On Wednesday, October 4th, the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA) hosted leading members of the Organizational Committee of the People’s Democracy Party (PDP) of South Korea at the John Reed Center, the National Office of the PCUSA in Seattle, Washington.
The peace delegation from the PDP has been traveling throughout the United States to advocate for the cause of Korean reunification, a cause which is supported by the PCUSA and all principled anti-imperialist organizations.
The primary topic of discussion at the meeting was the World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP), a growing international organization founded by the PDP and other Communist parties at the beginning of the Russian intervention in Ukraine. The PCUSA joined the Platform last year and now plays a leading role as part of the WAP’s Secretariat.
The WAP has three primary goals: strengthening the international anti-imperialist movement, intensifying ideological battle against opportunist trends in the Communist movement, and consolidating the international Communist forces. The Platform’s website can be found at https://wap21.org/ .
Participants from the PDP and PCUSA discussed the polarization of the international Communist movement into two camps since the start of the Russian intervention in Ukraine last year. One camp views this as a just war against a fascist state propped up by NATO to serve imperialist ambitions, and the other camp sees the war as nothing more than an inter-imperialist rivalry in which no support should be offered to either side. The WAP and its member organizations represent the former view, and they reject the latter view as arising from an ultraleft deviation in ideology.
The Marxist-Leninist analysis of the situation is that this is not 1914, and that utilizing phrases out of context, like quotes from Lenin, is opportunistic. While acknowledging that modern day Russia is not the Soviet Union, the PCUSA continues the support the Soviet legacy, both in Russia and Ukraine. We have stood with our comrades from the Communist Party of Ukraine. The national liberation of Luhansk and Donetsk is a part of the anti-fascist war, which is beneficial to the working class. Some successes are already beginning to be seen in Syria, for example, which has resisted US-NATO imperialism and now in Africa. The full Party of Communists USA position, released in February 2022, can be found here: https://partyofcommunistsusa.net/february-25th-2022-party-of-communists-usa-statement-on-russian-military-operation-in-ukraine/ .
The PCUSA was honored to host the PDP delegation at the John Reed Center, and looks forward to continuing to work with the PDP to develop the World Anti-Imperialist Platform as a leading force in the international struggle against imperialism and fascism.