KARL MARX, THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

 By Nikos Mottas 

 

"Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." 

 

- Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach.

140 years have been passed since the day when "the greatest living thinker ceased to think". It was the 14th of March 1883 when Karl Marx, the greatest of modern-era philosophers, died peacefully at his home in London. Three days later, during his burial at Highgate Cemetery, his close companion Friedrich Engels was saying: "An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat of Europe and America, and by historical science, in the death of this man. The gap that has been left by the departure of this mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt."  

100th anniversary of the founding of the USSR: Speech by Tibor Zenker, Party of Labour of Austria (PdA)

Contribution by Tibor Zenker, chairman of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), at the teleconference of the European Communist Initiative on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the USSR:

The founding of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 30 December 1922 marked the greatest state-political achievement of the revolutionary working class to date. It was the result of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, the successful struggle of the young Russian Soviet Republic against counterrevolution and interventions, the overcoming of civil war and so-called "war communism". 

100th anniversary of the founding of the USSR: Closing remarks by Giorgos Marinos, KKE Politburo member

Closing remarks by Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), at the teleconference of the European Communist Initiative on the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the USSR.  Read here the speech of Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the KKE. 

Concluding the teleconference of the European Communist Initiative, Giorgos Marinos, among other things, noted the following: 

100th anniversary of the founding of the USSR: Speech by the KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas

The following speech was delivered by the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas at the teleconference of the European Communist Initiative on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the USSR:

Dear comrades,

The international and domestic developments in the 100 years since the founding of the USSR confirm the necessity to enrich our programmatic conception of socialism, incorporating all the positive and at the same time negative experience from the very course of socialist construction in the 20^th century and drawing useful conclusions from the victory of the counter-revolution, first of all in the USSR.

KKE: Contribution at the 3rd International Ideological Seminar of the CP of Venezuela

Written Contribution of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) at the 3rd International Ideological Seminar of the CP of Venezuela (PCV) titled "100th anniversary of the foundation of the USSR: The conclusions drawn from the socialist revolution, the socialist construction, and their overthrow in the USSR are of great importance for the Communist and Workers’ Parties in the contemporary class struggle and in conditions of imperialist war".

Dear comrades,

Thoughts prompted by the film "The Young Karl Marx"

By Nikos Mottas.

“Der junge Karl Marx” (The Young Karl Marx) is a historical drama that covers the revolutionary, theoretical and political activity of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the period from 1843 to 1847. This is the period when Marx and Engels began the joint work which became the foundation of the scientific worldview of the proletariat.

Within the limited framework of a film, Raoul Peck tries his best in order to present both the rich theoretical work of the two revolutionary thinkers as well as their militant activity. Despite the difficulty of the task the director uses effectively the powerful tools provided by cinema as a means of disseminating ideas. 

Sofia Manzano: “Communism is the most generous proposal humanity has ever produced”

PCB presidential candidate Sofia Manzano (pcb.org.br)

“Communism is the most generous proposal humanity has ever produced”, said Sofia Manzano, the  candidate of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) for October's presidential election, during an interview with “Brasil de Fato” newspaper earlier this month.

Talking about the centenary of the PCB, which was celebrated on March 25th, and the current struggle of Brazil's communists, Manzano pointed out that the Communist Party emerged as a need of the working class to organize herself along the lines of the example that the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution presented. 

Alexandra Kollontai — Communism and the Family

By Alexandra Kollontai

Women’s role in production: its effect upon the family

Will the family continue to exist under communism? Will the family remain in the same form? These questions are troubling many women of the working class and worrying their menfolk as well. Life is changing before our very eyes; old habits and customs are dying out, and the whole life of the proletarian family is developing in a way that is new and unfamiliar and, in the eyes of some, “bizarre”. No wonder that working women are beginning to think these questions over. Another fact that invites attention is that divorce has been made easier in Soviet Russia. 

Communist Parties' participation in bourgeois governments is a deeply erroneous strategy

By Nikos Mottas.

Every time a Communist Party compromised the aim of workers' power in order to participate (or support) a “progressive”, “left-wing”, “anti-capitalist”, “anti-fascist” etc, bourgeois government the results were utterly disappointing, leading to ideological degeneration and disintegration of the workers-popular movement.

A few days ago, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), a party with significant history, paid the price of its participation in the “progressive” government of the Socialists, by receiving a rather disappointing 4.4% and four seats in the legislative elections. This result marks an almost 2% loss compared to the 2019 election. 

Vladimir Lenin: The man who changed the course of history

By Nikos Mottas.

It was in the dawn of January 21, 1924, 98 years ago, when the heart of the greatest revolutionary in modern history, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, stopped beating. Lenin, the leader of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution and architect of the first socialist state in the world, was 54 years old.

The name of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is identified with two dialectically connected issues. On the one hand, there is his revolutionary activity and practice as the leader of the 20th century's most significant event- the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution. On the other hand, there is his theoretical work which is the development of the revolutionary theory of Marx and Engels in the era of Imperialism. That extraordinary combination of revolutionary theory and practice makes Lenin a unique personality in history who, 98 years after his death, remains “alive” in the collective memory and hearts of the working class people across the world.

