I'm posting upcoming events at durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/04/april-issue-of-revolutionary-democracy.html and I hope to post a late summer and fall calendar in August.
Vilnius: a summit of war and rearmament
On the mutiny of the mercenary Wagner
The EU financially supports the Tunisian dictator[ship] in its fight against migrants
Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy
Vilnius: a summit of war and rearmament
The annual summit of NATO took place on July 11 and 12, 2023 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, practically on the borders of the Russian Federation. A clear sign of the escalation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
During the summit the heads of state and government of the imperialist and capitalist countries that are at war with Russian imperialism approved plans to:
– Further prolong the ongoing war, an imperialist proxy war that is the continuation of a decades-long policy of expansion, provocations and threats of NATO, paid mainly by the Ukrainian and Russian working masses. This is without providing for any negotiation other than Zelensky's "10-point peace formula" (achievable only with Russia's unlikely defeat on the ground) and thus supporting a protracted war.
– Intensify the war by providing the corrupt Ukrainian regime with cluster bombs, F16s, advanced tanks, long-range missiles, depleted uranium munitions, to consider the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons, in addition to the huge financial support (a fund of another $20 billion) without which Kiev would collapse.
– Prepare for the expansion of the theater of war in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Arctic, regions where Russian imperialism is present, as well as in Belarus and Russia itself. This is while military interventions are being prepared in other regions: in the Middle East, in North Africa and in the Sahel, in the Balkans, in the Caucasus, in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the last summit in Madrid it was decided to strengthen the "Battle groups" positioned on NATO's eastern flank and to expand the "NATO Response Force" from 40,000 to more than 300,000 soldiers. In Vilnius it was decided to put these troops in a position of high readiness, adding others until they reached the level of combat brigades and including air and naval forces. In addition, an Allied Response Force has been set up to respond quickly to crisis situations in every direction.
The bandits gathered in Vilnius also discussed the further enlargement of NATO: after Finland, Sweden (it will be the 32nd member, twice as many as in 1990), Georgia, Bosnia, Moldova, etc. The process of integration of Ukraine that will be concluded after the war is advancing. So said Biden, demonstrating how cynical he is using Kiev as its pawn.
This is while NATO's Asian partners (Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea), as well as the EU itself, are increasingly integrated into the US-led war policy to maintain its world hegemony, which is threatened by the rise of imperialist China, which Washington wants to strategically detach from Russia.
The NATO summit in Vilnius has very high costs, so NATO members will have to devote at least 2% of their GDP to NATO spending on a lasting basis. At the same time, it was decided to modernize the war apparatus on the basis of a more developed military industry, this also in Europe (imperialist Germany is particularly interested), with supply chains that cannot be blocked by imperialist rivals.
As the war is becoming more and more "industrial", the member states are called upon to contribute to exercises (especially on the eastern flank) and military missions with trained and equipped troops, armaments, logistics, growing economic resources, at the expense of the economic and social needs of the workers and peoples.
At the Vilnius Summit, NATO reiterated that strategic nuclear weapons, particularly those possessed by the USA and also stationed in Europe, are the foundation of its war policy, as they are capable of imposing unacceptable costs on the adversary.
This means that the Atlantic Alliance is preparing for war with a nuclear dimension, modernizing and strengthening its atomic terror apparatus.
As a result, the NATO members will increase exercises to prepare to use nuclear weapons simultaneously with conventional weapons. NATO's willingness to use nuclear weapons also emerges from the criticism of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which would undermine NATO's ability to threaten other states.
The arms race of the Western imperialists is therefore continuing. Obviously, imperialist Russia, like imperialist China, will not sit idly by.
The militarist process to which NATO is giving a strong impetus is seeing internal disputes. The imperialist states behind the scenes are fighting over the division of spheres of influence and the spoils of war, for trade agreements and investments, for energy sources and routes, in the face of the "cohesion of solidarity" proclaimed at the summit.
Faced with the USA that wants to bring its allies into line and unload on them (that is, on the working masses of these countries) the costs of ever wider military involvement, the European bourgeoisies are hesitating.
Even behind the reluctance of European governments on cluster bombs, it is not difficult to see the fear of a more massive commitment in a conflict that is also directed against their economies, which are already suffering from energy supply difficulties, the consequences of sanctions, with the now imminent recession.
