Revolutionary Communist Party of Brazil (PCR) statement at SIPRAL 27

 BRAZIL REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRAZIL. PCRB

Comrades, first of all, our thanks to the comrades of the PCMLE for holding the 27th International Seminar Problems of Revolution in Latin America.

It is, as we all know, an important event for the revolutionary left of our continent, a place that allows the Marxist-Leninist organizations of Latin America to discuss their ideas, exchange their experiences and above all to discuss the course of the revolutionary struggle in today's world.

Comrades, we understand that we are living in a moment of great advance and radicalization of the contradictions among the imperialist countries and with great consequences for all the peoples of the world.

The crises in the capitalist economies, besides being frequent, are of great intensity and affect all nations. Periods of economic growth, when they happen, are short and accompanied by failures of banks and large companies, rising unemployment and rising food prices. Thus, in the last two decades, the main capitalist countries have experienced dozens of economic and financial crises. The well-known great recession of 2008-2009 only had its effects mitigated by the adoption of bailouts of large private banks and monopolies that cost trillions of dollars to the public coffers of the US and the European Union and $600 billion to China. Even so, the capitalist economies have not been able to return to the growth rates they had before the crisis.

For many economists it is no longer enough to say that capitalism is experiencing a crisis, but a "polycrisis", because numerous and simultaneous problems are happening: climate emergency, emergence of new diseases caused by viruses, growing political tensions among the capitalist powers, bankruptcy of the financial system with bank failures and the prospect of a global recession and even a third world war.

That is why we are witnessing the intensification of trade disputes and the struggle for markets and sources of raw materials between the old and new capitalist powers.

On the other hand, although there are 735 million people in the world who are hungry and 2.3 billion are food insecure, the imperialist countries are increasing their spending on weapons and wars.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), in 2022 U.S. military spending reached $767 billion. From January 2022 to January 2023, the U.S. spent $77.5 billion on military support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. For 2024, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joe Biden Administration are advocating an $824 billion defense budget.

China, its main rival, had $242 billion in military expenses, but the IISS believes the true figure was $360 billion, half as much as the U.S. spent. Russia, largely because of the war against Ukraine, increased its spending to $87.9 billion. Germany announced in February that it will allocate an additional 100 billion euros for defense and attack on other countries. All the European countries have greatly increased their military budgets, and in practice, militarism reigns throughout the continent.

As we see, two great political and military blocs have formed in the world and each of them is preparing for a new world war, as demonstrated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the military intervention of NATO in this war. In nearly 600 days of war, more than 200,000 Russians and Ukrainians have been killed.

Faced with the aggravation of these contradictions among the imperialist powers and the threat of a new world war that will cost the lives of hundreds of millions of people and may even lead the planet to destruction, the communists must repudiate this new imperialist war, reveal its direct relationship with the interests and greed of the economic conglomerates and defend the need to put an end to this system and class society.

But not only this. It is urgent and fundamental that we develop the struggles of the workers and the popular masses in each of our countries. With the exception of the bourgeoisie, all other sectors of the population are deeply affected by the economic policies aimed at keeping wealth in the hands of a privileged minority. In recent years, several countries have carried out labor reforms that have taken away workers ' rights. There have been steadily reduced investments in public education and public health, and the number of out-of-school and jobless youth is growing across Latin America. Women are victims of violence, lack of childcare, harassment at work and low wages. All these contradictions are deepening in a world with more and more wars and contention between the imperialist countries.

With this consciousness, we have worked daily to advance and develop our work with the workers and people. In recent months we have held important meetings and congresses with the aim of strengthening and advancing these struggles and building a true revolutionary alternative that really represents the interests of the working class and socialism.

Never have the words of Karl Marx been so current: "The emancipation of the workers will be the work of the workers themselves."

Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) – Brazil