist economy

The reactionary process of capitalist restoration in the Soviet Union that commenced, right after the death-murder of Joseph Stalin, with the overthrow of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat from the renegade social-democratic clique of Khrushchev-Brezhnev, was a very complicated development based on the capitalist economic reforms and a series of inter-connected measures which had as a central and only goal: the total elimination of socialism-communism and the complete re-establishment of the exploitive capitalist system.

The analysis of these reforms in the soviet economy, implemented by the counter-revolutionary Khrushchev-Brezhnev leadership of Communist Party of Soviet Union [CPSU] – and after taking into account Lenin’s extremely important teaching according to which “it is necessary to consider the fundamental economic features of the existing relations and not their legal forms” in order to determine the nature of an economy – proves that these capitalist economic reforms led to the total elimination of socialist-communist relations and the gradual restoration of capitalism that was completed at the end of the 1960’s.

In particular, the preceding analysis of the economy during the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period demonstrates:

The economy of the Soviet Union was dominated by commodity production that took full and comprehensive form at the end of 1960’s after the extension of the commodity-money relations. However, when, in a given period, the economy of a country is dominated by commodity production, then its economic system cannot be any other than the capitalist mode of production – resulted from the gradual but complete restoration of capitalism that replaced socialism-communism. This is the case because capitalism is “commodity production at its highest stage of development, when human labour power itself becomes a commodity” (Lenin: "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism", chapter IV)

1) Moreover, there were two additional features of commodity production that emerged in the fully developed commodity economy of the Soviet Union: i) The conversion of all means of production into commodities and ii) the conversion of the working power into commodity. These were the two of the fundamental characteristics of the capitalist mode of production and precisely for this reason the economy of the Soviet Union at that time was capitalist as “according to Marx’s teaching the two essential attributes of capitalism are: 1) the commodity production as the universal form of production. The social product takes the form of commodity in the most diverse productive units but, in the capitalist production, this form of the labour product is not isolated, incidental but universal and 2) the commodity form is taken not only by the labour product but by labour itself, that is, by the human working power. The degree to which the working power has become a commodity characterises the degree of capitalist development” (Lenin)

2) In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, the sphere of operation of the law of Value – a law that characterizes commodity production – was extended to include all of the economy and, thus, regulated the production as in capitalism

3) In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, the goal of the production - at the level of individual enterprises and at the level of the economy as a whole – was the maximum profit. This is one of the three (the other two are mentioned by Lenin in the above extract) essential attributes of capitalism according to Marx: “the second attribute that sets apart capitalism is the production of surplus value that becomes the immediate aim and the decisive motive of the production” (Marx).

4) In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, all the laws of capitalism re-emerged and acted: the law of Value as the regulator of the production, the law of surplus value, the law of the exploitation of wage labour from capital, the law of competition and anarchy in the production, the law of the mean rate of profit etc.

5) In the commodity economy of the Soviet Union, all the capitalist economic categories were re-introduced: Profit, Interest, capitalist Price of Production and others.

All the above features that dominated the commodity economy of the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period constitute the clearest expression of the capitalist character of the production relations of the country’s economy and the capitalist character of the state-cooperative property that was collectively owned and controlled by the new bourgeoisie through the new bourgeois state, that is, “the state of all people”. At the same time, they prove scientifically the complete capitalist restoration in the Soviet Union of Khrushchev-Brezhnev that was concluded by the end of the 1960’s despite the chatter of the Khrushchevian social-democracy (both international and local: “C”PG-SYN) about the alleged presence of socialism until 1990; a totally baseless claim that is disapproved by the capitalist reality of the Soviet Union during that period, that is, the existence of commodity economy with all the essential features of capitalism, the fundamental laws of capitalism and the capitalist economic categories.

The capitalism that was restored in the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period was state-monopoly capitalism of a peculiar type – as far as the content is concerned it was the same with the capitalism in Western countries – and this peculiarity had to do with: first, the dominance of the state and the cooperative capitalist property in economy during of the Soviet Union and the very limited presence of the private capitalist property, initially in agriculture and then in all sectors of the economy and second the emergence-development of a state-monopoly capitalism that originated from the elimination of socialism-communism whereas in the economy of the Western capitalist countries the private capitalist property dominates along with a limited state-capitalist property.

In the capitalist economy of the Soviet Union, the private capitalist sector wasn’t limited to agriculture with the emergence of the new kulaks but expanded in services, commerce, workshops and even industry. As mentioned above, private capitalist property was officially instituted in the bourgeois Constitution of 1977.

In 1978, “in the Soviet Union, the private holders own about 3.6 million hectares of arable land. They supply the market with the 28% of the total agricultural production and with 32% of animal products. The private sector in the Soviet Union and the other revisionist countries has significantly expanded in the sphere of industry where it has infiltrated services as well as the production of industrial commodities complementing to a large extent the activity of the state-capitalist enterprises. Thus, it is not about only small private artisans engaged in small-scale services and repair works that have little profit but a whole network of capitalists whose activities compete with the state-capitalist enterprises. The private capitalists have the gained the right to establish their own workshops, factories that are protected by the state. They are supplied with the necessary resources and the owners can today hire waged workers, that is to say, exploit cheap working Power. The emergence and the development of the private capitalist sector in the capitalist Soviet Union and the other revisionist countries is a reflection of the capitalist degeneration of their economy in which the laws of the capitalist mode of production hold full sway. This sector enjoys the many-sided support – legal as well as material – of the revisionist state and it has become, next to the state-capitalist sector, dominant sector of the economic life” (Tirana Radio Station, 5/4/1978). In 1977, the private capitalist sector supplied the market with the “18% of total number of sheep, 18% of pigs and 32% of beef. The private capitalists sold 31% of the meat and milk in prices that were favourable to them. Moreover, they supply the market with the 34% of vegetables, 30% of eggs, 58% of potatoes and other foodstuff in increased prices” (Tirana Radio Station, 2/8/1977). “In the Soviet Union the private producer controls 65% of vegetable trade, about 40% of meat and milk trade and up to 80% of the fruit trade” (Tirana Radio Station, 7/4/1976).

