As we know, on the main issue of the communist movement – the attitude to the war in Ukraine – in 2022-23 there was a division between the parties and even splits in the ranks of some parties. Among them, the European Communist Initiative (ECI, ECI) split into two parts, one of which, at the initiative of the CPG, declared the termination of the ECI and formed a new community – European Communist Action (ECA, ECA). These comrades are opposed to war in general, claiming that all parties involved are equally imperialist and equally responsible for the tragedy being played out. For two years nations have been dying for the profits of their masters.
The main tone at the recent conference of European Communist Action in Istanbul on the theme: “Two years after the outbreak of the imperialist war in Ukraine. Conclusions and Experiences for Communists,” was set by the speech of a representative of the CPG -Solidnet | CP of Greece, Two years of killing people “to satiate the master’s dish” (solidnet.org)
The ERCP, as a party defending the positions of orthodox Marxism, which has presented an alternative point of view at the solidnet meetings in Havana and Izmir, which was supported by dozens of solidnet and other parties, did not agree with the dissolution of the ECI and considers it its duty to respond to the continuation of the misconceptions of the Greek comrades and their supporters, which, we must think, are honest but which have not become less dangerous.
Unfortunately, we have to note that the new bloc of parties, calling itself European Communist Action (ECA, “Action”), has distinguished itself in its positions by a surprising indifference and inaction towards the fascism that is increasingly unfolding in Ukraine and in the world. No, we will not say that the comrades are doing nothing and are not fighting capitalism. But we make this assessment in relation to the reaction of the Greek comrades to the criticism already made against them and to the obvious theoretical mistakes that have been made.
First of all, we note that the comrades persistently try to reduce the case to the unjustified, from their point of view, invasion of the Russian armed forces into the territory of Ukraine in February 2022. They seem to have forgotten that the punitive operation has been carried out by Nazi forces in Donbass since at least 2014. That by the beginning of the SWO in 8 years this war on the part of Ukrainian Nazis has claimed at least 15 thousand lives of the people of DNR and LNR, mostly civilians, children and women. In addition, comrades who call themselves internationalists gloss over the fact that these punitive actions are carried out by real fascists, who call themselves supporters and continuers of the deeds of Hitler’s associates Bandera and Shukhevych. Who not only distinguished themselves by demolishing monuments to Lenin and Soviet soldiers, not only marked themselves with symbols with swastikas and other Nazi signs, not only armed themselves with slogans “Moskalyaku (Russian) na gilyaku (gallows)” and “A good Moskal is a dead Moskal!1“, but also burned alive on 2 May 2014 in Odessa in the House of Trade Unions about 50 people. Even more strange is the fact that the comrades from “Action” have somehow forgotten and show inaction in the implementation of the statements adopted with their own participation at the previous Solidnet meetings here in Athens! (Solidnet | 20 IMCWP, The struggle against fascism is not the past, but the task of today (solidnet.org))
Statement of the XX International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Athens, 23-25 November 2018
The struggle against fascism is not in the past but a task of today
The communist and workers’ parties participating in the meeting support the anti-fascist struggle of the working people of Donbass, against whom the current Ukrainian regime (supported by US and EU imperialism) is using all means of suppression, up to and including physical destruction in open warfare, and declare their categorical protest against the rise of Nazism and their resolute readiness to fight the resurgent brown plague.
At the same time, communists know that the only way to end fascism forever is to end capitalism.
To this struggle we will devote all our activities and our lives.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
Proposed by the Union of Communists of Ukraine, the Russian Communist Labour Party, the Syrian Communist Party.
1. Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
2. Austrian Labour Party
3. CP of Belgium
4. Brazilian Communist Party
5. New Communist Party of Great Britain
6. Socialist Labour Party of Croatia
7. Communist Party of Estonia
8. Communist Party of Macedonia
9. United Communist Party of Georgia
10. Communist Party of Greece
11. Hungarian Labour Party
12. Socialist Party, Lithuania
13\ Communist Party of Luxembourg
14. Communist Party of Malta
15. Communist Party of Mexico
16. New Communist Party of the Netherlands
17. Communist Party of Norway
18. Communist Party of Pakistan
19. Palestinian Communist Party
20. Palestinian People’s Party
21. Communist Party of Paraguay
22. Communist Party of the Russian Federation
23. Russian Communist Labour Party
24. Communist Party of the Soviet Union
25. UCP-CPSU
26. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
27. Communists of Serbia
28. Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
29. Communist Party of Sri Lanka
30. Communist Party of Swaziland
31. Syrian Communist Party
32. Sudan Communist Party
33. Communist Party of the USA
34. Union of Communists of Ukraine
And where, may I ask, is the fulfilment of the oath “to devote all my activities and lives to this struggle?”? Or are there no fascists anymore? Have they already been re-educated? Or have you decided, for the purity of your theoretical constructs, to let the Nazis fulfil their promises to slaughter all the inhabitants of Donbass?
