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

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Germany (MLPD) statement at SIPRAL 27

CONTRIBUTION OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF GERMANY (MLPD)

Dear comrades, and friends

On behalf of the Central Committee of the MLPD I would like to express my sincere thanks to the PCMLE and the JRE Youth League for the invitation to the 27th Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America".

Due to the acute political development in Ecuador and the tasks arising from the dissolution of parliament and new elections, unfortunately it could not be held face to face. Based on the publications of "En Marcha", we have also reported on the profound events in Germany and will continue to do so.

Of great importance and even growing explosiveness is the theme of this year's seminar: "The struggles of the working class and peoples and the inter-imperialist conflicts".

My name is Anna Bartholomé and as head of the MLPD for South America, I am very happy to participate in this seminar – as I have done many times.

I greet you very cordially from the chair of the MLPD party, Gabi Fechtner, and from Stefan Engel, leader of our theoretical organ, the REVOLUTIONARY WAY. I also bring you greetings from the head of the international section of the MLPD, Monika Gärtner-Engel, who performs the task of main coordinator of the world revolutionary organization ICOR and who is currently co-chair of the international anti-fascist and anti-imperialist organization. Children's Red Fox.

I apologize that our contribution to the seminar could only come to you late, but you can imagine that our tasks in party building and the class struggle and internationalist responsibilities place very high demands on us.

Parallel to the international seminar in Quito, from August 31 to September 3, the III International Miners' Conference is taking place, in which I myself will participate. For international finance capital, the attempt to drain old and new mining projects is of paramount importance, above all for the conversion of capitalist production to digitalization and electric mobility. This goes hand in hand with immense environmental destruction, against which fierce resistance is being waged.

The international miners' conference took place for the first time in Arequipa, Peru in 2013 and for the second time in Ghodavarikani, India in 2017. The current conference is taking place in Germany and active miners from 18 countries, as well as many supporters of the miners' movement, are meeting, debating and making decisions on how they can work together even better at the international level and to coordinate struggles together for their interests.

To give you an idea, we want to show you a short video of the opening day:

...

We are currently witnessing a far-reaching evolution of human history, without exaggeration, which challenges the clarity and determination of the revolutionaries of the world.

Humanity is in a latent existential crisis.

The war in Ukraine with the acute preparation of a world and nuclear war, like the global environmental catastrophe that has begun, has the potential to bring all of humanity to ruin. The world imperialist system and the single dominant international finance capital are responsible for this. The international socialist revolution has become an urgent necessity.

The global environmental catastrophe that has begun brings with it a "year of records": record heat in southern Europe, record forest fires with enormous damage, record floods in Pakistan, Slovenia, China, etc.

The global environmental catastrophe marks a development that is also bringing heavy mortgages for the building of a socialist society.

The processes of the complex biosphere system, which have developed over millions of years and have now been irreversibly disturbed or destroyed, cannot be reversed by individual technical measures! Self-reinforcing irreversible tipping points have been created or bypassed. The melting of the permafrost and of glaciers cannot be stopped. Just like one cannot stop the ecosystem of a rainforest that has evolved over millions of years.

For environmental awareness to develop and for people to fight for survival and take up the struggle for survival, we need clarity about the situation in which we find ourselves and a scientific approach.

The will among the masses is growing, despite all the agitation and criminalization of young environmental activists. This is also shown by recent surveys. However, to achieve a socially transformative struggle there is nothing more important in the struggle for the environment than to do this theoretical work to get ahead of development!

A supplement to REVOLUTIONARY WAY No. 35, "Catastrophe alarm, what can be done against the wanton destruction of the unity of humanity and nature?” under the direction of the party leadership and editorial director Stefan Engel together with a team of competent experts on the world environmental catastrophe, will appear in the coming weeks. And this book will certainly be translated as soon as possible.

As to the alternative already mentioned by Rosa Luxemburg – "fight for socialism or perish in capitalist barbarism" – it is perfectly clear that the masses of the whole world do not want to perish in the barbarism threatened by war, environmental catastrophe and massive impoverishment. They are taking up the fight for their future and that of the children and young people.

