Women for Change (Ecuador) statement at SIPRAL 27

WOMEN FOR CHANGE

"THE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMEN AND PEOPLES FOR THEIR RIGHTS AND FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION"

Women represent 51% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean, which in numbers is 334,628,227; in Ecuador we are 9,016,398.

This 2023 Seminar is taking place under conditions in which capitalism is showing its most inhuman and brutal face characterized by wars of imperialist aggression, colonial and cultural subjugation promoted by the great powers, in order to subjugate the population of the world to a situation of poverty and denial of their fundamental rights. The whole planet is being conditioned to the development of the contradictions inherent in capitalism. In particular, we are witnessing the sharpening of the inter-imperialist contradictions that shows the intention of the great powers to implement strategies that allow them to maintain themselves or become the undisputed masters of the world. We see how the powers are forming their economic and military blocs and pacts to defend their interests by destroying the living conditions of millions of human beings. The war between the great imperialist powers in Ukraine is an expression of this, but there are also armed conflicts in other countries: Sudan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Yemen, the Middle East and other trade wars with which the military apparatuses and armies of the imperialist powers that are contending for the economic and political control of the world are strengthened. The inter-imperialist struggles, particularly the one between the United States and China, warn us of the danger of a world war.

Women, who are part of the peoples, cannot take sides for one or another imperialist power, for one or another economic and political alliance of the capitalist states, because they all represent the interests of the big international monopolies, of imperialist finance capital. For this reason, we reiterate our condemnation of the inter-imperialist war and all forms of aggression against the peoples, because we have the experience of the history of humanity that shows that in conflicts it is we become spoils of war. We are women, and therefore, we raise the banners of peace, which means fighting in defense of the life of the working classes, the women and peoples and in defense of our right to a dignified life.

What is happening in today's world with so much exploitation, inequality and violence is the result of the sharpening of the contradictions of capitalism that places capital over life, the interests of the big bourgeoisie over the working classes and peoples. This is a situation that places before us the challenge of strengthening the organization and consciousness of women to demand from the governments the unrestricted application of human rights and in particular our rights as women and to work against all forms of exploitation and subjection to capital.

As women of the delegation of Ecuador, we express our solidarity with the women and peoples who are victims of aggression by foreign powers, who are confronted by the reactionary and conservative patriarchal practices that are killing millions of women in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

We cannot remain impassive in the face of the growth of poverty in the world and watch as more than 258 million girls and boys do not attend school, which represents 1 out of 5 children; The wage gap between men and women is increasing to 24%. In Ecuador, women's wages are lower than men's, there are more women unemployed, 39% of men have full employment but only 27% of women. Serious problems of access to health services are causing the death of 21,300 people a day. That is to say, one person dies every 4 seconds, while the fortunes of a few billionaires have multiplied since the pandemic, since the 1% of the richest population in the world has hoarded about 20 times more wealth than 50% of the world population, which represents 4 billion human beings. Of the poorest population, the largest percentage is women, with 252 male billionaires owning more wealth than one billion women and girls in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently 2.1 million people die of hunger annually.

Violence against women, girls and adolescents is the greatest scourge today at a global level and knows no borders, because it extends throughout the world in its various manifestations: femicides, violence, sexual trafficking within the family and in all social areas is multiplying; sex trafficking, forced child marriages, genital mutilation, death due to the criminalization of abortion, trafficking for organized crime is the order of the day. The fight against violence against women is mobilizing millions of people and has created awareness of other problems of inequality and exclusion faced by different sectors of the world's population, who now claim their rights to diverse and free identities and ways of life.

But it is also encouraging the awakening of millions of women, youth and workers who are organizing and fighting against the power of capitalism on all continents; the popular struggles are put the exploiters against the wall, as in France, Germany, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Women's Movement and Women in the world constitute a revolutionary and emancipatory force for women and the peoples.

It must be borne in mind that the women's and feminist movements form a diverse and contradictory movement, because within them there are ideological and political forces that aim to lead half of the world's population in accordance with their purposes. They are forces that identify with the left, social democracy and those who defend the status quo and the power of the big bourgeoisie using the just demands of women. This is happening in Ecuador and Latin America; however, it is also encouraging to note that in the struggles for the demand for women's rights there is a majority popular, leftist and anti-imperialist current that is mobilizing thousands of women to put an end to the historical patriarchal oppression that keeps us subordinate and linking this struggle to action against capitalism and for social transformation.

THE CURRENT SITUATION IN ECUADOR AND WOMEN'S LIVING CONDITIONS

Our country is characterized as having a backward capitalist development and dependent on the decisions of the great imperialist powers, especially US imperialism and to a lesser extent Chinese imperialism and the European Union. This condition of submission is expressed in the dependence on productive, scientific, technical development, as well as in the external debt and the conditions established by imperialism through the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other mechanisms through which the country is forced to apply neoliberal policies.

Ecuador, together with all the countries of the region, is going through a crisis in all economic, social and political aspects. On May 17, President Guillermo Lasso, in agreement with the Armed Forces and the support of the U.S. Embassy, decreed the "Cross Death" with which he dissolved the National Assembly and called for early elections of President and Vice President; of national and provincial assembly members to complete the term from 2023 to 2025. In this period Lasso has the power to govern by executive decrees. This decision constitutes a temporary solution to the political crisis since the serious problems of insecurity, the increase in drug trafficking and organized crime remain, because those responsible are in the highest spheres of bourgeois institutions: in the executive, in the organs of justice, in the top ranks of the Police, the Armed Forces and the Navy; they are owners or shareholders of banks, powerful companies and large media. The government has declared itself incompetent to deal with this problem by declaring, in Lasso's words, that this "is a war between you and crime."

The abandonment of the Ecuadorian State to the population is not only expressed in the issue of insecurity; the same is happening in aspects that have to do with the life and well-being of the working classes and people. The public health sector – including the social security system – is experiencing a critical situation, without a sufficient number of professionals, with a deficit in infrastructure, lacking medicines. Hundreds of educational establishments have been destroyed or are in terrible conditions; there is a deficit of teachers at all levels of the education system. According to INEC (National Institute of Statistics and Census), about 195,000 children and young people did not return to the classroom after the pandemic, there are not enough spaces for the men and women can go to universities. The Ministry of Education does nothing to ensure that children and young people can count on safe classrooms in the face of the increase in sexual harassment and rape that is causing deaths in educational institutions; the State does not create sources of employment because public investment is practically non-existent. However, the rulers are agile and quick to comply with the demands of the International Monetary Fund or to find mechanisms that give millions of dollars to the most powerful economic groups, as established by the proposal to "compensate" the bankers because interest rates have been raised internationally. The State is an instrument at the service of the big bourgeoisie through the implementation of laws and measures that have been established by the different governments of recent decades, not only Lasso but also the governments of Rafael Correa and Lenin Moreno. It is evident that they are the most efficient defenders of the big economic groups of the country and the big imperialist monopolies.