We cannot agree with this in any way.
Secondly, as it was already noted in the previous discussion, the Greek comrades refused the scientific definition of fascism2 given by the Comintern (Dimitrov’s definition). At the same time, they do not reveal their definition to us. In our opinion, simply because it does not exist. “Action” here is simply inactive. But they do recall and reproach the Comintern with remarks: “…. Today the communist movement is more experienced, and enough of those Communist Parties which have rejected the logic of creating various “anti-fascist fronts” with the participation of bourgeois forces, have drawn conclusions from history, emphasising that the struggle against fascism must be inseparable from the struggle against the capitalist “womb” which gives rise to it.” The statement is as ringing as it is empty. Thus, our comrades from “Action”, having not yet carried out any action against the living fascists themselves, have already reproached Stalin, the Comintern and the Soviet Union, which finally defeated the fascists in 1945, with wrong actions.
And our comrades from Action, in the heat of the struggle for their primacy and the greatest theoretical principle, continue to repel possible allies for not being communist enough: “At the “tip of the spear”, to the detriment of the class approach to international events, to the detriment of the Communist Parties based on Marxism-Leninism, a new international organisation has arisen under the hypocritical name of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP). The WAP, whose main role is played by social-democratic forces and some communist parties or groups that have no special influence on the working class of their countries, has clearly sided with the imperialist “robbers”. This is how it turns out that the anti-imperialist struggle, if it is not led by the chiefs of Action, damages the Communist Parties based on Marxism-Leninism. Neither do we share the UARP’s assessment of China and Russia as the pillars of the world socialist movement, but it is in no way possible to reject allies and even to write off the platform as the accomplices of imperialism. This statement is so ridiculous that one recalls Marx’s joke that in this version he is not a Marxist.
Thirdly, the comrades do not want to answer the remark that they distort Lenin’s theory of imperialism by denying the core of its content that “… capitalism has now isolated a handful (less than one-tenth of the population of the earth, at the most “generous” and exaggerated calculation – less than one-fifth) of especially rich and powerful states which rob – by simple “coupon clipping” – the whole world” (PSS vol. 27 p. 308.). They practically deny that the main danger today comes from the imperialism of the U.S.A. and its plundering allies from the NATO bloc; they profess a kind of theory of the imperialist pyramid, where all the imperialists fight among themselves. The comrades even claim that they, “the Communist Parties, based on Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, have intensified their anti-imperialist struggle.”
What can be said here? T h e comrades have indeed intensified the noise effects and the flow of verbal accusations, but by not waging a targeted struggle against outright fascism, and the main source of fascism – the reactionary financial capital of U.S. imperialism, they thereby divert the source of fascism from responsibility by their assertions that all belligerents are equally responsible for the war. We assert that on the part of Russia the military actions are largely of a forced, defensive nature against the aggression of the USA and NATO, unleashed by the hands of the Nazis of Kiev. The military defeat and dismemberment of Russia, its repetition of the fate of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya is in no way in the interests of the world working class.
Comrades from the CPG and the ECD are rightly proud of what they opposed: “When ND, SYRIZA, PASOK and the extreme right-wing parties in the European Parliament, together with the parties of the European ‘left’, supported the absurd war resolution of the European imperialists calling for a massive increase in military support for the reactionary Zielenski government. The KPG voted against and condemned this fact. The CPG opposed both the sending of military equipment belonging to the Greek armed forces to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian soldiers.” This is certainly the correct position. We respect the comrades for this. But we should understand that these heroic votes against and demonstrations of protest are necessary, but these protests are ordinary, habitual, long-standing and do not take into account the fact that today we are facing real fascists, and just shaming them by saying that it is bad, anti-democratic and anti-people, …. when there is an armed struggle against these fascists, is very weak. It’s kind of like having a kook in your pocket. It’s a de facto inaction by the ECD.
