Capitalist Crisis
Inter-imperialist competition and war
The prospect and duties
of the anti-imperialist struggle
Elisseos Vagenas
Member of the CC
Responsible for the International Relations Section of the CC
Comrades,
On behalf of the CC of the KKE I welcome you to the headquarters of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece.
Our
party has been waging a tough and complex political struggle in this
period, in particularly complicated socio-economic and political
conditions, which have been caused by the capitalist crisis. A crisis
which has led to 1.5 million unemployed in a country of only 11 million
and has provoked a very intense offensive by capital, its governments and the EU, which has reduced labour rights, salaries, pensions, has destroyed and is destroying urban and rural petty bourgeois strata, and is threatening the workers with the nightmare of unemployment, including public sector workers, who for many years harboured the illusion that no one could dismiss them.
The capitalist crisis will deepen even further in Greece and the EU. They already admit that the crisis will manifest itself in all the member-states of the EU which have not yet borne a similar brunt, while other countries around the globe show signs of a slowdown.
The
capitalist crisis which is underway demonstrates the impasses of the
capitalist development path: poverty, unemployment, destitution of the
popular strata. But on the other hand,
the bourgeois political system still has “reserves”, it is capable of
influencing the consciousness of the workers, youth, via television, the
internet, films, school, the church, as well as through an entire
“safety net” of the system, made up of parties which foster bourgeois and opportunist ideological constructs. An example of this is the argument that
in the conditions of the crisis today the workers should not struggle
on the basis of their contemporary needs, but should lower their
demands, because allegedly we are “all in the same boat of the national
economy”, which we must not allow to sink.
The bourgeois political system has invented ways to manipulate the section of workers which in the previous period had participated in the major working class struggles that had broken out in Greece. It knows that these are sections of the working class and intermediate strata which have not acquired the necessary political experience and are chiefly possessed by a desire for another form of management which will allegedly stop the downward spiral and will immediately solve their problems, without touching the bases of capitalist exploitation and Greece’s membership of the imperialist unions of NATO and the EU. Thus, in the previous period we saw the bourgeois media using the so-called “movement of the indignant citizens”, which promoted in an often reactionary way its aversion to every form of organization (parties and trade unions), as well as the ideological confusion that the crisis is allegedly caused by the “corruption” of politicians, or by a “lack of democracy”.
It was no accident that they attempted to foster, something they achieved to a great extent, amongst the workers of our country the illusion that the capitalist crisis and the Memoranda are a result of ideological fixations (e.g. the neo-liberal thinking) or self-interested, incompetent and subservient forms of management and negotiations by the bourgeois political personnel. That
if there was an “honest” negotiation based on “patriotic”-“social”
positions by a “competent” government, then the people would be in a
better situation. This was the basis of the shallow anti-memorandum
rationale which was and is continually promoted by SYRIZA, a merger of
the opportunist forces with worn-out forces from social-democratic PASOK, as well as by the Independent Greeks, a split from the rightwing party of ND, and even by the neo-nazi Golden Dawn. That is to say the illusion regarding an immediate solution without conflict and rupture
with capital and the EU. This is a “lifeline” for capital and the
“bait” used to “trap” the working class and other popular strata in its
strategy of safeguarding the socio-economic base of the capitalist
system and of renewing its political personnel. In conditions of relative or even absolute destitution and
unemployment, insecurity, unfortunately large sections of the workers
can fall into this trap, as was demonstrated by the results of the two
recent elections in our country.
In these conditions the Communist Party wages
a tough struggle, ideological, political and organizational against the
bourgeois and opportunist forces. It is important that the CP
enlightens the workers about the real dilemma, which is : with
the monopolies and capital running the economy and possessing the
political power or with the people masters of the economy and in power.
The KKE argues that the capitalist crisis expresses the sharpening of the basic contradiction between the social character of production and labour and the private capitalist appropriation of its results. Positions which attribute the causes of the crisis to management policies, sometimes blaming neo-liberal management, other times the “subservient stance” of the bourgeois governments and the “incompetence” of the negotiators are unrealistic and dangerous! Because
they conceal the fact that the negotiations with the lenders and the
implementation of the anti-people measures occurred after the outbreak
of the crisis.
They conceal the operation of the laws of the exploitative system and
that the history of crises demonstrates that they manifest themselves
overtime regardless of whether a social-democratic or liberal form of
management is in place. They occur due to the sharpening of the system’s contradictions, as well as
the anarchy and unevenness which characterize capitalist production,
the over-accumulation of capital from the exploitation of labour power
which has been concentrated in the phase of economy’s growth and cannot find secure outlets with a high rate of profits, in an environment when the relative and absolute living conditions of the working class is deteriorating. Both before and during the crisis, a systematic offensive was organized by the bourgeois class- a war against the working class and popular
rights with the aim of reducing the price of labour power and
increasing the competitiveness and profitability of capital.