Europe's warmongers also fear the response of the working masses, who are increasingly tired of suffering the costs of war. The divergences are therefore bound to widen.
But what is the position of Italian imperialism in this process?
It undoubtedly plays a leading role in the ongoing war.
For the US, Meloni [Italian Prime Minister] was a "positive surprise", having followed the line dictated by Washington without breathing (even more so will it have to do so with regard to China).
However, the Italian bourgeoisie must not be reduced to the role of mere servant of the USA. It participates in the war for the interests of its war and energy monopolies, of the big "re/construction" companies that are competing with other monopolies to expand all over the world, dragging behind it the medium and small capitalism.
The ruling class, by participating in the war and the plundering of dependent peoples, is trying to find abroad the solution to its serious internal problems. Therefore, military spending is growing, taken from social and social security spending. But every euro of military spending means an extra euro for oppression and violence against the working masses.
Today the struggle against war and the warmongering government of Meloni, against sending weapons and funds to Ukraine, for the withdrawal of troops sent abroad, for the withdrawal from NATO and all imperialist alliances, for the closure of US and NATO bases, against the increase in military spending at the expense of social ones, for the banning of nuclear weapons, is presented as an item on the agenda. Let us therefore prepare ourselves for an autumn of struggle, without siding with any of the imperialist parties in conflict, but by developing proletarian internationalism which means in the first place a struggle against "our own" imperialism.
As decided in the Milan assembly of June 11, the imperative is to join forces to start a mass struggle that will frustrate the war plans of the Meloni government and NATO. The commitments are clear: to work for the success of the national mobilization of October 21 with demonstrations in front of the military bases of Coltano and Ghedi (in the latter airport there are atomic bombs).
To this end, it is necessary to work for the success of the strike of the conflicting unions on October 20, involving in its preparation the delegates and combative workers of all the unions, intervening in the other deadlines of struggle that are being prepared, closely linking the question of peace to that of the bread and freedom of the workers, raising the flag of international solidarity of the proletarians, of the brotherhood of peoples, which can triumph only with socialism.
Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy
On the mutiny of the mercenary Wagner
In June, a clash took place in Russia between sectors of the bourgeoisie for the control of the private militia Wagner, engaged in the war in Ukraine and in several African countries (Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan, Mozambique, etc.) in defense of the interests of Russian imperialism.
The oligarch Prigozhin defended his lucrative business (which includes remuneration in mineral and oil wealth) with weapons in hand, threatened by Putin who wanted to absorb him into the state ranks.
After months of accusations against senior Russian military officials, treated as incapable, on June 24 Prigozhin "crossed the Rubicon" and took control of Rostov-on-Don Square (an important rear for Russian troops in Ukraine) to put pressure on Moscow.
It was certainly not a coup, as many have said, but a full-blown mutiny.
However, on its way Wagner found the forces loyal to Putin, who treated it as traitors and bombed with the air force the column of military vehicles of the mercenary gang headed to the capital of the Russian Federation to ask for the heads of some generals and safeguard its existence and its relative autonomy.
Prigozhin was thus forced to swallow an agreement that subordinates part of Wagner's mercenaries to the Russian Minister of Defense and provides for himself, as head of the mutineers, an amnesty of a sort with asylum in Minsk.
Asylum soon retracted since, according to what has been learned from the press, Putin and Prigozhin would meet in Moscow: the material needs of the war, which sees Russian troops in difficulty in some sectors, evidently have priority.
The rhetoric of the chauvinist Putin, who went so far as to confuse today’s situation with that of 1917, comparing Prigozhin to Lenin, was shameful, as was the social-chauvinist policy of the CPRF revisionists, who continue to support the Russian imperialist regime and its military adventures. The 36-hour confrontation between Putin and his former aide Prigozhin revealed that bourgeois power in Russia is undermined by irreconcilable cracks and contradictions.
The rot of the Russian imperialist state has come to light, a colossus with feet of clay in the hands of factions of mafia capitalist oligarchs and brutal "warlords" who associate and compete with each other in imposing exploitation, oppression and hard sacrifices on the working class and the popular masses.
The destruction of the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism has led to today's misery and tragedy, the restoration and triumph of capitalism creating war, corruption, hunger and misery.