Nazim Hikmet: The most beautiful days we haven’t seen yet...

By Nikos Mottas.

Nazim Hikmet. The great Turkish poet of the world's working class whose poems praised and highlighted the people's struggles for a better future without exploitation.

The man whose poetry expressed the revolutionary desires and hopes of the proletariat, of the poor and despised people in every corner of the world.

It was 120 years ago, on January 15, 1902, when Nazim Hikmet Ran was born in the city of Thessaloniki, then part of the Ottoman Empire, from a Turkish father and a mother of German, Polish and Georgian descent. 

The Red Flag will rise again: 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union

By Nikos Mottas.

It was thirty years ago, on December 26, 1991, when the red flag with the sickle and hammer was lowered from the Kremlin. 

It was then, during the cold days of December, when the first socialist state of the world, the homeland of the world's proletariat, bent under the weight of the counterrevolution. Four days before, on December 22nd, the leaderships of three of the largest Soviet republics had decided the dissolution of the USSR, while the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had been outlawed on summer of the same year.

The stance of the KKE in the face of the 1990-91 overthrows in the USSR

Interview with Aleka Papariga, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), former General Secretary of the Party from 1991 to 2013, in "Rizospastis" concerning the stance of the KKE during the 1990-91 counterrevolutionary overthrows in the Soviet Union. 

The interview (here in Greek) was originally published in "Rizospastis" weekend edition (18-19 December 2021). English translation by Nikos Mottas.

— The bourgeois parties celebrated when the red flag was lowered from the Kremlin. What were their main declarations at that time?

30th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR: "Socialism remains the future and the only way out for the people"

“Socialism remains the future and the only actual way out for the people” underlined Kostas Papadakis, MEP of the Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ) during his intervention at the debate on the “30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union” held in the Plenary Session of the European Parliament.

In his intervention (here in Greek), the KKE MEP said:

KKE and French communists honored the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune

Photo: 902.gr

“We are here in Paris to culminate the rich program of tributes, events, publications and other activities through which our Party honors the heroic Paris Commune, 150 years since the first “storming of dream” by the working class. We are here, we walked in the footsteps of the Commune and drawing strength and knowledge from its teachings, we continue the beautiful but difficult struggle. So that dreams will be vindicated”, said Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, during a speech in Paris, France.

Socialism Is a Series of Communist Projects

By Charles Andrews*.

In the 1950s many workers had steady jobs with a health plan, sick leave, and annual paid vacation. They could afford to buy a home, which in parts of the country had mortgage payments as low as rent. It was a dramatic change from the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

What did tomorrow hold? The outlook was vague but good. Neither the capitalist class, its government officials, nor church leaders offered a definite vision of the future. Very few people sought out the left.

Slovenia's EU presidency falsifies history by organizing anti-communist conference

KKE-KNE protest at the Slovenian Embassy in Athens.

Members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Youth (KNE) protested in fron of the Slovenian Embassy in Athens on Friday morning, against the Slovenian Presidency's decision to hold an anti-communist international conference titled “in memory of the victims of totalitarian regimes”. 

 

This anti-historical event, which takes place in the framework of the annual anti-communist fiesta staged by the EU every August 23rd, provocatively equates communism with nazism.

USA: More than 40% of Americans view socialism positively

Despite the decades of persistent and severe anti-communist propaganda by the bourgeois mechanisms in the United States of America, more than 40% of adult U.S. citizens view socialism in a positive way.

According to a recent survey conducted by Axios/Momentive, socialism has positive connotations for 41% of adult U.S. citizens, 2 per cent up since 2019.  Furthermore, Socialism has positive connotations for 60% of Black Americans, 45% of American women and 33% of non-white Republicans. Those numbers have grown over the past two years from 53%, 41% and 27%, respectively.  

Lenin's work is timely — Speech by G. Marinos at the online event of the European Communist Initiative

On Thursday, 22 of April, 2021, 151 years since the birth of the leader of the October Revolution, the parties of the European Communist Initiative (ECI) held a teleconference dedicated to Lenin and the timeliness of his work, following a decision of the ECI Secretariat.

The teleconference was attended by a delegation of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) comprised of Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC and head of the Section of International Relations of the CC, Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC and MEP, and Aris Evangelidis, member of the Section of International Relations of the CC.

Communist Party of Italy: The hypocrisy of Pope Francis

In his preaching at Santo Spirito Church in Sassia close to the Vatican, on Sunday 11 April, Pope Francis claimed that the ideal of sharing property - in contrast to private ownership - is "pure Christianity and not Communism". 

Commenting on Pope's remarks, the Communist Party, Italy (Partito Comunista) characterized them as "hypocritical". Here is the full comment:

"The Pope states that sharing property is a Christian gesture and not a communist one, which means that the Catholic Church has never done anything Christian in its entire existence, limiting itself only to preaching the famous Christian charity without ever, in fact, implementing it.