The economic crisis in our country is seen in the increase in poverty. The National Survey of Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment 2022 (ENEMDU) of June 2022 states that "as of June 2022, poverty at the national level stood at 25.0% and extreme poverty at 10.7%. In urban areas, poverty reached 16.7% and extreme poverty 5.2%. Finally, in rural areas, poverty reached 42.9% and extreme poverty 22.7 %. This means that 25% of Ecuador's population or about 4.5 million people are mired in poverty, that one in four Ecuadorians lives on $87.57 a month ($2.91 a day). It means that they can barely cover 12% of a basic basket [of necessities]. People living in extreme poverty, who earn a per capita household income of less than $49.35 per month ($1.65 per day), represent 10.7 per cent of the population.

In the educational field, the Transform exam was eliminated. The system has been applied in the country since Correa to select those who enter public universities, which is why in the last decade, more than a million and a half young people have been left out of higher education. This has been a demand that we have raised because, like what the ENES and the Ser Bachiller were, it responds to a standardized, exclusive and anti-scientific conception of the university admission system. Its elimination is an achievement, however, the government has transferred the problem to the universities, therefore, each of them will determine the means and entry requirements of the new bachelors, the struggle continues for free admission.

In the particular case of women in our country, the reality we live in is very complex because we are discriminated against because of our gender, class and ethnicity, so it is necessary to expose numbers, data that show this discrimination despite the fact that we constitute the majority of the population.

As of August 2022, according to INEC, Ecuador has a population of 18,009,591 inhabitants; 51.05% are women. According to ESPAC 2021, 72.73% of men and 27.27% of women are engaged in agricultural production. 22.8% work in the area of commerce. The INEC published monthly figures that show that the unemployment rate stood at 4.7% in April 2022; when analyzing unemployment by sex, the results show that women have a higher rate than men. At the national level, 5.8% of women in the EAP (economically active population) were unemployed, while the rate for men was 3.9%, a statistically significant difference that establishes that women do not have equal conditions to access the right to a job.

The wage gap also remains wide; for March 2022 the average work income of a man with a job was $453.60, while for women it was $412.30; the case of women first that does not reach the basic salary of $425 and, worse the basic basket, which, as of June 2022 according to INEC data, the family basket reaches a value of US $751, 04.

The above shows us the feminization of employment and precarious work; it is women who work in flower farms, paid domestic workers, rural workers, on shrimp and banana plantations, broccoli plantations, among others. The inequities and discriminations that prevail against women in the world of paid work are often linked to reproductive obligations and productive activities. Domestic work is still considered an almost natural obligation of women, but this is NOT so; it must be distributed among the members of the household to achieve equal conditions for women and men in all areas of life.

With regard to education by level of instruction, half of the female population of Ecuador has achieved at least basic general education ; but only 13 out of each 100 have higher or university studies. On the other hand, there is still a significant group that lacks any type of studies.

According to MIDUVI, as of December 2020 the housing deficit was 2,744,125 households, housing is one of the basic necessities. Female-headed households, persons with disabilities, single parents, those with dependent children or adults, devote a high percentage of resources to the care of their family members. Therefore, their possibilities of participating in the formal labor market are limited, thus increasing their level of vulnerability.

Although Lasso signed Executive Decree No. 452 in which he ordered the implementation of control operations to prevent price speculation in basic necessities, inflation reached 3.86% as of July 2022. The high cost of living, the rise in the prices of basic necessities such as bread, milk, flour and oil has greatly affected the economy of households in the popular sectors , so we demand the fixing of prices of basic products of the family basket. On the other hand, regarding the health care and life situation, the Statistical Registry of Live Births and Fetal Deaths from 2013 to 2020 establishes that 16.3% of women become mothers from 15 to 19 years, 49.7% from 20 to 29 years and 17.8% from 30 to 34 years. Ecuador has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the Americas. And in the case of girls, more than 3,000 girls under the age of 14 become mothers as a result of rape in Ecuador every year. Behind these figures are the lives of girls dealing with not only the physical but also the psychological and social impacts of having survived rape and being forced to become mothers when they did not want it or were not prepared for it. That is why the struggle for legal, safe and free abortion is a JUST, URGENT AND NECESSARY DEMAND.

In our country, violence against women is an alarming situation; 65 out of every 100 women have suffered at least one violent incident in their lives: 57% psychological, 35.4% physical, 33% sexual, and 16.4% patrimonial. Violence came from their partner in 42.8% of the cases, 32.6% in the social sphere, 20.3% within the family, 20.1% at work and 19.2% in the educational arena.

To the situation of violence and insecurity that is striking Ecuador is added another hard and persistent reality; until May 2022, violence against girls, adolescents and women has increased; until March 2023 56 femicides have been counted. In 2022 there were 332. Cases of sexual violence against children and women is also a very serious problem as is the increase in enforced disappearances due to abduction and human trafficking.

The Lasso government has been unable to respond to women's demand for the budget for the implementation of the Law on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and its political decisions are in the line of demagogy and non-compliance. In November 2022, the Ministry of Women's Affairs was created, which in no way has meant a change for the situation of working women and the different popular sectors.

In the current process of presidential and assembly elections, the women's movement won an important victory because the National Electoral Council was forced to change the regulations for the integration of candidacies after an important action of struggle that unified national and local organizations in the demand of unconstitutionality. Today full parity is established for all offices in addition to 25% of young people and representatives of cultural diversity. After the first round of elections, we can affirm that it is not enough to respect gender parity in these processes, which leads to the nomination of candidates by 50% and also to the election of women to the different offices. For women from the popular sectors, it is urgent to work for the training of political leaders in order to gain spaces with women committed to the demands of the working classes, women and the people.

In the second round we do not have a choice that represents the demands of women and all popular sectors of the country and for this reason, WOMEN FOR CHANGE CALLS FOR A "NULL" VOTE as a show of rejection of the choices forged by the ruling classes.

Our participation in the Third Meeting of Women of Latin America and the Caribbean – Brazil 2023

We held the Third Meeting of Women of Latin America and the Caribbean in Brasilia – Brazil, South America, from July 21 to 23, 2023, with great revolutionary joy and combativeness [See durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/08/pcmm-l-third-meeting-of-women-of-latin.html ]. In the three days, several women of various ages, black, urban and rural workers, students, women with disabilities, unemployed, artists, self-employed workers, intellectuals, indigenous women and women from maroon colonies from 11 countries, learned about the economic, political and social situation in which working women, their families and their peoples live. We learned among ourselves the different forms of struggle and forms of organization that the women's movement has developed in the countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Ecuadorian delegation was made up of 84 women and young people from 14 provinces and 32 women's, feminist, human rights organisations and collectives, local authorities and representatives of trade union and political organizations in the country.