In Europe, we participated in a "militant spring" with general strikes and mass struggles in France, Greece, Portugal and Italy, which were not only directed against impoverishment by rapid inflation, anti-mass pension schemes as in France, but partly also against the warmongers, the gigantic rearmament for the war in Ukraine, etc. In Germany we are witnessing an awakening of class consciousness on a broad front with a tendency to further development. The social confusion spread by the rulers, their mass media and the so-called social media is beginning to dissolve into a struggle unfolded by the mentality.

Large sections of the population are disappointed and extremely dissatisfied with the government formed by Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, the so-called "traffic-light" coalition.

Especially among young people and the very active environmental movement, an increasingly global critique of capitalism is developing under the slogan "system change, not climate coincidence". This includes the search for a fundamental social alternative without already having a clear "we" over the "how".

As a counter-movement, the rulers are pushing for a right-wing development, especially through a populist, racist, misogynist and divisive agitation against refugees – in particular to build an increasingly openly fascist party, AFD – the so-called Alternative for Germany.

In this polarized situation, the MLPD together with its youth federation REBELL has launched an offensive to help genuine socialism gain new prestige against all anti-communist reservations. It is a dialectical negation of the latent existential crisis of humanity, which also produces tendencies to the cult of spontaneity, but also to resignation and panic.

Without underestimating the real gravity of the situation, it is necessary to encourage the masses to fight for a better world with proletarian optimism.

The final declaration of the 26th International Seminar on Problems of the Revolution in Latin America was also signed by the MLPD by decision of the Central Committee. We completely agree with the evaluation:

"The invasion of Ukraine by Russian imperialism has turned this country into the scene of a war in which the economic, political and geostrategic interests of several capitalist-imperialist countries are at stake. This aggression and the immediate intervention of US imperialism and its allies in the European Union and NATO in the conflict are an expression of the intensification of the inter-imperialist contradictions to the point of being waged on military terrain, turning this conflict into a war of an inter-imperialist character."

The economic war against Russia, justified by the war, has far-reaching consequences for the masses all over the world with inflation, famine, increasing exploitation of man and nature.

The war in Ukraine is the open outbreak of the struggle between the old and the new imperialist countries in the multipolar world, which has been dormant for years.

In this phase, German imperialism has clearly reinforced its ambitions to become the leading military power. The world has never been so close to a third nuclear world war. Putin wants to increase his intervention army to 400,000 men. Calls are being made through mobile phones, which are monitored everywhere. Thousands of people are fleeing. In Ukraine, tens of thousands of people are trying to get out of military service, which is no problem for the rich, given the rampant corruption: small farmers, artisans and workers are sent to the front as cannon fodder.

The growing weariness of war in all countries directly or indirectly involved is a special obstacle for warmongers.

German imperialism is trying to become the first military power. During a visit, War Minister Boris Pistorius complained about the decline in numbers of recruitment of soldiers. He criticized the Bundeswehr's previous advertising campaigns with adventure films and stressed that recruits must be suitable for missions abroad. The core is the "will to defend the country and the alliance" and that soldiers must be willing "to risk their own health for the safety of others". And, of course, not only their health, but their lives, but more and more young people are not willing to do so. In the struggle for peace, questions of principle and ideology must also be clarified in the international revolutionary and workers' movement.

There are crude falsifications which are being spread in Germany especially by the old revisionist party, the DKP, and former employees of the secret service of the GDR, the Stasi.

They describe only the USA is imperialist. Even German imperialism, as a vassal of the US, is underestimated in its independent aspirations. The revisionists use this to justify their policy of supporting Chinese and Russian imperialism. Such revisionist argumentation leads today directly to social-chauvinism.

Of course, there are major and minor imperialist powers. But we are against every imperialist –we don't pit the biggest thief against the smallest one.

Starting with the superpowers USA and China, they are attempting to form blocs in their quest for world domination. The recent BRICS conference is a case in point.

The new focus of international tension in Niger, Africa, is an expression of this intensified international competition.

We must promote the growing critique of capitalism, the growing openness to a socialist alternative, especially among young people, with our efforts to help genuine socialism gain a new reputation.