So, it is of great importance that the workers understand the real causes of the crisis and the problems they experience which today are becoming more acute.
Dear comrades,
The economic crisis is not an independent phenomenon, as it emerges from the bowels of capitalist society and exacerbates the inter-state contradictions, the inter-imperialist rivalries, and causes realignments both within the EU and at a global level and of course strengthens the unequal relations of inter-dependence.
For
example, inside the EU a very tough confrontation is taking place in
this period over how the losses from the sharpening and deepening of the
crisis will be distributed and over the future course of the Eurozone.
On this ground some social democratic forces attempt to trap the
workers into concepts which are used for their ideological-political
manipulation proposing another form for managing the crisis via a “front
of the countries of the South” against the “rich North”.
Of
course this is not the first time that the bourgeois class has sought
to divide the workers along geographical, racial and religious lines, blunting the class
approach to issues. But here we are dealing with an attempt to
“mobilize” popular strata around goals set by the bourgeois class of
each country, in the tough inter-imperialist rivalries, inside and
outside the EU. The opportunist forces bear enormous responsibilities in
relation to this. Specifically SYRIZA in our country, the European Left
Party (ELP) in Europe, which actively participate in spreading
illusions that after the election of Hollande in France “a new air is blowing” from the South. These forces, despite their “left” phraseology” seek to sanctify the EU, humanize capitalism and do not hesitate to take sides with one or another imperialist block,
sometimes praising Hollande and the governments of Italy and Spain
regarding the way they negotiated within the framework of the EU and at
other times Obama regarding his chosen way
of managing the crisis. They conceal from the people that the EU is a
union of capital which cannot be reformed and that the only prospect
which serves the workers’ interests is to exit it, through the establishment of people’s power in each country, which will ensure that the economy functions to satisfy the needs of the people and not the profitability of capital.
And
on this point I would like to note the following: As you may be aware
the possibility of forming a “left” government was a significant issue
in the recent elections. And they persisted in calling on the KKE to participate in it. Our party refused from start to finish to participate in such a government as it is very well aware that no government which manages capitalism, the power of the monopolies and private ownership of the means of
production, no government which implements a programme based on
capitalist profits, on the competitiveness, productivity and
profitability of the major business groups can follow a political line in favour of the working class and popular strata.
No
such government, which operates within the framework of the EU and
NATO, capitalist ownership and bourgeois power, can control the laws of
the system, its contradictions, and prevent the outbreak of the
capitalist crisis.
Sooner or later the promises about “relieving” the people will be punctured, they will be proved to be empty words and the expectation and hopes of the people for something better will be replaced by the disillusionment and the retreat of the labour movement.
Consequently,
it is of great significance that the KKE maintained a principled
position rejecting the rationale of participating in a government of
bourgeois management if this government will be called “leftwing. Our party chose to continue the class struggle, confronting the difficulties, aware that temporarily it might suffer some losses in the elections.
But we are determined to intensify our struggle concerning every problem of the people, forming the conditions for the liberation from the chains of exploitation. Thus,
we advanced forwards focussing more on the regroupment of the labour
movement, on the strengthening of the class-oriented movement, PAME, and on the improvement of the activity and the militant orientation of the trade unions.
We place more emphasis on the alliance policy which we had elaborated at the 15th and our
subsequent congresses regarding the construction of a socio-political
alliance, the construction of the Anti- Monopoly Anti-imperialist Front
of Struggle based on the alliance between the working class, small and
medium-sized farmers and the urban petty bourgeois strata, with the
participation of women and youth. We continue the effort for the creation
of the socio-political preconditions which will lead to the escalation
of the struggle for people’s power, the disengagement from the European
Union and NATO, the unilateral cancellation of the debt, the socialization of the concentrated means of production, the development in favour of the people.
Certain people ask: Why does the KKE pose the issue in this way? Does it not understand that the current correlation of forces on a global scale is negative? That the solution it proposes, rupture with the imperialist unions, requires sacrifices from the people?
