U.S. Election 2020: Neither Trump nor Biden!

By Nikos Mottas.

On November 3rd, the people of the United States of America will vote for the new President and vice president of the country. The two major contestants, current President Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee Joe Biden, are the two sides of the same coin. It is an undeniable truth that they both express the general strategic interests of the U.S. monopoly capital.  

The differences in the political proposals between Trump and Biden reflect the sharpening of the competition between different sections of the U.S. capital. Indeed, a look at the top donors of the two presidential campaigns is indicative of the fierce rivalry that is taking place in the backstage between large monopoly groups.

EU and 'Black Ribbon Day': The anti-communist falsification of history shall not pass!

By Nikos Mottas.

Once again the European Union resorts to hideous anti-communism on the occasion of the so-called “European Day of Remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism” (known as "Black Ribbon Day" which is observed annually on August 23rd. 

In a joint statement, the vice-president of the EU Commission Vera Jourova and the EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders reproduce the same old anti-communist slanders about the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Without any respect for history, the EU officials reproduce the blatant lie about the supposed “alliance between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany”. 

Five years since the 2015 Greek referendum — The stance of the KKE was totally vindicated

By Nikos Mottas.

The 5th of July marked the fifth anniversary since the bailout referendum in Greece. The 2015 Greek referendum, a milestone event in the four year governmental term of SYRIZA coalition government, is one of the biggest political frauds in post-1974 Greek history. 

In the referendum, the Greek people were asked to choose whether or not they agree with the bailout conditions proposed by the so-called “Troika”, the EU Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (1). The outcome was a triumph of the “No” vote with 61.31%, contrary to 38.69% of “Yes”. 

HANDS OFF KARL MARX GRAVE IN LONDON!

By Nikos Mottas.

Karl Marx, the greatest thinker of all times whose revolutionary teachings became a guide for the struggles of the working class throughout the world, continues giving nightmares to fascists, reactionaries and anti-communists. 

His grave memorial at Highgate cemetery in North London has been a target of cowardly attacks and vandalism by far-right thugs. In 2019, in a space of a month, the grave was vandalized twice by fascists who caused extensive damages in the marble plaque. 

Charilaos Florakis Remembered: The story of a Greek communist leader

By Nikos Mottas.

It was the 22nd of May 2005 when Charilaos Florakis, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) from 1972 to 1991, passed away at the age of 91. Florakis' life and activity, identified with the history and struggles of the KKE, was devoted to the ideals of marxism-leninism.

Born in 1914 in Paliozoglopi, a small village in Thessaly, Charilaos Florakis became a member of OKNE, the Communist Party’s Youth Wing, in 1929. As an OKNE member and later as a student and active worker at the so-called “TTT” (Posts, Telegraphs, Telephone Offices) he began his political activity, during a socially and politically turbulent period for Greece. 

Who saved Europe from the Nazis? The Soviet Union's triumph and the falsification of history

By Nikos Mottas.

“Anyone who loves freedom, owes such a debt to the Red Army that it can never be repaid”. This phrase of Ernest Hemingway encompasses the whole symbolism of the 9th May 1945; the day of the Great Antifascist Victory of the people. 

The day when the red flag with the sickle and hammer raised over Reichstag, in Berlin, thus marking the triumph of the Red Army and the Soviet Union over the monster of Nazism.

21 years since NATO's crime against Yugoslavia - We shall never forget!

Today, March 24th, marks the 21st anniversary since the beginning of Yugoslavia's bombing by NATO forces. On this day, twenty-one years ago, the sirens of war and destruction sounded in Belgrade, Pristina, Novi Sad and other cities, marking the beginning of a massacre that lasted 78 days. 

The following article was written and published last year, on the occasion of the twenty-years since the imperialist crime against the people of Yugoslavia.

Cuba triumphs where capitalism has failed

By Nikos Mottas.

Speaking to medical students in Havana, on 19 August 1960, communist revolutionary, guerrilla fighter and doctor Ernesto Che Guevara was pointing out: 

"The work that today is entrusted to the Ministry of Health and similar organizations is to provide public health services for the greatest possible number of persons, institute a program of preventive medicine, and orient the public to the performance of hygienic practices [...] Some day, therefore, medicine will have to convert itself into a science that serves to prevent disease and orients the public toward carrying out its medical duties [....] The doctor, the medical worker, must go to the core of his new work, which is the man within the mass, the man within the collectivity" [1].

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC REVEALS THE REAL FACE OF CAPITALISM

By Nikos Mottas.

As of this writing, there are 140,214 Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases worldwide while the number of deaths mount to 5,123. China remains at the top of the countries with the most confirmed cases and casualties, while the epidemic situation seems to be particularly intense in Italy, Iran, South Korea and Spain. 

The outbreak of Coronavirus has sparked huge uncertainty in global markets, while financial analysts are already predicting a new international economic recession. Last week, the OECD lowered its forecast for 2020 GDP growth from 2,9% to 2,4%, while the IMF warned that the disease’s spread has already pushed global growth in 2020 to below last year’s levels. The rapid outbreak of Coronavirus in Europe has pushed the eurozone’s wobbly economy toward recession, boosting fears about a severe slowdown in EU’s economic growth. 

Nazim Hikmet Ran — “One religion, one law, one right: The labour of the worker”

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 poems expressed the revolutionary desires and hopes of the proletariat, of the poor and despised people in every corner of the world. 