This requires not only good arguments, but we want to achieve small-scale low-threshold work with mass effect with all the appearance and image of the party. At the same time, we must develop systematic educational and consciousness-raising work.

Thus, we take the upcoming 50th anniversary of Pinochet's fascist coup in Chile as an occasion to refute all the illusions of a "peaceful road to socialism" that the revisionists have pursued until today and to convince people of the need for revolutionary struggle.

Last year's final declaration states: "We call for strengthening the unity and organization of the workers and peoples to confront the owners of capital. This unity must be anti-imperialist and anti-fascist and express the internationalist character of the struggle. From this America, where the peoples are struggling for their emancipation, we express our solidarity with all the peoples of the world who are struggling for work, life, freedom. We are united by the same ideals, we know that we are right, and also that we have the strength."

Forging such an anti-imperialist and anti-fascist united front is more urgent today than ever.

Proletarian internationalism of transnational cooperation and coordination is an adequate response to right-wing development, fascism, war and the world environmental catastrophe. For all its military, political and economic power, imperialism is weak. It can no longer solve the problems of humanity. The workers and masses are mobilizing; the question is, where is their protest headed? We have to influence it, organize the workers and the masses, collect their protest, unite it, coordinate it, radicalize it and revolutionize it through the work of consciousness.

We would like to appeal to all organizations, parties and individuals gathered here to participate actively in this great work and become members of the Anti-Imperialist United Front.

Thank you very much for your attention and I wish for a continued exciting and successful seminar.

Long live international solidarity!
Anna Bartholomé

Communist Party of Labor of the Dominican Republic (PCT) statement at SIPRAL 27

THE STRUGGLES OF WORKERS AND PEOPLES, AND
THE INTER-IMPERIALIST DISPUTES

The Communist Party of Labor considers the central theme of the Seminar to be very timely on this occasion. In the first place, because the struggle of the workers and peoples corresponds to the need for changes and as a necessary response to the problems posed by imperialist domination; secondly, because the current historical situation of the revolution continues to be one of class confrontation, in which the struggles of the masses for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie occupy a fundamental place; thirdly, because in the present context, the inter-imperialist contradictions are therefore at the order of the day, and it is up to the revolutionary parties and organizations to analyze them in order to derive the lines of orientation pertinent to the great cause of revolutionary change.

1. THE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND THE PEOPLES ARE DECISIVE TO FORGE THE REVOLUTION

Marxism-Leninism is the doctrine of liberation of the working class and oppressed peoples; this is a known truth to which it will always be necessary to return with regard to analyses and evaluations of the living and working conditions of the workers, as well as the perspectives of their struggles. against exploitation and oppression in capitalist society. The historical resistance of the workers and their victories in different scenarios of struggle are irrefutable examples of their power as a revolutionary social class, as seen in the struggles waged throughout history against capital. The experience of the Paris Commune as the first test of working-class power and the glorious October Revolution of 1917 are illustrative examples of the correctness of revolutionary theory.

The Bolshevik revolution, the most important political event in the 20th century, bequeathed lessons of extraordinary value to the revolutionary cause throughout the world. It was the result of a whole complex process of struggles, accumulation of forces and political tactics, which culminated in the triumph of the revolution. With this experience it was shown that, in the context of the capitalist system, the oppressed workers and peoples can not only aspire to power, but their effective victory and the revolutionary transformation of society is a viable task when the revolutionary struggle has a vanguard and is endowed with political strategy and tactics. consistent with that ideal in tune with reality.

The building and accumulation of forces in the revolutionary sense challenges communists and revolutionaries to develop ever closer links with the working and popular masses. This task in the current context entails difficulties and obstacles whose overcoming requires a lot of creativity and audacity, just as we strive to carry out the critical balance, the revolutionary parties and organizations in our daily struggle, but the visible results demand much more, much more. We must hammer consciousness into this.

The struggles of workers and peoples for their emancipation are developing in the face of powerful enemies who have at their disposal enormous resources of all kinds. Faced with this reality, the working class and the peoples necessarily require the building and strengthening of Marxist-Leninist parties and revolutionary organizations that, in the heat of class struggles, shape and evaluate their ability of struggle, thus responding to the challenge of promoting the convergence of objective and subjective conditions that make it possible to seize power and begin the beginning of the new society that is the gravedigger of capitalism, socialist society.