The Meeting was an extraordinary scenario to analyze in depth the reality of women of the popular sectors of our countries, to identify their main problems and their causes, to establish actions that let them strengthen the struggles of women organized in each country with solidarity actions at regional level.

The resolutions adopted in Brazil last July must be taken up by revolutionary organizations and parties to strengthen the struggle of the working classes and peoples against capitalism and for social transformation. The following are the main resolutions that must not only be disseminated, but must be channeled for implementation through the broad and democratic organization of women in each of our countries, because we are aware that despite the progress made in the development of women, the rights of women won through the struggle so far are still not enough. Not only because what is written in the law does not guarantee its application in reality, but because we are convinced that the only guarantee to win the equality and emancipation of women is with the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of socialism in Ecuador, Latin America and the world.

Our tasks for the coming years, for which we must fight:

1. Work for the strengthening of left and revolutionary women's organizations and their active involvement in the struggles of the working classes and people for their rights.

2. Strengthen the Meeting of Women of Latin America and the Caribbean with the integration of all the countries of the region and the broad and democratic participation of women's organizations from popular sectors of our countries.

3. Actions for the defense and nationalization of natural resources and confronting the policies of surrender, imperialist plunder and plunder.

4. For labor and wage equality, for a general increase in wages, for the guarantee of well-paid work and employment with social security for the four million unemployed women in the region;

5. Organize actions to fight against the high cost of living, for the freezing of prices of basic necessities and against the effects of the escalation of inflation on the living conditions of working families and the popular sectors.

6. Promote a broad campaign for a continental emergency on violence against women and for more investments to end the cult of violence that victimizes more than 4,400 women each year throughout Latin America;

7. Fight against any threat of fascism, militarization and coups d'état in our countries. Demand punishment for the political crimes committed against the working class, women, political activists who have been persecuted, disappeared, imprisoned, tortured and killed by the State and by authoritarian, fascist, military and coup governments, yesterday and today.

8. Fight for the right to autonomy of women's bodies, with a broad campaign for the legalization of abortion, which must be legal and safe for all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean;

9. To promote action against prostitution and trafficking in persons. Ensure access to employment for women who have subjected to sexual exploitation;

10. Fighting for the full rights of migrant women and their families

11. Abolition of all laws that STRENGTHEN the mechanisms of women's subordination;

12. Continental day for the suspension of payment of public debt to international financial organizations; the immediate audit of all debts;

13. Continental day for the right to free and quality services in comprehensive education and care centers for children and education for all children and young people.

14. Days of struggle for the rights of women and their families to health care, housing, education, recreation and political participation.

Here, woman, forging unity, for the new homeland, for freedom!

Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina statement at SIPRAL 27

^{REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY OF ARGENTINA. PCRA}

Dear comrade organizers and participants of the 27th International Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America"; I bring greetings of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina to this event, in which we are participating once again with the objective of knowing and exchanging visions on the development of the struggles of the working class and peoples of Latin America and the whole world. The theme chosen is very timely: "The struggles of the working class and peoples, and the inter-imperialist disputes".

We are living in the epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolutions. We reaffirm the validity of the Leninist theory of imperialism which, among other questions, raises the division of the world between oppressor countries and oppressed countries and takes this as the fundamental division of the world today, regardless of whether the countries oppressed by imperialism have predominantly feudal, semi-feudal or capitalist social relations.

The imperialist bourgeoisies not only exploit the working class and oppress the peoples of their countries, but oppress and plunder the whole world, turning most of the countries of the globe into colonies, semi-colonies and dependent countries. We must stress the validity of the Leninist conception, later developed in depth by Maoism, which differentiates the bourgeoisie in these countries into an intermediary bourgeoisie, which subordinates itself to imperialism, from the national bourgeoisie, which can confront imperialism. National liberation movements are thus intertwined with the revolutionary movement of the proletariat. This theory of Lenin's is absolutely valid.

We analyzed in our 13th Party Congress, held in October 2022, the first since the death of our historic general secretary, comrade Otto Vargas, that there is an aggravation of the contention among the imperialist countries and the factors of war, rebellion and struggles of the peoples of Latin America and the world are growing.

The invasion of Russian imperialism in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 produced a profound change on the global stage, opening the possibility of a new world war and a deep economic crisis.

The pandemic, the war, the alarming inequality in the world where the richest 1% accumulates more wealth than the rest of humanity, the devastation of nature and climate change, are all consequences of the character and voracity of capitalism in its imperialist phase.

As our party Central Committee headed by comrade Jacinto Roldán recently analyzed, the economic crisis is accelerating the contention and the dangers of war.

In China, the economic situation is complicated and affects the world economy. We are witnessing the contraction of the world market with a fall in external and domestic demand for industrial goods and a fall in the price of raw materials. In July, Chinese exports fell by 14.5% year-on-year while imports fell by 1-2.4%. That adds to the fall in domestic consumption.

In China, the housing bubble burst again. The works that are paralyzed are multiplying while many buyers suspended the payment of mortgage loans, creating a cascade of debts that was affecting their entire economy. Country Garden, a real estate giant that is one of the 500 largest companies in the world, has just fallen. Its losses have been 70% so far this year and its debts are estimated to be between $160 billion and $190 billion. The Chinese economy is in deflation, stagnant due to low domestic and international demand, the severe real estate crisis and rising military spending. It had to devalue the yuan this week. Being the second largest economy in the world, this affects the entire global economy.

There were also economic shocks in Russia, which is suffering from the cost of war and NATO blockades. The ruble fell by 7% in July from the previous month and so far this year it has been devalued by around 27%.

Europe continues to suffer from rising food and energy prices. Due to the cooling of the world economy, its exports fell. Since 2019, wages have fallen by 3% in Germany, 3.5% in Italy and Spain and 6% in Greece. At the same time, the workers' struggles are growing and there is a phenomenon of growing union membership.

Germany, the main European economy, had zero growth in the April-June quarter. The Netherlands has just entered a technical recession (two consecutive quarters with negative growth). Japan's government has lowered its economic growth forecast for this year to 1.3% from 1.5%.

The United States has given itself a policy to face the recession and achieve a soft landing of its economy. It was not affected by the price of energy since it has a record production in oil, with more than 18 million barrels per day. It has been controlling inflation. But it does so at the cost of a steady rise in the interest rate. Now the US Federal Reserve has raised the rate to 5.5%. With this increase, it already has had 11 rate hikes within the current cycle of monetary contraction, which began at the beginning of 2022. This is very risky for the Yankee economy because it raises the cost of financing, slows consumption and discourages investment. And although it has made progress in decoupling its economy from that of China, it still has a high relationship in some branches, so the stagnation of the Chinese economy will be a headwind at this time.

That is to say that the current growth of the inter-imperialist contention and the factors of war in the world has as a background this economic situation and the sharpening of the need of imperialisms to place the consequences on the oppressed nations and peoples of the world and secure their spheres of power throughout the planet.

