Ukraine's decommunization and the rise of fascism

By Nikos Mottas.

The process of the so-called “decommunization” in Ukraine was introduced during the first years of the restoration of capitalism in the USSR and included the slandering and erasing of anything related to the Soviet period and the construction of socialism.

This term was also used by the President of today's capitalist Russia, Vladimir Putin, in his anti-communist statement prior to the invasion, saying characteristically that “we are ready to show you what genuine decommunization means for Ukraine”. It is not a coincidence that anti-communism is a common feature of both the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev as well as the leadership of capitalist Russia, at a time when the two sides are waging a bloody war against the people on behalf of their bourgeois classes.

Resolution of the CC of the KKE on the Imperialist War in Ukraine

Read below the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the Imperialist War in Ukraine in three languages (ENGLISH, RUSSIAN, SPANISH).

 

RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE KKE
ON THE IMPERIALIST WAR IN UKRAINE

1. The KKE, from the very first moment, denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressed its solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

D. Koutsoumbas: "The people of Ukraine have become a punching bag among ruthless imperialists"

On 14 March, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), delivered a speech at a political rally in Corinth, noting, among other things: “More than 10 years have passed and the Greek people are still paying for the successive capitalist crises with impoverishment, three memoranda, and hundreds of anti-popular and anti-labour laws. They also pay for the recovery by constantly making new sacrifices to shield the profitability of a few business groups.

Now they are being told that they must pay the price of Greece’s participation in imperialist war. To pay ‘the price of participation in the war for freedom’, as the Prime Minister, K. Mitsotakis, said.

The stance of the communists towards the imperialist war in Ukraine

By Nikos Mottas.

The inter-imperialist confrontation between the Euro-Atlantic powers (USA, NATO, EU) and Russia in Ukraine inevitably brings to the fore serious ideological-political disagreements and chronic contradictions that exist in the international communist movement.

The Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine emphatically highlights the misconception that exists in part of the communist movement concerning the issue of imperialism. A number of self-proclaimed “communist” forces are either unable, or deliberately avoid, to conceive imperialism through Leninist criteria. Instead, they disconnect economy from politics, overlook the fact that the competition between the monopolies is the basis for the sharpening of international conflicts and focus unilaterally on the aggressive foreign policy of specific states and alliances (e.g. USA, NATO, EU). 

Statement by the Cuban Government on Ukraine war

In a statement issued on February 26th, two days after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the Revolutionary Government of Cuba stressed out the following:

"The U.S. determination to continue NATO’s progressive expansion toward the Russian Federation’s borders has brought about a scenario with implications of unpredictable scope, which could have been avoided. 

European Communist Initiative on Ukraine war

In a statement on the recent Russian invasion in Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Initiative of Communist and Workers Parties stresses out the following:

"Three decades after the dissolution of the USSR and the imperialist war in Yugoslavia, a new war broke out on European territory. The unacceptable Russian military intervention and invasion of Ukraine has been prepared all the previous years through the USA, NATO, and EU intervention, their support for the reactionary government of Kyiv, the paramilitary mechanisms andfascist groups in Ukraine as well as the plan for the economic, political, and military encirclement of Russia.

KKE leader Koutsoumbas blasts PM Mitsotakis on Greece's involvement in Ukraine war

The government of the right-wing ND party with the support of the other bourgeois parties of the social-democratic “left” SYRIZA and the also social-democratic KINAL/PASOK proceeds with the deeper involvement of Greece in the ongoing imperialist war in Ukraine, always on the side of the USA–NATO–EU. This was apparent in the discussion between the leaders of the political parties in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on 1 March 2022.

In his speech, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE, stressed, among other things, the following:

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: No to imperialist war! Greece’s involvement must stop immediately!

On 27/2/22, the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) organized an event in the city of Lamia in honour of the 80 years of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), which was the military wing of the National Liberation Front (EAM). Both EAM and ELAS were founded following a decision of the KKE and fought against the fascist triple foreign occupation (German, Italian, and Bulgarian) of Greece during the imperialist Second World War.

The event took place in Lamia, the native city of Aris Velouchiotis, leader of ELAS and cadre of the KKE.

PCTE: No to imperialist war! No a la guerra imperialista

Statement of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE): NO TO IMPERIALIST WAR!

The conflict between imperialist powers and blocs has entered a new stage with the start of direct military actions by the Russian Federation against military targets on Ukrainian territory. In these difficult times, when there is a serious risk of the outbreak of a widespread imperialist war, the Political Bureau of the PCTE sends the following reflections to workers and to the ensemble of our people:

"There is no good imperialist": Greek communists send a powerful message against the war in Ukraine

Thousands of workers, youth, people of every age participated in a large anti-imperialist, anti-war rally organized in Athens by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its youth wing KNE on Friday afternoon.

Under the slogan "No to the imperialist war - Stop Greece's involvement", the protesters sent a powerful message against the war in Ukraine, denouncing the Russian invasion and the dangerous warmongering US-NATO-EU plans in the region. 

Mobilizations were staged in the Embassies of the Russian Federation and the United States in Athens. 

World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU): Statement on Ukraine war

In a statement about the developments in Ukraine, the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) points out:

In 1999, at the heart of Europe, NATO, the USA, the EU, and their allies bombed Yugoslavia. Today, in 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine in an unfair and destructive war.  Nevertheless, where are hidden all those who in 1991 were trying to persuade all the peoples that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the overthrows in the countries of Eastern Europe were taking place in favor of international security and global peace?