2. THIS STRUGGLE IN THE NEW HISTORICAL CONDITIONS

   Marx and Engels established in the Communist Manifesto: " Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." Lenin, in his classic work "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" (1916) consolidated the conclusions of Marx and Engels, characterizing the epoch of imperialism as one of great concentration of monopolies and of the proletarian revolution.

   With the victory of the Russian revolution and the organization of the Soviet state, the experience of the Bolsheviks became a universal socialist model that served as an inspiring spark. so that the proletariat in struggle on a world scale would make the leap from "a class in itself" to "a class for itself", trusting in the capacity of its vanguard for revolutionary change and the building of a new society.

   Despite all the disorienting maneuvers of the imperialists and their spokespersons, such as the emergence of the theory of the so-called "end of history and the class struggle", the working class and oppressed peoples have not ceased to fight for their demands against capitalist domination and oppression.

   From the disintegration of the Soviet bloc and the impact on society of the scientific-technical revolution, new circumstances have been created in which the capitalist system and imperialism deepen their domination, while their spokespersons from certain academic scenarios and media speculate about the ability of that system to "reinvent itself" and that "revolutions are a thing of the past." Despite this confusing and demobilizing campaign, to the extent that the exploitation of labor power and the oppression of peoples and nations are expanded and deepened, the objective bases of class confrontation continue to mark the course of contemporary society.

   This incontrovertible truth is revealed in the various actions of struggle and resistance against oppression and exploitation by the workers and peoples in recent decades in various are was, which have their most recent expression in the extraordinary struggles by workers and other oppressed sectors in France.

   The strikes, street fighting, attempts at popular insurrection in different areas, are part of the scenario of contemporary society.

   It is true that, in various countries, this potential for rebellion has often been channeled into support for reformist democratic electoral choices that, in many cases, betrayed the electorate, abandoning any idea of democratic and social justice reform. This betrayal is creating great frustrations in broad sectors of society, which together with the continuity of the crisis and its consequences for the working masses, is creating conditions for the strengthening of fascist and neo-fascist choices, as we are seeing in a growing number of countries.

   The great challenge is to create revolutionary consciousness in the masses, whose mobilization is the antidote to the fascist danger. This mobilization of the masses cannot be limited to the level of economic demands, it requires action in pursuit of political gains. For this, the role of the vanguard communists and revolutionaries and their party is key. In this sense, the present challenge for the cause of the revolution remains to win the hearts and minds of the masses, placing the workers and youth in the first place, starting from the fact that in capitalist society, of all the exploited classes, it is the working class that is most consistently revolutionary.

   On this point, comrade Manuel Salazar proposes the reflection based on the question before "Who will win over the masses is a very topical question. And it has always been for a force interested in seizing power, having the masses of workers and other popular sectors as the main factor to achieve and retain it" (M. Salazar. The Revolution is Today, Santo Domingo (1997), p. 61).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The raison d'être for the militants, for communists and revolutionaries, is the political exercise for the overthrow of the reactionary classes and the building of revolutionary political power. For this, the struggles of the workers and peoples are key, because the real revolution must be their work.

   In this regard, a text by comrade Pablo Miranda states that, "For the popular struggles to be included in the revolutionary process it is necessary that they (the masses) clarify their understanding of the class character of their enemies. They must understand the need to fight for power, recognize their present strength, their potential, they must identify their true friends and accept the leadership of the Party and its forces.” (Pablo Miranda. The subjects of the revolution, p. 55.)

   It is important to emphasize that this consciousness is achieved, built, with the experience obtained by the workers and other popular sectors in their daily struggles closely inspired by the communist party and other revolutionary organizations. Without this, the masses can be the object of confusion, seduced by the parties of the bourgeois-capitalist system, by which they are diverted.

   In response to the adverse conditions in which we are struggling today, and in recognition of the unprecedented challenges we face, in order to raise our capacity for analysis and intervention on an increasingly complex reality, it is worth noting that the revolutionary movement has faced similar situations in the past and has been able to overcome them.