Putin just said that "The war will not end if Ukraine does not surrender." Despite this, the resistance of the Ukrainian people to the invader is still strong. After a year and a half of Russian imperialist invasion, Ukraine is a devastated country, with thousands of deaths and immense destruction of its economy and energy, health and education systems.

The Yankees, and NATO, are maintaining their supply of weapons, leaving the expense to the Ukrainian troops. This is how they act, according to their more global interests and the preparations for a world war.

Russian imperialism, for its part, is sending nuclear weapons to allied countries such as Belarus, which borders NATO member Poland. And it is increasing its presence in Africa, as seen in the coup d'état in Niger.

We continue to argue that the only way to stop the war is for Russian imperialism to leave Ukrainian territory, and for both the Yankees and NATO to get their claws out of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have the right to decide their own future.

In the world, blocs are being configured. In the Indo-Pacific the hand of the Yankees appears behind Taiwan, confronting the Chinese, allying with Japan, South Korea and Australia, with the support of NATO countries. The Russians and Chinese respond with their joint military maneuvers. Thus, the Pacific-Indian Ocean area is totally militarized and is a focus of conflict that can set everything on fire. In Africa there are coups, wars and looting. All of them have behind them the hand of imperialist contention. Taking this into account, at this time, is of utmost importance for countries such as Argentina, which is part of the dependent countries as are many countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Comrade Mao Tsetung explained the importance, in countries contested by various imperialist powers, of exploiting the inter-imperialist contradictions, which are concealed in the contradictions among the different groups of the ruling classes in each country.

Mao, in his unpublished writings, argues that "we must consider the struggles between the imperialist countries as important events. Lenin and Stalin described such struggles as reserve forces of the revolution."

In Latin America, the same thing is happening as analyzed above.

The United States is trying to recover positions to continue to be the dominant imperialism in what it considers its "backyard". Great Britain is advancing in its objective of consolidating its dominance of the South Atlantic, maintaining the main NATO base in the southern hemisphere in our Malvinas Islands. China and Russia are contending and advancing in the military and economic field.

In the midst of this contention and in the face of the growing oppression and plunder of our peoples and nations, in Latin America the rebellion and struggles of the peoples are growing. There are prolonged, massive and combative struggles, with a broad popular unity of the workers and peasants’ forces, with a great advance of the unity of the peoples and original nations, of women and youth.

Large towns burst onto the social and political scene again, occupying squares, streets and highways. These are struggles with advances and setbacks, achieving important gains. The struggles of the poor peasants and indigenous peoples and nations for lands and territories and for agrarian reform against landlords and states linked to different imperialisms are continuing.

We vindicate the struggle of the peoples of Latin America, we strive to establish relations with these currents and their political expressions, broadly and without sectarianism. We maintain that it is in unity and struggle, we fight to go beyond the reformist strategy and we offer our revolutionary perspectives.

After the large popular movements of the 1990s and early 2000s, governments emerged with great heterogeneity that adopted reformist measures and to varying degrees took anti-Yankee positions, constituting a regional axis. Experience shows that not breaking with dependency and latifundia, not destroying the state apparatus of the ruling classes and relying on one imperialism to confront another constitutes a road to defeat; it leads to a new frustration and makes possible the return of reactionary and right-wing governments in our countries.

The Situation in Argentina

This whole international situation is directly linked to what is happening in Argentina; the fate of our homeland is being discussed not only here, but also in different imperialist capitals that are associated with one or another sector of the ruling classes.

The working class and the Argentine people have a history of great struggles. It was those massive and combative struggles, and the popular protagonism that took place at that time, from the streets and at the polls, that led to the defeat of the Macri right in 2019 and its replacement with the Frente de Todos (today Union for the Fatherland), with special prominence of the working class and the peasantry and the movements we are promoting such as the Class and Combative Current, the National Peasant Federation and Not One Less Due to Drugs. There were also important student struggles against the Macri advances in which the Popular Anti-Imperialist Student Current and the Popular Unity Movement played a prominent role. In the fight against the pandemic, popular organization and protagonism were strengthened and the mass united front movements that we promoted were advanced.

Throughout the last period, putting the main blow on the Macri right that, today together with Milei, was and continues to be the main danger for the working class and the people, we fought for the government to respond to popular emergencies and break the agreement with the International Monetary Fund that validates the Macri scam and brings with it adjustment and dependency.

For 2 months the people of Jujuy have been fighting for teachers' salaries and against the reform of the provincial Constitution, which seeks to facilitate the handing over and looting of lithium to the imperialist monopolies and advances repression, prohibiting strikes and demonstrations. This is a struggle in which the indigenous peoples and nations that are defending their territories, together with the teachers and other popular sectors, are playing a great role, and that has been moving the country.

The recent PASO [primary] elections have opened up a new scenario. The candidate with the most voted was Milei, with 7,116,352 votes. Second came Together for Change with 6,698,029 votes and third the Union for the Fatherland (UxP), which we formed together with Peronism and other forces, with 6,460,689 votes.

A very large sector chose not to vote (69.6% voted), voted blank (4.8%) or voided their vote (1.2%). Keep in mind that in Argentina voting is mandatory. In total, if we take as a reference the 80.4% who voted in October 2019, there were more than 5 million people who did not vote for any of the candidates. These are votes that are in dispute, when the difference between Milei and Union for the Fatherland was 655,663 and between Together for Change and Union for the Fatherland this difference was 237,340 votes.

The first thing that the elections show is that the anger and weariness of the situation is very strong. We didn't see the magnitude of the vote for Milei. We came from provincial elections in which their candidates had not garnered votes, but important sectors of the masses used it to punish at the national level.

In the vote for Milei, different sectors converged. It is true that there is a fascist core that supports it, but it is a minority. The predominant thing among the mass that voted for him are sectors that used him to express their anger. He had many votes among the workers, in the slums, in the towns, among the poor peasantry and the youth.

With his proclamations against the political caste he managed to deceive sections of the masses with his "incendiary" speech. He even uses the slogan "they should all go" which was a popular slogan of the Argentinazo of 2001.

Milei vindicates Menem and Cavallo. His international reference points are Bolsonaro, Vox (the Spanish fascist party) and Donald Trump. He was an advisor to General Bussi, one of the main assassins in the Videlista dictatorship. He has close relations with Eurnekian, a businessowner friend of Mauricio Macri. They have the same general objectives, an Argentina for less than 20 million. Now he says that we must leave Mercosur and that he is going to break the agreements with China and Brazil. His candidate for vice president is Victoria Villarruel, from a military family, who supported the most fascist sectors of the Vindelista dictatorship.

His program and proposals on labor laws, public education, public health, scientific research, national culture, etc. are profoundly reactionary and need to be exposed.

Together for Change had a vote below their expectations. Bullrich now has trouble differentiating himself from Milei, compounded by Macri's flirtations with Milei. Macri presents himself as the big winner.

