Are there good and bad imperialists?

Article by Dimitris Xekalakis*, originally published in Rizospastis, Organ of the CC of the KKE, on Saturday 3/5/2025. Translated by idcommunism.com

Are there good and bad imperialists?

The situation and the developments following Trump's rise to power and the realignment of alliances that is taking place in the camps of imperialism seem to have caused embarrassment and confusion among those who insist on identifying imperialist policy only with the US, cultivating the perception that "capitalist Russia will save us." 

KKE on Trump-Putin call: Imperialist peace and arrangements are the other side of imperialist war

In a statement issued on Wednesday 19 March, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) refers to the recent call between U.S President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the situation in Ukraine. The statement (here in Greek) reads:

“The drumbeats about a ceasefire in the 3-year imperialist war in Ukraine, between the US, NATO, EU and capitalist Russia, cannot overshadow the real facts and the painful reality of the continuation of the war that tortures the peoples of Ukraine and Russia, as well as the dangers for other peoples.

No to the rearmament of Europe: Statement on the imperialist war in Ukraine and the EU’s arms race

Joint statement from the Communist Front Political Bureau and the Front of Communist Youth National Secretariat on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine:

1. Three years after the escalation of the war in Ukraine between the Russian Federation and the US-EU-NATO Euro-Atlantic alliance, the conditions under which peace talks or cease-fire negotiations are presented once again demonstrate that this war has nothing to do with the “defense of European values” and democratic freedoms, nor with the alleged “anti-fascist” values that are instrumentally invoked by both factions. 

D. Koutsoumbas: The KKE's position on the nature of the war in Ukraine is confirmed once again

During the debate in the Parliament on 5 March, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, referred, among other things, to international developments and the war fronts, noting the following:

“One of the things you told the people to justify our country’s involvement in the war in Ukraine in the role of a NATO stooge was that we are supposedly on the 'right side of history'. Among other things, this involvement has hit the pockets of our people, especially due to high energy bills.

Rizospastis: The bargaining for Ukraine's mineral wealth exposes the imperialist pretexts

The daily newspaper “Rizospastis”, the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, refers on its front page of 26 February 2025 to the developments around the imperialist war in Ukraine and states in its headline: “The bargaining for mineral wealth exposes the imperialist pretexts”.

The article goes on to say that “The US-NATO-EU propaganda in defence of ‘democracy’ and ‘Western values’ is collapsing like a house of cards. The role of the ND government is exposed, as well as that of the social-democratic parties (PASOK, SYRIZA) and others who support the country’s involvement in the war. The positions of the KKE are confirmed”.

Russia's Maria Zakharova lectures French Minister of Foreign Affairs: Why France should thank the USSR

Editor's Note - NM: This site firmly maintains its position about the imperialist character of the war in Ukraine, which is waged between two major imperialist blocs, the Euro-Atlantic one (NATO,USA, EU, Ukraine) and the emerging Eurasian one (capitalist Russia, China and her allies). Within this context, we refrain from publishing statements/declarations or articles from bourgeois state/governmental sources involved in this matter. The text below is an exception that mainly serves historical purposes. All articles on the war can be found in the following tags: Ukraine War and Russia-Ukraine War.

 

KKE: The peoples are witnessing a re-division of the world which can never be done peacefully

On Sunday 16 February the European Communist Action (ECA) held a teleconference under the theme "On the three years of imperialist war in Ukraine. The struggle of the communists against the EU, its war economy and the involvement of the bourgeois governments in imperialist wars".  

 

In his introductory speech, Giorgos Marinos, member of the Politburo of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), stressed the following: 

 

Greek communist trade unionists blocked the transport of 350 tonnes of explosives destined to Ukraine

On Saturday 15 February, the Labour Centre of the city of Lavrio in eastern Attica, Greece, whose executive board is run by communists, blocked the transport of 350 tonnes of TNT explosives, which would have passed through the city centre without any measures to protect the people of the area.

The explosives were in fact destined for the Hellenic Defence Systems factory for the production of 155 mm artillery shells to be sent to the imperialist war in Ukraine as part of our country’s involvement, under the responsibility of the government, in support of the Zelenskiy regime.  

British Communist Party: Stop the war in Ukraine — Britain out of NATO!

“A peace settlement is long overdue in Ukraine, so it’s time to stop the war and start the peace!”, Kevan Nelson declared on Tuesday evening (18 February 2025) following that day’s talks between the US and Russian governments, 

“But it’s a bit rich for British and EU politicians to complain about their own exclusion from the Riyadh summit, when they have spent two years fueling the conflict instead of trying to initiate a peace process”, the Communist Party of Britain’s International Secretary told the CP Political Committee.

European Communist Action: On the three years since the formal beginning of the imperialist war in Ukraine

Statement by the European Communist Action on the three years since the beginning of the imperialist war in Ukraine: 

"The war that formally began three years ago with the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, shedding the blood of two peoples who lived, fought and prospered together under the USSR and who are now suffering under capitalism, after the prevalence of the counter-revolution.