Of course we know
that the path we propose to the people requires sacrifices! But the
path of capitalist development requires sacrifices in any case. But these are sacrifices which do not benefit the people, as we see in the new round of imperialist contradictions for the control and the redistribution of the markets, the territories, the energy sources and natural resources, which has
begun in our region. A region which possesses important natural
resources and includes central and compulsory lanes for maritime
transport, important routes for the energy transportation from the energy sources in Caucasus, Caspian, Middle East and Northern Africa to the countries of Europe as well as to South-Eastern Asia. These elements draw the imperialist powers like a magnet
and make the region a significant arena for the manifestation of
inter-imperialist contradictions and their strategic aims, with the
direct participation and responsibility of the bourgeois classes and
bourgeois political forces of the states in the region which are a part
of the problem and take sides with the imperialist unions in order to
serve their own interests. All the above entail wars, outside interventions
in order to appoint governments which are controlled by the one or the
other imperialist power in order to facilitate the redistribution and
control of markets and resources.
Africa and the Middle East, amongst other regions, are at boiling point, and so imperialist war and the subsequent imperialist peace are not issues alien to
the Greek people, taking into account that our country is a member of
the EU and NATO, has US-NATO bases, and has an extremely important
geo-strategic position for the conduct of imperialist wars.
The major airforce-naval base, which the USA possess in our country in Suda, Crete, as well as the airspace and territorial waters of our country in general were used in the
recent imperialist war against Libya. After the imperialist
intervention against Libya, which was followed by the division of the loot, the Turkish threats against Cyprus are intensifying, the relations between Turkey and Israel are sharpening, the
aggressiveness of Israel against the Palestinian people, Lebanon and
Egypt has been reinforced, while the plan for an imperialist
intervention in Syria is underway, which also aims at an attack against Iran, using
the pretext of its nuclear programme. These developments are related to
the general realignments in the region connected to the imperialist
plan for a “New Middle East”, with the changes underway in North Africa
and the Middle East after the overthrow of the anti-people governments
in Egypt and Tunisia, with the attempt to reorganize the bourgeois
political system, so that it corresponds to the current needs of capitalist profitability. This
reality has been distorted by the position regarding the “Arab Spring”,
which is reproduced by bourgeois and opportunist forces, prettifying
the bourgeois regimes which emerged after the popular mobilizations in
Egypt and Tunisia, concealing that the regime of exploitation remains, that new harsh measures are being imposed on the people.
It is no secret that the imperialists are invoking on every occasion various pretexts, like in Syria now, where they started with the issue of “democracy” and now focus on chemical and biological weapons in order to justify an intervention. The developments in Syria are a result of the blatant imperialist intervention of the USA, EU, NATO, as well as of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel against this country.
It has become obvious
that the USA, the EU, Israel are interested in the destabilization and
weakening of the Syrian bourgeois regime, which opposes according to
developments the imperialist positions and plans in the region and is an
ally of forces in Palestine, Lebanon etc which are in conflict with the USA, NATO and Israel. Let us not forget that today Syrian territories are under foreign (Israeli) occupation! The weakening of this regime or even its overthrow can whet the appetites for the imperialist plans for an attack on Iran, with the pretext of its nuclear programme. It can even lead to new dismemberment of states in the region and a domino effect of destabilization and bloodshed, something which will bring about new imperialist wars and interventions.
This
is the reason why the workers should distinguish what is the main issue
at every juncture! And the most important issue here is that the
dangerous escalation of the imperialist intervention of the EU-USA-NATO
in the region, which takes place on the terrain of tough competition
with Russia and China, includes the danger of a generalized war, initially against Syria, but also against Iran, which will have disastrous consequences for the peoples in our region. The imperialist powers which intervene in every way (politically, economically, militarily) in the internal affairs of Syria, along with the media they possess, misinform the peoples in order to justify a new imperialist war. These developments in Syria supplement the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
The peoples need to resist in a mass way the interventions, to oppose the imperialist war and the capitalists system, which causes it. The developments in Syria are a matter for its people. They are responsible for deciding the course of their country.
Comrades,
In these conditions of the sharpening of the capitalist crisis and the
inter-imperialist contradictions, it is necessary that we are clear
about who we are fighting against. Who is the enemy of the labour and
popular movements? There are many who will answer that “there is one
enemy, imperialism” but in practice each person may in essence answer
differently. This is because there exists a shallow “anti-imperialism”,
as we would say, which equates imperialism with its leading power, the USA. The USA is today becoming more aggressive in
order to safeguard its hegemonic position in relation to rising global
and regional powers. But the equation of imperialism with the USA,
the view regarding “Empire”, forgets the Leninist conception of
imperialism, at the core of which is monopoly capitalism. This mistaken view is of course justifiably opposed to the USA, but has no front against, for example, the equally imperialist EU. Indeed certain forces treat the EU in a mistaken way as a “counterweight” to the USA and seek the advancement of its political-military unification. Of course they are making a mistake! The EU, like other emerging economies today, and other regional inter-state unions which have been formed e.g. on the territory of former USSR or Latin America, cannot play a substantially positive role in global affairs in favour of the working class and popular strata because they have the capitalist monopoly in their DNA.