For UxP the campaign was difficult because of the adjustment, inflation, insecurity, we are seeing with this government, and in the face of anger it is not enough to say that there is a reactionary right that is worse. It is not enough to say that they want to take away your rights, when a large part of our people already lives without rights and are having a hard time.

Among the industrial proletariat the need to permanently fight for wages in order to defend them against inflation is creating unease. This is aggravated by the attitude of monopolies such as Techint, which, after lining its pockets with the construction of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, now is promoting the conflict by blocking parity with steel workers and creating layoffs at its Valentín Alsina plant. Or the attitude of Mondelez-Terrabusi, which is not respecting the increase in the non-taxable minimum by making large discounts on wages. The workers of its Pacheco plant, with its internal commission at the head, responded by blocking the gates of the company.

We stated that as part of the front we were campaigning for Union for the Fatherland, with our Ten Measures and for our candidates. And we are pushing everywhere the need for a national strike in solidarity with the struggle of the people of Jujuy and for the growing popular needs.

We carried out the campaign with struggle, without for a moment running away from being at the head of the needs of the working class and the people, and placing the main blow on the reactionary right. It is the popular struggle that unmasks the essence of these reactionary rights; it is here that the masses verify through their own experience the content of their proposals.

In the current international situation, with the deepening of the crisis, the growth of the contention and the growing struggles, unexpected situations may open up. In this process we are fighting to be the vanguard of unity and popular mobilization in order to confront this recalcitrant right and to make a leap in the accumulation of revolutionary forces.

We are fighting to prepare the Party and the masses for abrupt changes. Judicial and repressive attacks on the popular struggles and the movements in general, on the movements of which we are a part, and in particular on our Party, are a serious matter.

This is a time when the sufferings of the masses are increasing. All sectors of the ruling classes are working to dismantle the struggles and for the masses to play only on the electoral field. But the struggles are growing and the masses are not resigning themselves. We have been playing a big role in those struggles.

The situation tends to precipitate and we are fighting for the working class and people to find the way toward the seizure of political power and thus open the way to the democratic, popular, agrarian and anti-imperialist revolution in uninterrupted march to socialism.

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela (PCMLV) statement at SIPRAL 27

 THE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND THE PEOPLES AND

THE INTER-IMPERIALIST DISPUTES

If we analyze the economic, political and social reality at present attached to the orientations of Marxism-Leninism we must emphasize the fact that we are in the epoch of imperialism, a situation that determines the development and characteristics of central aspects in the economic and political life of the different countries. All this is connected to the dynamics oriented and fed from the structures of financial capital. This means that the aspects on which society rests itself, including the production of material goods, is subjected to the development imposed by the aforementioned financial capital. The emergence of monopolies, their decisive influence on the economic and political activity of countries is a characteristic part of the imperialist epoch.

The big banks and industrial corporations merge, thus forming financial capital with which they acquire an enormous power that decides on essential aspects of the life of millions of people, such as food, health care, education, in addition to developing various mechanisms including war to seize the territories and resources of the peoples.

In this sense the works of Marxism-Leninism have correctly and clearly exposed three characteristic aspects of the imperialist epoch, its fundamental contradictions, namely: The contradiction between capital and labor, the contradiction between imperialist associations and imperialist governments, and the contradiction between the imperialists and the peoples.

In highlighting the first contradiction between capital and labor, we must emphasize the actions of the workers in order to advance in their struggle to confront the measures and mechanisms that the imperialists are adopting to impose their objectives in the framework of the division of the world.

At present the different contentions for the resources and territories desired by the different imperialist blocs are characterized by a series of actions carried out by them with the aim of displacing their competitors, and being able to take the control of resources to be used in their favor.

In this context the imperialists are carrying out actions to readjust themselves, execute tactical steps in the economic, political and social fields, thus defining their allies, and in turn agreements are being expressed in the formation of organizations with common objectives, in the short, medium and long term, such as the Davos Forum, St. Petersburg, Shanghai, the BRICS, each of them obeying the tactics of one or another group that is an expression of finance capital.

This is how the imperialist blocs manifest themselves, they develop their actions within the framework of the redivision of the world, thus seeking to consolidate their position. In their struggle for a new division of the world, the dominant imperialist powers and the big monopolies establish relations that lead to the formation of blocs that develop tactics and behaviors that generally express a directionality in the search for common objectives, without this preventing them from being able to achieve common objectives. Contradictions are experienced within it, the causes of which are found in the economic and political situation of a particular moment.

As we have said, the world is currently experiencing a process of imperialist rearrangement, in which elements such as the United States and the EU and its armed wing NATO are carrying out their activity to try to consolidate their dominance in Europe, while trying to maintain or expand their dominance in areas such as Africa, Latin America and Asia. At the same time, China and Russia are developing mechanisms to carry out this contention by creating places in which they can strengthen their alliances. In this sense BRICS stands out, with which they have direct entry into Latin America, whose territories are already seeing the actions of expansion of the capital of China and Russia. They have advanced with firm steps in the continent, reaching important advances and influence in the economic, political, and military field; this represents an open challenge to the US-EU bloc. The US bourgeoisie in particular still regards Latin America as its "backyard".

It is necessary to emphasize that the development of the imperialist blocs is not exempt from contradictions within them, as has been seen in the contradictions of the USA with some EU countries, or among members of the EU itself. Likewise, in the China-Russia bloc, they maintain relations within the framework of the search for common objectives with actions guided by agreements in which various mechanisms and tactics of domination over the peoples are deployed, which in the end seek to guarantee the redivision of the world.

The rearrangement of the imperialist blocs is creating scenarios that the workers must understand very well to be able to confront them successfully.

In the deployment of their actions, the imperialist blocs are developing different tactics with the aim of strengthening their routes of domination over the resources and peoples. But the latter will exert a fierce resistance in various forms of struggle, a difficulty that the imperialists try to overcome with the application of sophisticated, violent and non-violent methods. They resort to strengthening mercenaries who, together with the conventional repressive agencies, will develop shock actions against the proletariat and the peoples.

Particularly in Latin America, capitalism is experiencing a period of transition from the domination of one imperialist bloc to another, a situation that is developing within the framework of the imperialist rearrangement in our region. To concretize this transition, the capitalists are relying on different forms of government, sometimes petty bourgeois and social democratic, at other times openly bourgeois and reactionary governments, both exponents of the bourgeoisie associated with big capital.

On our continent, some bourgeois democratic governments, despite their reformist character, develop contradictions, particularly against Yankee imperialism, which is creating conditions for the advance of the revolutionary popular movement in terms of the anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples.

This advance will not be created automatically; for this it is necessary that the revolutionaries in general and the Marxist-Leninists in particular can correctly orient the broad masses. This in turn means precisely determining that imperialism is the main enemy of the peoples and that, according to the particular circumstances of some countries, such as ours, this antagonism reflects in its characteristics the main contradictions in the imperialist epoch.