I have to say bluntly that this inaction is found in the general campaign of solidarity with the struggling people of Palestine.
That the CPG is at the forefront of the mass actions of solidarity with Palestine, against the genocide of the Palestinian people by the occupying state of Israel, is certainly right and commendable. But the fact that the comrades do not want to see the immutable fact that the same predatory pack of imperialists supports the Ukrainian Nazis in Ukraine and the Israeli Zionists in the Gaza Strip is not even a mistake, it is an ideological disarmament of the movement. The inaction of Action is unacceptable.
And the Greek comrades’ assertion that “in this particular war ‘the EU is not dragging its feet behind the US’, that the Russian leadership’s claim that European leaders are ‘subservient’ to the US has no basis in fact, looks absolutely bizarre.” This conclusion is so ridiculous against the backdrop of the speeches of the workers of European countries that it is inconvenient to even object. The CPG denies the obvious – the interests of the EU countries are openly surrendered to the US. The example of blowing up undersea gas pipelines and denying energy supplies is clear. The US role and share in the LNG trade with Europe is growing, military orders are growing, the workers of Europe are outraged, production and capital are leaving the EU countries for the ocean, and Action is inactive …. It is clear that there are European imperialists, even today receiving benefits, there are those who dream of tearing off a piece in case of Russia’s defeat, there are those who are already planning to profit from investments in the reconstruction of Ukraine, but the contradiction of this line to the interests of the working people of Europe is obvious, not to mention the danger of the conflict growing into a really big, up to the world, war.
In general, the comrades from Action say a lot of right and good words. For example, they say: “The working class, the popular strata in the vanguard with the communist and workers’ parties must intensify their efforts against the involvement of countries in imperialist plans and wars. To link this struggle with the struggle for the modern rights of the working people, questioning the domination of capitalism, exploiting the cracks emerging in the capitalist system, which will lead to its overthrow and the building of a new socialist-communist society that will put an end to exploitation and wars. The ECD, its member parties, are called upon to play a leading role in this necessary endeavour.”
The words are undoubtedly correct. But here is the use of the cracks in the camp of imperialism the comrades do not see and do not want to see. “Action” is not just inactive so far, but is ranting about its principled position on the equal responsibility of the fascists and their victims in the unleashed war. They don’t want to use the help of insufficiently politically enlightened allies, including social democrats, in the struggle. These are mistakes. This is not the way to defeat fascism. Such principled internationalist theorists, pure in principle, can only be welcomed by real fascism. The dormant “Action” – suits them well.
International Department of the Central Committee of the RCRP
14.03. 2024г. Leningrad
1 In addition to this Nazi slogan, which, incidentally, is actually applied on a national scale, the second, purely fascist slogan is no less popular: “Kommunyaku (communist) to the knives”.
2 Fascism is the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic, the most imperialist elements of finance capital… Fascism is not a supra-class power and not the power of the petty bourgeoisie or the lumpen proletariat over finance capital. Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. It is the organisation of the terrorist massacre of the working class and the revolutionary part of the peasantry and intelligentsia. Fascism in foreign policy is chauvinism in its grossest form, cultivating zoological hatred against other nations.
Г. Dimitrov XIII Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. Stenographic report. M., 1934, p.589.
Out of half a dozen interpretations and attempts to define fascism, this is the only one that answers all questions. All others are reduced to a description of an explicit, open dictatorship, but open dictatorship in one form or another has taken place in all societies recorded by history. Only in capitalism, which declares universal equality and democracy (bourgeois democracy) it is necessary to apply open dictatorship – fascism, when hidden dictatorship cannot ensure the dictatorial position of big capital – note SCU(U).
Why does the Russian Communist Workers Party position itself alongside the foreign policy of the Bourgeois Government of Putin in supporting Capitalist Russia against Ukraine?
Lenin advocated that in times of imperialist war, the duty of Communists were to oppose their own Government.
Fascism is simply an outworking of Capitalism and it is defeated by abolishing Capitalism.
Instead of attacking other international Communist Parties the Russian Communist Workers Party might do better by avoiding actions and words that merely cause division and weaken the international communist movement.