The so-called “multi-polar world” of the so-called “new architecture
of international relations”, is not a world of peace and security for
the peoples, but a world of sharpening inter-imperialist contradictions.
In this world International law, as the peoples knew it when the USSR existed, no longer holds true, as it is formed and implemented not as a result of the correlation of forces between capitalist and socialist countries but as a result of the correlation of forces between the capitalist countries.
Certain other views also deal with imperialism in a mistaken way, as Kautsky did in the past, that is to say as a policy of the ruling class and not as a level in the development of capitalism which is connected to the dominance of the monopoly in capitalist production, the fusion of industrial and banking capital, the export of capital and the economic character of imperialist wars (the division and redivision of markets). It would be a serious mistake for the popular movement to base its hopes on the so-called rising powers, or to choose their side. And this is because as Lenin warned in his confrontation with Kautsky it would lead us to mistaken assessment that “monopolies in the economy are compatible with non-monopolistic, non-violent, non-annexationist methods in politics.[1]” This is the way it is, comrades: There cannot exist powerful countries, where the capitalist relations of
production, the capitalist monopolies, are dominant and which are at
the same time “doves of peace”. This would be a serious illusion.
Yes it is true that today, even if it is weaker than it was 10 years ago, the USA maintains the first position in the imperialist “pyramid”. But as Lenin warned: “Half a century ago Germany was a miserable, insignificant country, if her capitalist strength is compared with that of the Britain of that time; Japan compared with Russia
in the same way. Is it “conceivable” that in ten or twenty years’ time
the relative strength of the imperialist powers will have remained
unchanged? It is out of the question”[2]. It is the case today! The uneven capitalist development, which is a fundamental law of capitalist production,
causes realignments, but these are within the framework of the
imperialist system, between the imperialist powers and these changes can
in no way safeguard peace and security. The imperialist peace for as long as it lasts prepares the ground for new imperialist wars!
In our opinion it is one thing for a people’s socialist regime to seek to exploit inter-imperialist contradictions in order to develop the class struggle and to safeguard working class power, and quite another thing to mislead the workers, fostering false hopes regarding the role of the emerging imperialist powers and inter-state
unions. This is why we call on the working class of our country not to
choose imperialist camp. We persist with the slogan that : “The people
are the only superpower!”
During
the wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, more recently in Libya,
as well as regarding the war being prepared against Syria-Iran, our party decisively
refused to accept the arguments of the bourgeois governments and media,
NATO and the EU which were to a great extent reproduced amongst the popular strata by various “left” forces, that is to say the forces of opportunism. The bourgeois forces having at their side the opportunist forces based the need for an imperialist intervention and war sometimes on the need “to stop ethnic cleansing”, other times on allegedly “humanitarian reasons” or on the need “restore democracy”, or “ to stop the use of weapons of mass destruction” or even on “the support of the Arab Spring”. The
party has opened and maintains a stable ideological-political front
against these forces and does not forget for one moment the Leninist
position of “the impossibility of unity with the opportunists in the epoch of imperialism.” And even that “the fight against imperialism is a sham and humbug unless it is inseparably bound up with the fight against opportunism[3].”
This
ideological struggle against the bourgeois and opportunist forces is a
component of the anti-imperialist activity of our party. In addition, it
is combined with the vanguard anti-imperialist activity of the
communists in the trade unions, in the ranks of the All Workers’
Militant Front (PAME), which is the class oriented pole of the Greek
trade unions, as well as in the other mass organizations such as Greek
Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE).
The
KKE appeals to the working class, to the peoples of our country and our
region and stresses that their interests are identified with the common
anti-imperialist-antimonopoly struggle, for the disengagement from the
imperialist organizations, the closure of the foreign military bases
and the removal of the nuclear weapons, the return of the troops from
the imperialist missions, the solidarity with the Palestinian people who
experience the Israeli barbarity as well as with all the peoples who
struggle and try to chart their own path of development. The struggle for these goals today cannot be detached from the struggle for power.
And
the reason is that the people can live peacefully and creatively and
utilize the natural resources –which will be people’s property- for
their own benefit, for the satisfaction of their own needs only on the
terrain of the workers’ and people’s power, on the terrain of socialism.
We
condemn the unjust, imperialist wars and struggle for the disengagement
of the country from them! Nevertheless, we know that the wars which
constitute the continuation of politics by other, violent, means are
inevitable as long as society is divided into classes as long as there
is exploitation of man by man, as long as imperialism dominates.
The replacement of war by peace to the benefit of the people cannot be
achieved without the replacement of capitalism by socialism. This truth
makes our struggle today even more timely and necessary.
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