UKRAINE WAR: Joint Statement of Communist and Workers’ Parties — No to the imperialist war!

No to the imperialist war in Ukraine!

An independent struggle is needed against monopolies and bourgeois classes, for the overthrow of capitalism, for the strengthening of the class struggle against imperialist war, for socialism!

1. The Communist and Workers’ Parties signing this Joint Statement are opposed to the imperialist conflict in Ukraine, which constitutes one of the consequences of the tragic situation for the peoples shaped after the overthrow of socialism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Both the bourgeois and the opportunist forces, which for years have fought against the USSR and recently celebrated the 30^th anniversary of its dissolution, silencing the fact that the restoration of capitalism meant the dismantling of historic workers’ and people’s achievements and brought the peoples of the USSR back to the era of class exploitation and imperialist wars, are completely exposed.

KKE: STATEMENT ON THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

30 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the overthrow of socialism, which many hailed because it would supposedly make the world more “peaceful” and “safe”, one more imperialist war broke out in European territory, after the war in Yugoslavia and elsewhere.

The formal beginning of the war is the despicable Russian military intervention and invasion of Ukraine; however, the region has been sitting on a powder keg for many years now.

KKE: No to Greece's involvement in US-NATO plans in Eastern Europe

Following the rapidly escalated situation in Ukraine and the Greek government's siding with the US-NATO-EU alliance against Russia, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued today a statement underlining that the country's involvement in the imperialist plans pose great dangers for the Greek people. 

More specifically, the KKE statement (here in Greek) reads:

Communist Party of Turkey: "Socialism and not Russian nationalism is the antidote to NATO expansionism"

In a statement about the recognition of independence of the so-called "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk by the Russian government, as well as the anti-communist, nationalist remarks of President Putin, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) points out:

"Imperialism is an order of destruction and war. For every bourgeois government that tries to get an upper hand for itself in this rotten order and to expand its sphere of influence, it also means that it aims at the oppression of other peoples. The crutches of expansionist policies are nationalism, racism, and chauvinism. This is the meaning of Putin’s statements made yesterday on the recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

KKE: On the recognition of the so-called "People's Republics" of Donbass by Russia

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement about the recognition of "independence" of the so-called "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement (here in Greek).

 

The statement of the KKE reads:

"The decision of the Russian Federation to proceed to the recognition of the so-called “People's Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk which seceded from Ukraine in 2014, in the Donbass region, is another step that complicates even further the situation in the region and leads to the escalation of imperialist competitions, in the context of the confrontation of the US, NATO and EU with Russia. 

KKE: "ALERT! NO PARTICIPATION OF GREECE IN THE WAR"

In face of the escalation of conflict between the Euro-Atlantic powers and Russia in Ukraine the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), as well as its youth wing KNE, mobilizes against any participation of Greece in the dangerous warmongering plans of USA-NATO-EU against Russia. 

 

In a poster issued on Saturday, the KKE expresses a warning about the dangerous situation in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. 

On the escalation between Euro-Atlantic powers and Russia

 By Eliseos Vagenas.

In the past weeks, the confrontation between USA–NATO–EU and Russia is sharpening, focusing on the developments in Ukraine. The verbal and diplomatic confrontation is accompanied by troops movements and major military drills by both sides as well as secret diplomacy.

This is not about the “Golden Fleece”

Today, it appears improbable that the peoples would enter a war and shed their blood for the “Golden Fleece” or “Helen of Troy”; however, the pretexts utilized to feed the monster of imperialist war have far from ceased.

A Leninist approach to the inter-imperialist clash in Ukraine

By Nikos Mottas.

 

“The working class”, V.I Lenin was stressing out, “in case it is conscious, will not support any group of imperialistic predators” (1). More specifically, concerning the stance of the workers' movement towards imperialists, he was using the following characteristic example:

 

“A country, let us say, possesses three-fourths of Africa, whereas another possesses one-fourth. A repartition of Africa is the objective content of their war. To which side should we wish success? It would be absurd to state the problem in its previous form, since we do not possess the old criteria of appraisal: there is neither a bourgeois liberation movement running into decades, nor a long process of the decay of feudalism. It is not the business of present-day democracy either to help the former country to assert its “right” to three-fourths of Africa, or to help the latter country (even if it is developing economically more rapidly than the former) to take over those three-fourths. Present-day democracy will remain true to itself only if it joins neither one nor the other imperialist bourgeoisie, only if it says that the two sides are equally bad, and if it wishes the defeat of the imperialist bourgeoisie in every country. Any other decision will, in reality, be national-liberal and have nothing in common with genuine internationalism. [...] In reality, there can now be no talk of present-day democracy following in the wake of the reactionary imperialist bourgeoisie, no matter of what “shade” the latter may be“ (2).

Ukraine Crisis: Statement by the World Peace Council

The World Peace Council (WPC) expresses its deepest concerns about the escalating tensions in Eastern Europe and particularly around the Ukraine, caused primarily by the growing aggressive expansion of NATO towards Eastern Europe, its massive deployment of troops from the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria, and creating a belt aiming at the encirclement of the Russian Federation.

Since the coup d’état of 2014 in Kiev and the takeover of the government by reactionary and pro-NAZI forces sponsored by the USA, NATO and the European Union, NATO has been planning and implementing its further expansion aiming at the integration of the Ukraine into the biggest war machine which has committed wars, crimes and coups throughout its history.