Statement of the Marxist-Leninist Parties of Latin America

From En Marcha,
Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
#1589, August 10-16, 2012

Statement of the Marxist-Leninist Parties of Latin America

(Extract)

We have united the Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties of Latin America to discuss various points, in particular the follow-up of the situation in our respective countries and on the international plane, as well as to define the commitments stemming from the meeting. After various exchanges of opinions and discussions, we reached the following conclusions:
The crisis of the capitalist system is continuing and will get worse, in spite of all the measures that the governments in the service of finance capital and the imperialist monopolies are adopting to avert it. They are continuing to take measures that affect the working class, the working people and the people in general.
In this sense, they are continually reducing salaries and making them more precarious, carrying out massive dismissals in private enterprises and public institutions, reducing retirements and pensions, cutting budgets for education, health care, security among other areas of services to the working class and people in general; at the same time they are raising taxes on goods and services of consumption of the great majority, all in order to get money to pay the national debt and also to save from bankruptcy the private banks, which they have given thousand of million dollars and Euros taken from the working class and peoples.
The summits of the heads of government and State have taken place since 2008, to try to promote economic growth, create jobs and overcome the crisis. But despite the agreements adopted and money made available to the private banks, the awaited growth still has not taken place and more companies and banks are going bankrupt.
The governments in the service of finance capital and the imperialist monopolies are persisting in making the working class and peoples pay for the crisis.
In their eagerness to escape the crisis, finance capital and the monopolies are looking for new sources for capital accumulation, and here we must emphasize the sell-out, anti-national and anti-popular attitude of most of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, which are handing over the mining and natural resources of all kinds to foreign companies.
In addition to draining the resources of the people, these concessions are having a severe impact on the environment and the communities in which they are located, adding one more item for the popular indignation and revolt.
The working class, the working people, the youth and peoples do not accept these policies of the governments. In every continent the struggles of the workers and peoples in general are developing, which are taking the form of active strikes, street demonstrations and seizures of buildings, among other things.
... We stated that together with the economic crisis and its consequences, in our countries there are the repressive attitudes of the governments that criminalize protests, accusing and even punishing with jail the popular and revolutionary, trade union, educators, student neighborhood and peasant fighters, who are demonstrating in resistance to the policies and measures of the governments in office. Serious blows to public freedoms and democratic rights are taking place, which are added to the old problems from which the working class and peoples are suffering.
Faced with this general situation of the capitalist system and particularly that of our countries, our communist parties stand up for and reiterate our will to push forward the workers’ and popular struggles in general for social and political demands, as well as for democratic and revolutionary changes and for socialism.
We call upon our members to continue encouraging the organization and struggle of the oppressed and exploited, to put themselves at the head of these struggles no matter the consequence.
To the slogan of making the rich pay for the crisis, one must add the systematic denunciation of the demagogic and populist governments that conceal their servile attitude to the oligarchies and imperialism by declaring themselves left-wing and even socialist; as well, the defense of public freedoms and democratic rights, the rejection of the criminalization of protests, the demand that the governments respect the rights in those Constitutions that as a result of the popular struggles recognize important demands for the peoples, among those are the right to protest and the free unionization of the working class and working people; it is also necessary to push forward the struggles of the masses for the progressive reform of the political and social regimes by way of the Constituent Assembly, in those countries where an obsolete political and social system denying the fundamental rights of the peoples predominates.
An important place in our struggles must be given to the defense of water, the rejection of the handing over of minerals and natural resources of the people, and to solidarity with the movements are currently protest strip mining. Outstanding cases of this are the ones being developed by the peoples of Cajamarca in Peru, of Catamarca in Argentina, Oaxaca in Mexico and Cerrejon in Colombia.
We are protesting against the systematic bombings that have resulted in hundreds of dead, wounded and displaced by the Colombian army against various civilian and defenseless communities, under the pretext that they are fighting the guerrilla insurgency of the FARC, (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the Army of National Liberation (ELN) and the Peoples Liberation Army (EPL), which have not renounced their postulates to fight together with the people for national and social liberation.
With energetic indignation, we also repudiate the coup by the Paraguayan oligarchy and Yankee imperialism against President Fernando Lugo, fact that clearly expresses their determination to depose governments who do not totally respond to their interests and aims. In Paraguay, before the Lugo’s election, during his government and after his overthrow, the peasants and workers have lived in the poverty, without access to land, health and education. We decidedly support the peasants, workers, teachers and youth in their struggle for land and the right to organize and strike, the patriots, democrats and revolutionaries who atr fighting for the social and national revolution.
As we reaffirm ourselves as communist parties, of the working class, determined to place ourselves at the front of each of their fights and of the popular sectors, with the goal to seize political power, to carry out the revolution, towards socialism, we challenge ourselves to become large parties that are, influential in the political and social life of our countries, an indispensable condition to be able to lead the revolutionary process. Therefore we call on our members to work with determination and clarity of goals within the working class and the popular masses in general, to develop the closest possible organizational links and of struggle, and to recruit from among these for our ranks the most advanced elements and dedicated to the popular and revolutionary struggle.
Ordinary meeting of the Marxist-Leninist Parties of Latin America
Revolutionary Communist Party – Brazil
Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Labor of the Dominican Republic
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Peru (Marxist-Leninist)
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela
Ecuador, July 2012