For their part, the Western powers, led by the USA, have taken advantage of the clash that took place in Russia (they knew Prigozhin's plan [DS – supposedly they knew far in advance, and if that is true, the obvious question is whether there was US involvement. Who would get nuclear weapons and radioactive materials if there were a new Russian civil war? Chaos, disintegration, and poverty in Russia seems to be the goal of many in the "West," though there would probably be unintended results, as with the decades of war in Afghanistan.]), keeping a low profile: the group of brigands led by Biden wants a prolonged proxy war to weaken Putin and bleed Russia, but prevent it from getting out of control as a nuclear power.
But even at home the problems and instability are serious: we remember Trump's attempted coup against Biden, the fierce rivalry that exists within the Atlantic Alliance for spheres of influence, the division of the spoils of war and reconstruction, the numerous mercenary armies (such as Academi, DynCorp, Vinnel in the USA, Asgaard in Germany, Gallice security in France, etc.), contractors and providers of military "services" at the service of monopolies and states.
The solution is not to side with one robber, whether big or small, winning or losing, against another robber.
The solution lies only in the hands of the working class and oppressed peoples, who have the strength to defeat the exploiters and warmongers.
Therefore we will not cease to call and participate in the struggle against "our own" imperialism, currently led by the Meloni government, which wants to drag us further and further into the abyss of war and militarization, as well as to appeal for the workers and peoples of Russia and Ukraine to shake hands and turn their weapons against their real enemies to establish lasting peace and fraternal cooperation, in a new socialist society.
To carry out this work successfully, today more than ever, the Party of the Proletarian Revolution is needed, the only one that can pave the way for the future.
Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy
The EU financially supports the Tunisian dictator[ship] in its fight against migrants
In mid-July, the European Union (EU) reached an agreement with Tunisian dictator President Kais Saied under which the Tunisian government will help keep migrants out of the EU.
The Tunisian government will receive about 1 billion euros in return, if it also adopts the IMF's neoliberal economic "reforms".
In the process, the reactionary populist Saied is working massively against migrants and refugees. Its police abandon the sub-Saharan population, including children, in the desert, where they are without water and without any help.
The EU, with its supposed moral values, every day looks mercilessly at migrants drowning in the Mediterranean. However, the growing number of migrants and refugees is mainly a consequence of imperialist policies, including those of the EU. The countries of Africa are especially exploited to this day by the imperialist countries, their resources are plundered and their economy ruined by cheap imports from the industrialized countries. This is how they want to keep these countries in eternal dependence.
Climate change, for which the large imperialist countries are responsible, also leads to the fact that living conditions in Africa are also deteriorating dramatically. This is another cause of the flight from those countries. The peoples in the exploited countries are bearing the consequences of the economic crimes of the exploiting states.
The wars of the imperialist states, including now the war in Ukraine, are aggravating the situation of the peoples in the plundered countries. Rising food and energy prices are increasing their misery and hunger.
The resistance of the workers, peasants and masses against this plunder is suppressed with the help of dictatorial regimes, which also receive so-called "cash aid" from the EU.
As more human beings are driven to flee in this way, the dictators, reactionary measures, and the isolation of Europe are being used more and more openly against the victims of EU policy, and a 'fortress Europe' is being built with ever higher walls.
Even within Europe, politics is becoming increasingly reactionary and anti-working-class. Far-right and racist forces such as the Meloni government in Italy are being used. The EU is a stronghold of reaction – against the peoples and against its own people.
We oppose this reactionary and inhumane policy and the capitalist system that creates it!
Let us refuse to make Tunisia a border guard and a concentration camp for migrants and refugees for the benefit of the imperialist and capitalist countries of the EU!
We stand by the peoples and organizations of the different countries that are fighting for democratic rights, social and national liberation.
Let us fight for a society without capitalist and imperialist exploitation, for a world of solidarity!
We therefore demand:
• The end of the EU-Tunisia immigration agreement!
• No criminalization of migrants and refugees and their rescuers! Safe corridors and flights!
Let us fight against the causes of migration and wars, instead of against migrants and refugees!
Let us not be divided!
Let us fight together against the profiteers of exploitation and plunder!
July 2023
Communist Party of Albania
Communist Party of the Workers of Denmark – APK
Communist Party of the Workers if France – PCOF
Organization for the Construction of a Communist Party of the Workers of Germany (labor Future)
Movement for the reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE 1918-1955)
Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
Marxist-Leninist Group Revolusjon – Norway
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCEML
Workers' Party of Tunisia
Party of Labour (EMEP) – Turkey
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