What task is imposed on the workers and peoples today and the revolutionary organizations today.

The redivision of the world by the imperialist powers will have its counterpart in the formation of mechanisms of resistance and struggle by the peoples in general and the proletariat in particular. These actions, which are part of the perspectives of revolutionary organization and the struggle against imperialism, require and demand overcoming the dispersion and weakness of the revolutionary movement, raising the levels of political qualification and ideological struggle against those positions that draw the attention of the proletariat and the peoples away from the main enemy, as well as against opportunist and revisionist positions that contribute to the dispersion of the revolutionary forces. The ideological struggle is exacerbated in these scenarios, which require that the political and ideological strength of revolutionary organizations and parties, in particular the Marxist-Leninists, to make the best efforts to assertively guide the struggle of the workers and peoples by exposing the opportunists of the left and right, preventing the danger of fascism or fascistization that in the current scenarios has regained strength and ascendancy in the popular sectors.

In this sense, strengthening revolutionary organizational references involves overcoming the practices that keep us away from the attention of the broad masses as an important option. To overcome part of these weaknesses, it is necessary to strengthen spaces of unity for political action on the part of the revolutionary forces, taking into account the demands of the political moment imposed by the national and international reality. To advance in political action, initiatives such as the popular front are required, which is a task of the first order at the present time. In this sense, it is urgent to develop a policy of alliances and agreements within the democratic and revolutionary forces with practical sense and revolutionary impetus in order to advance today and to be able to build concrete paths for small, medium and great victories of the revolutionary popular forces.

The above are part of the tasks of Marxist-Leninists today; this should contribute in its various forms and development to the strengthening of the tactical elements in the struggle for national liberation and socialism for which it is imperative to achieve an effective expansion and understanding of our proposals for national liberation by the workers, peasants, communities, youth, women, managing to attract them and incorporate them into the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggle.

It is a complex scenario; it requires attention to the development of the very accelerated dynamic and that is expressed in economic, political and social field, characterized by the actions of the imperialist rearrangement. In particular on our continent the contention is characterized by a rise of the China-Russia bloc, expressing itself in greater economic and military agreements. It is in this region that the US-EU bloc tries to stop this advance while experiencing greater difficulties when some of its "unconditional" allies in the region are being displaced.

The peoples in general and the proletariat in particular have their choice of liberation only by strengthening their capacity for struggle. Inter-imperialist disputes are creating scenarios that point to the expansion of wars; our continent is not exempt from this. Since we have numerous strategic minerals, large deposits of oil, water, great biodiversity desired by the imperialist blocs, our continent will experience the effects of the inter-imperialist contention more and more.

This situation can be seen in some electoral scenarios where the candidates rush to declare the conditions they offer as government proposals to one or another bloc.

Particularities of the inter-imperialist contention in our country.

The imperialist aggression against our country continues to develop through carrying out actions in the economic and political fields. The consequences of these actions have terrible effects within the popular sectors in general and in the proletariat. In particular, the US-EU bloc has carried out a series of actions, including economic sanctions, which have been one of the main causes of the abrupt economic downturn, the pauperization of the living conditions of the exploited and oppressed majorities.

Certainly, we must emphasize the fact that the different actions of imperialist aggression have concentrated on affecting the popular sectors and especially the workers in multiple ways. Based on the control they exercise over the means of production, imperialism has applied mechanisms to extract the greatest quantity of surplus value. The attack on the workers has also been expressed in the revival of speculation, as one of the tactics of the bourgeoisie to crush wages and thus fulfill its objectives of destroying the living conditions of the workers.

It is also worth mentioning that part of the economic policies taken on by the government have worked as a catalyst for the pauperization of the workers' living conditions, by showing their ineffectiveness in stopping the effects of the harmful consequences of imperialist aggression actions, or by establishing mechanisms that are addressed more to the interests of the big bourgeoisie to the detriment of the popular strata and the proletariat.

Faced with the aforementioned situation, part of the popular sectors and the proletariat have raised and supported proposals within the framework of worker, peasant and communal control of production, while they have deployed their actions in defense of the same. In response to the lessons bequeathed by the struggle of the proletariat, the experience of the popular front has been promoted, under the premise of adding and coordinating the capacities and forces of the popular and revolutionary movement to confront imperialism and its agents. This initiative of anti-imperialist struggle has been connected with actions of organic construction, developed by workers, peasants and communal organizations in various parts of the national territory, thus highlighting their class character and their clarity about the need for revolutionary unity. Although they are experiences that still require greater strength and consolidation, they are in frank struggle against all the obstacles and attacks of economic and political sectors of the small and big bourgeoisie, the workers, these experiences are part of an objective that expresses ways and forms to resist and fight against the imperialist offensive, avoiding falling for the sweetened lies that the class enemy is trying to sell.

Our task as Marxist-Leninists is to join, direct and strengthen the experiences of our people in the anti-imperialist struggle, contributing with honesty and discipline to their political and ideological qualification towards the struggle for national liberation and socialism.  [Note that some of the articles have been edited slightly, for typos, etc.]

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

Communist Party of Mexico Marxist-Leninist (PCMML) statement at SIPRAL 27

CLASS IN ITSELF, CLASS FOR ITSELF.

The general crisis of capitalism in all its economic, political, cultural, ecological, ideological and social aspects is accentuated and aggravated with each cyclical crisis it goes through. This is part of the epoch of imperialism and therefore must be the epoch of proletarian revolutions.

Economic crises manifest themselves as crises of overproduction of commodities, which have as their main basis the tendency of the rate of profit to decrease, which during this five-year period had some moments of recovery, partially achieved by the use of new technologies. Agenda 2030 is the best planned imperialist strategy of recent years, where the representatives of the most powerful monopolies have agreed to try to give a long life to capitalism, in which new technology – including Quantum Computing and Artificial Intelligence – aims to displace the human workforce and develop complex processes to solve unsolved problems and prevent the advance of the proletarian revolution.

After the crisis of 2008-2009, the world capitalist-imperialist system went into an economic recession that led to the outbreak of a new crisis between 2019-2020, which, after a small and weak growth in 2022, led to the technical recession in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom; growth in 2023 will be low and even the representatives of capital predicted a "recession" by the end of this year.

This situation shows that neoliberalism has fewer and fewer options to avoid new crises and, on the contrary, has deepened them. In this scenario, some capitalist sectors accompanied by the petty bourgeoisie are implementing the return to the welfare or Keynesian state, to the internal market or "nationalism", combining these economic policies with the same neoliberalism. In other countries, new forms of fascist or militarist governments with right-wing populist discourses are reemerging.

These elements, plus others such as unpayable national debts, the ecological destruction of the planet, the decline in industrial production, unemployment and layoffs due to new technologies, low wages, the aging of various populations of the planet, the growing and forced migration, the sick financial speculation and the decline of the dollar, are bringing the capitalist-imperialist system closer to a new and disastrous global economic crisis.