   In this regard, referring to the experience of the mass struggle during the period 1905-1907, Lenin warns that:

   "The defeat of the revolution resulting from this first campaign revealed... that the forces were insufficiently prepared, that the revolutionary crisis was insufficiently wide and deep.... The great wars in history, he great problems of revolutions, were solved only by the advanced classes returning to the attack again and again—and they achieved victory after having learned the lessons of defeat.” (V I Lenin, “On the Road,” Collected Works, Volume 15, p. 351,: Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977.) The logic on which the evolution of the capitalist system rests, creates factors of crisis that eventually lead to a revolutionary situation, that the constancy of the communists and revolutionaries in consistent positions, with firmness and clarity of orientation, their protagonism in tune with the masses, lead us to new revolutionary crises.

   That is the true perspective of our work.

   1. INTER-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLES CONSPIRE AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF WORKERS AND PEOPLES

   On a world scale, inter-imperialist conflicts are developing motivated by the interests of this or that imperialist power, regardless of human lives, the destruction of the environment and the destiny of the peoples.

   Every day it becomes clearer to the peoples that the war in Ukraine is the theatre of confrontation of the interests of the imperialist powers, which in the framework of this war, are consolidating old and new alliances.

   In the context of this military conflict, the United States, which instigated the war together with the United Kingdom, has managed to increase its control over the European Union, despite the fact that the big business of delivering weapons to Ukraine creates benefits for all. It is a fact that in this context the community of interests between Russia and China has also been strengthened.

   Assessing the nature of the First World War very early on as a war between imperialist sides, an illuminating text by Lenin states that "Seizure of territory and subjugation of other nations, the ruining of competing nations and the plunder of their wealth, distracting the attention of the working masses from the internal political crises... disuniting and nationaliststultification of the workers.... these comprise the sole actual content, importance and significance of the present war.... Neither group of belligerents is inferior to the other in spoliation, atrocities and the boundless brutality of war" (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, “The War and Russian Social Democracy,” in Collected Works, vol. 21,: pp. 27-28Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1974).

   As if it were written today, these ideas confirm the relevance of relying on Leninist theory when addressing the complex phenomena and processes of the national anti-imperialist struggle and the struggle for socialism; the agreements and disagreements between imperialist powers and groups of imperialist countries; the crises in the evolution of capitalism in its monopoly phase, and especially our responsibility for the modification of the current framework, to promote the emergence of new conditions conducive to revolutionary change, the creation of consciousness, organization and struggle of those exploited and oppressed for national and social emancipation.

   GLORY TO MARXISM-LENINISM!

   DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM!

   LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLE OF THE WORKERS AND PEOPLES!

   Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PCT. August 31, 2023.

   
   

Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador (JRE) statement at SIPRAL 27

 TO FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE IS TO FIGHT AGAINST CAPITALISM!

In the world there are 1200 million young people who represent 16% of the world population; by 2030, this figure will grow by 7% and there will be more than 1300 million (UN, 2023), the largest number of young people in history. Youth is the most dynamic factor of production, of cultural, technological, communication and social development. However, this is not recognized in a world in which, in addition to economic exploitation, ethnic, gender and age marginalization is imposed. But, marginalization is far from being a "moral" issue, and, in fact, 60% of young people in the so-called "developing" countries have no work nor education. It is estimated that 39% of young people and adolescents in Latin America live in poverty and up to 10% in indigence; the homicide rate among young people is 33 per thousand inhabitants, suicide remains the second leading cause of death for adolescents and half of sexual abuse is committed against women up to the age of 15 (UNFPA, 2022). The world is turning its back on those it claims are "its future."

But, it is not just any "world"; we are talking about the world in which 1% of the population hoards twice as much wealth as the rest of the population together and, not satisfied with this, has taken 63% of the new wealth created in the last two years (OXFAM, 2023). We are talking about a world in which, while people are starving, dozens of active military conflicts (the most important is the Russia-Ukraine war, but it is not the only one) are being carried out and military spending has increased to more than $2.24 trillion. This exceeds the average spending during the Cold War and the main ones are the powers that are contesting for the world: the United States, China and Russia (SIPRI, 2022).