It was 118 years ago, on January 15, 1902, when Nazim Hikmet Ran was born in Thessaloniki, then part of the Ottoman Empire, from a Turkish father and a mother of German, Polish and Georgian descent. 

Royal parasites and capitalism

By Nikos Mottas.

“Megxit” has become the new favourite top story of the bourgeois media in Britain and the world these days. 

Bombastic headlines, thousands of articles and analysis are dedicated to the announcement of Prince Harry and his wife, the Dutchess of Sussex, to “step back” from their roles as senior members of the British royal family. 

The Berlin Wall: Exposing the lies of imperialism

By Nikos Mottas.

It was 30 years ago, on 9 November 1989, when the destruction of the Berlin Wall began, marking the overthrow of the socialist power in the German Democratic Republic and the restoration of capitalism. 

Since then, the 9th of November consists a milestone for imperialists who organize various fiestas about the "fall of the wall" and the "reunification of Germany". 

The 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall fall coincides with the intensification of the European Union's anti-communist campaign which includes the hideous and unhistorical equation of communism with nazism. Last September, the EU Parliament adopted an utterly despicable resolution, full of anti-communist slanders, that violently distorts history. 

Marxist-Leninist Theory with Nikos Mottas | The Dictatorship of the Proletariat: A Higher Form of Democracy [Audio]

The phony radicalism of Yanis Varoufakis and his MERA25 party

By Nikos Mottas.

The former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is back and ready to participate in Greece's general elections on July 7th. Once again, the flamboyant economist tries to present himself as a "radical", "pro-european leftist" and an anti-establishment political force, aiming to attract voters who have been dissapointed by the anti-people policy of SYRIZA. 

First of all, Varoufakis tries to obfuscate the reality about his past as a member of the Tsipras' government. He denounces the pro-memorandum, pro-austerity stance of SYRIZA but he doesn't say a word about his own contribution to this policy. Why? The answer is clear and straightforward: Varoufakis had been an accomplice in the preparation and voting, by the SYRIZA government, of the 3rd memorandum in 2015.

Despicable: Tsipras signs EU Council's vulgar anti-communist declaration in Romania

By Nikos Mottas.

A shameful delcaration was signed yesterday, Thursday 9 May, by the EU leaders at Sibiu, Romania, during an unofficial summit. All together, "liberals" and "social democrats", "conservatives" and "progressives", confirmed the rottenness of the so-called "founding values" of the EU. The declaration of Sibiu, signed on 9 May (on the anniversary of the Great Anti-Fascist Victory), is another memorial of hideous anti-communism. 

Don't Forget Yugoslavia: 20 years since NATO's crime in the Balkans

By Nikos Mottas.

It was March 24, 1999, twenty years ago, when the imperialists of USA-NATO-EU were launching the last mass slaughter of the 20th century against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 

NATO's war in Yugoslavia was the peak of the country's fragmentation, a process which was steadily orchestrated after the counterrevolutionary overthrows in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe in the beginning of 90s. The dominance of capitalist relations of production in Yugoslavia after many decades, marked the kick off of its dissolution. That was a great opportunity for the vulptures of capitalism, US and European monopolies, to extend their businesses in new markets and feed on the remains of the former Federal Yugoslavia. 

Evo Morales, Alexis Tsipras and... "revolutionary realism"

By Nikos Mottas.

It was truly sad watching Bolivian President Evo Morales becoming part of Alexis Tsipras' propaganda just months before Greek elections. Because that is what Tsipras actually tried during Morales' visit in Athens two days ago. 

Having the President of Bolivia by his side and in front of Greek and foreign reporters, Tsipras engaged into an endless jabbering about the "common struggles of the progressive forces", talked about "democracy and social justice", the "21st century left", etc. 

Four years of SYRIZA government: A really valuable lesson for Greece's working class

By Nikos Mottas. 

The 25^th of January marked the completion of four years since the electoral victory of SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) back in 2015. Today, four years later, we can draw valuable conclusions regarding the actual role of SYRIZA in Greece's political developments. Most importantly, the Greek working class can draw conclusions which can be proved helpful in the upcoming battles of class struggle.

The imperialist intervention against Soviet Russia in 1919 and Greece's participation

By Nikos Mottas.

The First World War had not yet ended when the imperialists turned militarily against the then-young Soviet power which had been dominated in Russia through the Great October Socialist Revolution on November 7th (October 25th according to the Old Calendar) 1917. 

The first British, French and U.S. troops disembarked in the country in Spring 1918. After the defeat of Germany in November 1918, the intervention was intensified: 14 capitalist states participated in the imperialist campaign with a total force of approximately 300,000 men [1].

Cornelius Castoriadis — The philosopher who preached socialism but sided with barbarity

Cornelius Castoriades (1922-1997)

By Nikos Mottas.

The 26th of December marks the death anniversary of philosopher, economist and psychoanalyst Cornelius Castoriadis. Born in Istanbul in 1922, the writings of Castoriades remain today a reference point for the political spectrum of the so-called “libertarian socialism” and the self-identified as “autonomy movements”. Indeed, being a prolific writter in a vast range of political philosophy issues, Castoriadis was established, especially during the period between 1960 and 1980, as one of the most significant representatives of the radical French and European intelligentsia.