Koutsoumbas: On the escalation of the imperialist war between NATO and Russia — The Greek government should stop supporting the Zelensky regime

In a statement (22/11) concerning the escalation of the imperialist war between NATO and Russia in Ukraine, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas, points out:

“Following the use of American and British weapons against Russia by the Zelensky regime and the modification of Russia’s nuclear doctrine by Putin and their related statements, it is now obvious that there is a major escalation of the imperialist war. The risk of an immediate generalization is more than visible.

The War in Ukraine and the Role of Turkey

By Erhan Nalçacı

The beginning of the war in Ukraine should perhaps be taken as 2014, but in this article [1] we will focus on the period starting with the Russian intervention into Ukrainian territory in February 2022. The war in Ukraine did not take place between two nation states, Ukraine was put forward as a proxy of NATO, in other words of imperialist Euro-Atlantic bloc, so the war took place between NATO and Russia. But more generally, Ukraine was a front in the war of imperialist division, which is a product of the imperialist rivalry that has now taken over the world, a war that has not yet become total.

KKE: US-NATO decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles against Russia is 'a dangerous escalation'

KKE: US-NATO decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles against Russia is 'a dangerous escalation'

 

"The decision made by the United States and other NATO member-states to allow the Zelensky regime to use long-range missiles within Russian territory constitutes an extremely dangerous escalation and is another step towards a generalisation and further expansion of the NATO-Russia war already underway," a statement issued by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on Monday said. 

 

"You Shall Not Pass!": Greek communists blocked trucks carrying ammunition to Ukraine

They did it once again! Members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its Communist Youth, KNE, in the town of Tyrnavos, in Thessaly region, set up a blockade on six trucks carrying ammunition to Ukraine.  

As 902.gr portal reported, the Communists blocked the road by staying firmly in front of the trucks with banners and flags thus forcing them to stop and retreat. 

KKE Europarliament Group denounces the tour of Azov Brigade's Neo-Nazis across Europe

Azov's Neo-Nazis (Archive photo)

In a question addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament Group of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) denounces the recruitment tour performed in Europe by the fascists of the Ukrainian Azov Brigade.

The tour takes place so that the fascists raise funds and recruit “members of volunteers”, both Ukrainians who have fled abroad as well as other nationalities. 

 

Interview with the Workers' Front of Ukraine: Fascism, the Imperialist War and the perspective of Socialism

The Workers' Front of Ukraine-RFU (Робітничий Фронт України), is a clandestine Marxist-Leninist group founded in 2019. Below you can read the english version of an interview they gave to Karl Gunnarsson, International Secretary of the Communist Party of Sweden-SKP, which was published in SKP's official gazette "Riktpunkt". 

 

The interview provides interesting information about what Ukrainian communists think about the ongoing imperialist war and the suffering their country has been subjected to, but also  a background to the war and explains what was behind the so-called the Euromaidan revolution. 

 

KKE: Statement on NATO Summit in Washington DC

In a statement on the NATO Summit to be held from 9 to 11 July in Washington, D.C., the Press Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) notes the following:

“The NATO Summit, which will be held from 9 to11 July 2024, in Washington, D.C., marks a new round of intensification of Euro-Atlantic aggression around the world. In the foreground is the escalation of the imperialist war in Ukraine between the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, which actively supports and is backed by NATO, and capitalist Russia and its own allies, which poses great dangers for the peoples.

The KKE accuses Mitsotakis' government for providing white phosphorus weapons to Ukraine

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) accused the conservative New Democracy (ND) government on Tuesday 2/4 for indirectly providing white phosphorous weapons to Ukraine. Speaking at the Parliament, KKE MP Nikos Papanastasis said: 

 

“The ND government, leading the way in supporting the NATO-US-EU military operations in Ukraine, within the war with Russia, has once again submitted for approval a new list of weaponry and ammunition for sale, in addition to the unknown huge quantities that have already been sent since the beginning of the war”.

 

Would Putin endorse a Pinochet-like dictatorship in Russia?

Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been re-elected for a fifth term with a  record 87% of the vote thus reaffirming his indisputable dominance in the country's political arena. 

 

The Russian elections took place in the midst of the imperialist war in Ukraine and while the government has silenced any political power that opposes the “Special Military Operation”. Therefore, there couldn't be any presidential candidate who would express a different view concerning the strategic choices of Putin's government. The President's “opponents”, including Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), were all lined up behind the Kremlin's strategy.

 

10 years since the Euromaidan in Ukraine: Revolution or foreign-backed Coup?

By Nikos Mottas

This February marked the tenth anniversary since the so-called “Euromaidan” events in Ukraine and the subsequent coup d' etat which, backed by the US and the EU, led to the overthrow of the then pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. 

Apart from the rise of far-right, reactionary forces in Ukraine's political leadership, the 2014 coup became the starting point for the 2022 Russian military invasion and the ongoing imperialist war.