We must also talk about a world that, in the midst of the pandemic, could not guarantee the lives of 15 million people (WHO, 2021), in which there are 207 million unemployed, in which 140 million remain outside the educational systems, in addition to the 90% who suspended their studies for up to a year. We are talking about a world that is on the verge of a new mass extinction, due to the serious environmental crisis to which the voracious actions of the mega-transnational corporations are leading us. This world is capitalism, in its final stage, imperialism.

On the other hand, the peoples are rising up to reject the policy of hunger, rape and death by the global and local elites. In Europe, workers and peasants mobilized against the announced austerity measures, even in countries such as Britain, Germany and Austria. In France, the struggle against the government's labor reform turned into a major rebellion. In Africa and Asia, movements are persisting that confront neocolonialism and demand democratic reforms. The women's and environmental movement are growing and, despite the agendas of NGOs, they are taking on anti-system overtones.

Latin America, in turn, remains the center of disputes and contradictions. While U.S., Chinese and European imperialism continue to vie for economic, political and military control, using their old and new neoliberal, "progressive" and even pro-fascist faces, the struggle of the indigenous people, workers, peasants, women and youth are continuing to unfold in several areas. In all these battles, the young people are fighting on the front line, they are revolutionizing communications and organizing themselves in different ways. The building of truly popular and left-wing projects is still a work in the making.

In Ecuador, the neoliberal offensive is seeking to privatize strategic areas, social security, to hand over resources to mining and oil transnationals, to impose labor flexibility and reduce investment in health care and education. As part of the strategy of global domination and the US security doctrine, work is also being done to strengthen the repressive apparatus and demonize the popular struggle.

The people have resisted this new onslaught and, there have been protests in the agricultural sector, hunger strikes and mobilizations of teachers, resistance in areas threatened by extractivism, the women's struggles against femicidal violence and for the right to abortion in cases of rape; students have also demonstrated for the budget for education and admission to universities. A high point of this struggle was the strike of June 2022. At present, the people are demanding solutions to the serious crisis of insecurity that has taken over the country, hand in hand with organized crime and the corrupt State.

Young people are suffering the consequences of this serious situation in a particular way. Only 9.9% have adequate employment, 195 thousand students did not return to the classroom after the pandemic, between 250 and 300 thousand young people stay out of university each period, 3 out of 10 face mental health problems and 41 thousand adolescents from the age of 14 become pregnant every year. In the midst of this abandonment, young people from the popular sectors are being recruited by criminal organizations, but they are not the majority; more than 80% of young people are demanding urgent solutions to insecurity.

In this scenario, marked by a deep institutional crisis, there is the unprecedented event of the decree of cross death [by which the President can dissolve the National Assembly] and call for early presidential elections; the left forged a unitary process that, for various reasons, among those highlighted are the resurgence of political violence, did not achieve the expected results and today we are facing a second round in which two right-wing alternatives are being debated. Faced with this situation, maintaining our class independence, the popular organizations are promoting the null vote. An important milestone that was achieved is the victory of the popular referendums in Defense of the Yasuní and the Chocó Andino, which opens the doors for the fight against extractivism under new conditions.

Intertwining these ideas, we can state that, while the youth continues to move the world, capitalism, while filling the pockets of a handful of rich people, is denying a future to the millions of young people and, in the process, is placing the whole world at mortal risk. That is why, naturally, discontent, social mobilization and protest have become a necessary resource, even in the Europe of the so-called "first world" and, with it, the perspective of the revolutionary transformation of society is still present, although the capitalists are arming for war abroad and at home.

The youth of Ecuador and the world yearn for change, despite the brutal ideological onslaught to disarm, demobilize, and confuse them; they are continuing to be the protagonist in the struggle for rights and the preservation of the planet. They continue in the search for alternatives and, in this way, the efforts of the left must be oriented towards affirming its relationship with the youth, knowing their reality, their subjectivity, fighting their battles, organizing them, intertwining the concerns and aspirations of the youth to the strategic objective of the revolution and socialism.

Long live the struggle of the youth, workers and peoples of the world!

REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH OF ECUADOR

September, 2023