Ukraine and now Niger are part of an accumulation of military conflicts that add to those that have been dragging on in previous years, in which we see the same actors in Sudan, Libya and Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Saharawi Republic, etc., which are leading a large part of these nations to a new redivision, to their atomization or dissolution into small territories occupied by foreign forces.

The perspectives of the struggle of the working class and the working masses after 36 years of the existence of neoliberalism are showing a relevant role. In a new upsurge of the proletarian movement, it is up to the most advanced of the movement, the proletarian parties, the Marxist-Leninists, to influence, organize and lead these mobilized masses to defeat the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois vision that weighs on these actions, which also seek to trap them by reformism and opportunism, instruments of capitalism itself to undermine the historical perspective of the proletariat, the proletarian revolution and socialism.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue to show the masses, today with greater intensity, that neoliberalism is capitalism-imperialism, which has already played its historical role and must disappear and give way to a socialist society, through the proletarian revolution. All forms of struggle are valid and must be subordinated to the political struggle. We must bring the bourgeois political crisis to the revolutionary crisis in order to establish a workers', peasants' and people's government, through proletarian and popular constituents or assemblies. The building and strengthening of the parties of the working class is necessary to lead to profound and definitive victories for the proletariat over the financial oligarchy and its servants.

In Latin America, social democracy exercises power as a "progressive" alternative now in its second "wave", a social democracy on the right; even when it has an anti-neoliberal discourse, as in Mexico, they continue to implement it. All these variants impose constitutions, laws and norms that sustain capitalism and govern by affecting labor and human rights, as well as the freedom of assembly and organization of millions of workers who create social wealth.

The migratory flows in the world are expanding in the face of conditions of misery, marginalization and insecurity. The reactionary violence that the elites promote in various areas through so-called organized crime and paramilitaries is used as a mechanism of social control, as well as control of territories and natural resources. Also, through ideological control over broad social sectors, it is deepening while new mechanisms of repression are being implemented. The pandemic and war, interconnected phenomena in which a decadent social order is expressed, are useful to deepen the control and subjugation of the languages and favor the implementation of military coups that mean a greater subjugation of the peoples.

The ideological struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is part of the struggle for political power, for control of territory and material resources, just as the political struggle and military war share the same objectives. The ideological struggle is an expression of the class struggle that has so far failed to overcome the ideological hegemonic control of the capitalist-imperialist system. Much work remains to be done by the revolutionary and communist organizations to overcome this situation, to encourage the class consciousness of broad sectors of workers in the countryside and the cities, as well as other sectors of the people. In this sense we must achieve greater impact with our propaganda to put at the center of the debates our positions on national and world problems, particularly on the tasks that the new proletarian revolutions must win.

Class consciousness is the ability of the members of a class to assume their historical project in relation to the development of the productive forces and the mode of production in which they live. This is how Karl Marx defined it in 1840. The proletariat does not become a class for itself until it fully understands the importance of being the producer of all wealth that exists, and that it is its collective strength that can bring about significant change in the political and economic system that exploits and oppresses it. Only once they clearly take up this class consciousness do they struggle to liberate themselves and in turn liberate all classes oppressed by capitalism, because this represents the most advanced class project, above any other progressive position.

In Latin America this class consciousness has been restrained by repression and the most savage dictatorships, but also because in different historical moments, since the emergence of capitalism, the nationalist bourgeoisies have won for their ideological position by calling for the defense of the homeland and defense of the country. Other moments when, after the end or defeats of the dictatorships, the revisionist and social democratic positions have deceived broad sectors of the people, confusing them with their versions of bourgeois democracies and libertarian and populist ideas, artificially displacing the understanding of the fundamental contradiction between capital and labor.

This struggle is of capital importance for communists, because it forms the basis of the subjective conditions for carrying forward revolutionary movements towards the historical goals of the workers. Faced with the power of imperialism, this battle has a fundamental role, to concretize the construction of national and world anti-imperialist fronts, which incorporate all oppressed sectors with their various forms of organization against capitalism and imperialism under the same slogans and programs.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF MEXICO MARXIST-LENINIST

Proletarians of all countries, unite.

AUGUST, 2023

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE) statement at SIPRAL 27

 THE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND PEOPLES,

AND THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST DISPUTES

The prolongation of the war in Ukraine, which has now lasted more than a year and a half, is the main evidence of the intensification of inter-imperialist contention. Russia, the United States and NATO all have in this conflagration the location of the most important projections of their future in international geostrategic control.

To this corresponds the extraordinary investment of economic, military and human resources, and that is still not enough for them and they insist on the need to raise them in all meetings and forums on both sides.

But this war is not the only one in the world, nor the only form of inter-imperialist contention. The trade war is intensifying and subsiding as the situation favors one or another power, one or another economic or military bloc, without the struggles and strife between the members of the same bloc disappearing, as is the case with the countries that make up NATO.

This feverish dispute is spreading to all corners of the earth, it manifests itself in the fueling of local conflicts, the encouragement and support for bloody coups d'état, such as what happened in Niger and Gabon on the African continent, the scene of various and recurrent conflicts.

"We are living in a world conditioned by the ups and downs of the confrontation between the imperialist powers and their economic and military blocs and pacts ," said the ICMLPO in the May 1 Manifesto . The inter-imperialist war that is taking place in Ukraine is an expression of this, but it is not its only manifestation. Localized armed conflicts are under way in other countries, trade wars, military apparatuses and armies are being strengthened, there are disputes for economic and political control of the entire planet. The inter-imperialist struggles, particularly the one between the United States and China, warn us of the danger of a world-wide conflagration."

The repercussions of this intensification of inter-imperialist contention are manifold. In the economy, in addition to the serious effects on the countries directly involved in the armed conflict, its repercussions are evident on a global scale.

The economic downturn is seriously affecting China, with major repercussions on its exports and imports, which have an impact on the international economy.

The harmful combination of economic stagnation with high inflation rates is another effect, present mainly in the United States and Europe, but also in several countries in Latin America and other regions of the world.

However, the main impact is suffered by the workers and peoples, mainly in the countries of the imperialist NATO bloc. The increase in war budgets and "aid" to the Zelensky regime, public subsidies to the financial sector to prevent its bankruptcy, among other aspects, have impacted and continue to impact the economy of those at the bottom, with the increase in energy prices and the fall in the purchasing power of wages. The precariousness of work, the dismantling of public services and the regressive reforms to social security have been some of the consequences of the actions of the imperialist bourgeoisie, to place the cost of its war on the backs of the workers and peoples.

The working class and peoples are responding to the offensive of capital

The most important struggles in the world that have taken place in recent times have been led by the working class and broad working masses.

"Now is our time!

“In all countries the demands for higher wages and better working conditions have begun to grow: mobilizations, strikes, demonstrations have increasingly become the way to impose themselves on the bosses. It is a tendency, with different levels and rhythms, that can be seen in all countries; the class struggle, the strength of the workers when they fight together, the importance of the working class, have become more and more affirmed", says the Communiqué of the European section of the ICMLPO. It is referring to the powerful actions of struggle developed in France where, under the slogans: "No to 64 years", "Enough is enough, this time it is no", "No to exploitation, no to work to the grave", were promoted since the beginning of this year against the increase in the retirement age of workers.

But also there were repeated actions that took place in Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, etc.

Meanwhile, in England, on February 1, a media outlet described:

"Schools closed, trains were paralyzed, officials were absent from multiple ministries. On Wednesday, the United Kingdom saw its largest day of strikes in eleven years with stoppages in many sectors, united by the demand for higher wages against an inflation rate of 10.5%.

“Some 20,000 schools in England and Wales were affected by the first of seven days of strikes called for February and March by primary and secondary school teachers , adding to protests that began months ago in many other sectors.”

Even in the United States, countless workers' strikes were joined by writers, screenwriters and actors in the lucrative film industry.

In Latin America, multiple and repeated actions are developing throughout the region.

The popular rebellion in Peru stands out for its magnitude, in response to the parliamentary coup that removed Pedro Castillo from the government and replaced him with Dina Boluarte. It reached great levels of breadth, radicalism and persistence for a period of 2 months. Only the ferocious repression that claimed the lives of more than 60 combatants, together with the blatant support of US imperialism and the right-wing governments of the region could – momentarily – break the rebellion.

In most countries of the region there have been multiple expressions of protest in which the role of the working class has been clearly highlighted, but they have also had the incorporation of broad sectors of the popular camp.

Ecuador, scene of great class battles

Our country is facing an acute economic, social and political crisis. The impossibility of the bourgeoisie as the ruling class to provide an solution and respond to the fundamental needs of our peoples has led to the increase in poverty and extreme poverty, high unemployment and the accelerated concentration of wealth in the hands of the big bourgeoisie.

The presence in Ecuador of the most important international drug trafficking cartels, connected at different levels with State institutions, has precipitated an unprecedented institutional crisis, political instability and the increase in crime and insecurity in the country.

These factors have determined a complex scenario in which the class contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the working class and other exploited and oppressed classes are expressed and exacerbated, as well as the inter-bourgeois contradictions that have acquired particular significance.

In this scenario, the popular camp, with the action of the working class, broad strata of non-proletarian workers, the indigenous movement, youth, women and sectors of small and medium producers, has played a fundamental role in multiple and significant actions of struggle.

On June 13, 2022, the popular indigenous strike began and lasted for 18 days, winning a victory with a decrease in the prices of gasoline and diesel, the non-expansion of the oil exploitation, the prohibition of mining concessions in protected areas, among other gains.

"The massiveness of the struggle was accompanied by its combativity," says comrade Guido Proaño in the pamphlet: The June strike, eighteen days to win a victory. The mass movement has learned from its own struggles and this was expressed in the struggle in the streets, in the building of barricades, the use of mechanisms and instruments of protection and self-defense, mass actions in the cities, the seizure of governorates and institutions, the closure of main roads to affect the productive apparatus. the blocking of cities taking over key points, the organization of relays, the assembly of logistics to sustain the fighters in the capital."

This momentous battle was not the only one. In multiple and repeated days of mobilization and struggle, the working class, mainly grouped in the organizations that make up the United Workers' Front, has shown its opposition to the attempts of the neoliberal regime of Guillermo Lasso to impose privatizations of strategic areas and social security, of wanting to implement labor flexibility, as a supposed pillar to confront unemployment.

The day of mobilization on May Day 4 months ago took place in 50 cities of the 24 provinces of the country, reiterating the firm position of the working class, leading the popular camp in the complex scenario of political and institutional crisis that confronts Ecuador.

Of course, the camp of the social and political struggle in our country has incorporated multiple sectors affected by the action of the big bourgeoisie in power. Rice producers, dairy farmers, banana growers, Popular Front organizations, peasant social security, university students have been involved. Of particular importance was the struggle promoted by the teachers grouped in the National Union of Educators, who broke the arrogance of the government and won the right to equal pay.

The very episodes of the development of the political crisis, with the impeachment of President Lasso, the declaration of cross-death [in which the president can dissolve the assembly] and the early elections, have not only been expressions of inter-bourgeois contradictions, but also a consequence of the high and persistent levels of combats of the working class, the indigenous movement and other popular sectors.

The struggle in the streets and squares, the strikes and roadblocks has been combined with the presence of the electoral contests.

In opposition to the different alternatives of the bourgeoisie, the revolutionary left and the popular forces have contested the different areas of representation in local governments, in parliament and even in government with their own alternatives.

In the recent early elections, in addition to the 6 presidential candidacies of the bourgeoisie representing different tendencies of the right and so-called progressivism, the popular and left alternative was presented by Yaku Pérez for the Presidency, with the alliance "Claro que se puede" [Certainly we can].

We were in the front row of the contest until the terrible assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio. This reprehensible event shook the political scene and favored the two alternatives of the bourgeoisie, which will contest for the government in the second round. Neither of them are an alternative for the working class and peoples of Ecuador.

By way of conclusions:

The revival of the struggle of the working class at the international level affirms the validity of the fundamental contradiction between capital and labor, between the working class and the bourgeoisie.

The recent experiences of struggle of the working class confirm Lenin's theses of the obligation of revolutionaries to participate and get involved in the big trade unions or trade union federations and to fight for the consciousness of the great working masses.

It has also been shown that in the multiple battles, the working class does not act alone, that broad strata of working people are incorporated who, without being strictly part of the working class, are victims of the capitalist system and of the policies of the imperialist bourgeoisie and its natural ally, the big bourgeoisie in the dependent countries.

In several Latin American countries , indigenous peoples are playing an important role in driving the social and political struggle.

A prominent role has been played by youth and women, who are incorporated and involved with determination in all these struggles.

However, the multiple actions of struggle carried out on an international scale also reveal their limitations that prevent this potential from being projected in a meaningful way to the struggle for revolutionary transformation, for the overcoming of capitalism.

These limitations are seen, on the one hand, in the weaknesses in mechanisms of coordination and unification in the most important moments of the struggle.

The lack of a clear political goal that articulates and projects these struggles is one of the most important and evident limitations, which prevent this struggle from being linked to a project of change, to a revolutionary channel.

Of course, when we speak of these limitations it would be wrong to hold the working class and the working masses responsible for them. It is necessary to take up the new and great challenges that are presented for revolutionaries, for Marxist-Leninist parties, to improve and expand our activity to place ourselves at the height of the current development of the class struggle, and to lead that process and lead the social struggle into the revolutionary channel, to the struggle for political power, for the revolution and socialism.

August 1, 2023