Partido Comunista de Cuba: Our Party was born during the historic days of Girón

Published on Granma newspaper as part of a series of articles on the occasion of the 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (16-19 May 2016).

No other date is more symbolic than April 16, that of our party’s founding.

On the eve of the mercenary invasion at Playa Girón, after honoring the victims of the previous day’s aerial attacks on our airports, combatants of the Rebel Army, the National Police, and militias swore to defend at any cost the socialist character of the Revolution, proclaimed on this unforgettable day.

The historic roots of Cuba’s political vanguard lie in the Cuban Revolutionary Party founded by José Martí to organize and conduct the Necessary War; in the profusion of Marxist-Leninist ideas expressed in the first Communist Party of Cuba created by Carlos Baliño and Julio Antonio Mella in 1925; in the development of mass anti-imperialist consciousness in the first half of the 20th century; and, as the culmination, in the shock wave produced across the nation by the heroic actions of July 26, 1953, and the initiation of the war for the country’s definitive independence, conquered January 1, 1959. At that time, for the first time, the people achieved their legitimate aspirations, and took their rightful place as protagonists following the triumph of the Revolution.

Left Forum 2016: Interesting panels about Imperialism, Greece and the Refugee Crisis (May 20-22)

Source: Marxism-Leninism Today.

Two very interesting panels of discussion will be hosted at the Left Forum which will take place on May 20-22 in New York. The panels are sponsored by the website Marxism-Leninism Today and will include speakers from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).

1. One panel is: "Imperialists Collide: War and Refugees in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East". 

The Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East are the focal point of imperialist aggression and the consequent enormous, tragic refugee crisis. The panel will discuss the causes of the conflicts, the social and national forces engaged in the wars, and the prospects for peace and justice in the region from the perspective of the Greek Communist Party (KKE).

The panel will discuss developments in the region spurred by the drive to control markets, natural resources, transportation routes, and to increase monopoly profits. Also, the panelists will address the role of NATO, the US, the EU, in the  competition with Russia and China in the region. The role of Israel, the role of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the prospects for a general war, and the projection of a class-based, internationalist, and socialist solution will also be on the panel's agenda.

KKE Secretary Koutsoumbas: Tsipras government's negotiations are a badly-directed soap opera

Speaking today at the Parliament, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas unleashed a fierce attack against the government. In a parliamentary discussion about the formation of an investigation committee regarding bank loans granted to political parties, Secretary Koutsoumbas accussed the government of trying to disorientate the people from the real problems.

The rottenness of the system cannot be cured with committees and half-measures.

Among other things, KKE Secretary mentioned in his speech:

The Communist Party of Ukraine expresses its strong protest against desecration of Soviet monuments

Communist Party of Ukraine, War Against Monuments.

Source: Solidnet.

The Communist Party of Ukraine notes that in a number of settlements of our country radical criminal nationalists, encouraged by the ruling Nationalistic-oligarchic regime that came to power after the unconstitutional coup in February 2014, started a war against monuments to a Soviet Soldiers, Partisans and Underground Fighters killed during World War II. 

This is contrary to the UN resolutions that condemn desecration of monuments to the fighters against fascism, contrary to the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe, signed by most European countries, it is ignoring the dominant public opinion, attitudes of our citizens.

Workers return victorious to their work after 165 days of hard class struggle

Workers return victorious to their work after 165 days of hard class struggle.

Source: All-Workers Militant Front (PAME).

The workers of the Recycling Factory in Heraklion Crete are preparing to return to their work victorious, after 165 days of hard struggle. For more than five months, the workers fought for their right to work, having on their side dozens of trade unions and the people of the region of Crete, but also all over Greece. The contractor company “Waste Solution”, which took over the factory last November, dismissed workers who worked in the “Recycling Factory” from 5 to 10 years, in order to replace them with “cheaper” ones, without rights.

The decisive position of workers who struggled as a fist with their trade union and the solidarity of the people of the city, led the company to cancel the layoffs. Specifically, the employer accepted the return of the dismissed workers with the same wages they had in October.

The Real Story of the Katyn Massacre- Exposing an anticommunist fabrication

PREFACE

One of anti-communists' favorite fairy-tales is the so-called 'Katyn Massacre'. According to Neo-Nazis, fascists, liberals, trotskyites, opportunist leftists, anarchists and other anti-communists, the Soviet NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), under Stalin's orders, carried out mass executions of Polish nationals in April and May 1940. Even Wikipedia (the very popular but completely unreliable source) says it! Despite the fact that there is strong, undisputed evidence that the crime was carried out by the Nazis, this anti-communist myth continues to exist. The post-1991 bourgeois-capitalist establishment of Russia, under Yeltsin but also under current President Putin, has done everything in order to blame the Soviet Union. They even fabricated letters- supposedly sent from Lavrentiy Beria- in order to defame Stalin and the then Soviet leadership. In this post, we collect and present some interesting information, including historical documents, which prove that the 'Katyn Massacre” was a crime committed by the Nazis and not by the Soviets. The pity propaganda against Socialism, against the Soviet Union must be exposed in every possible way.

In Defense of Communism ©.

READ:

1. Ella Rule: The Katyn Massacre.

2. Interview with Prof. Grover Furr.

3. “Beria’s letter” was written on two different typewriters.

4. Katyn Graves Story declared Grim Fraud.

Communist Party of India (Marxist): No Bases for US Armed Forces

Source: Solidnet.

The Modi government has taken the dangerous step of deepening military collaboration with the United States by agreeing to allow US armed forces to use base facilities in Indian naval and air force bases. 

The US Defence Secretary and the Indian Defence Minister have announced an in principle agreement has been reached for a Logistics Exchange  Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). This is just another name for the Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) that the United States enters into with military allies like Philippines, South Korea and Japan. Unlike what the Defence Minister says, refueling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require the  stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis. 

Greek electronic appliances company declares bankruptcy- 450 workers and staff are thrown into unemployment!

ATHENS- Greek electronic appliances chain 'Elektroniki Athinon' has declared bankruptcy following a court decision on Wednesday. In a statement released on Wednesday, the company cited the state of the local economy, the weakening of Greek consumers' purchasing power, the imposition of capital controls last year and a suspension of a restructuring plan among the reasons behind its insolvency. The company’s 45 outlets in all over the country were expected to be closed on Thursday. The closure of 'Elektroniki Athinon' means that 450 employees- workers and staff- are thrown into unemployment.

Dynamic response from the workers.

The struggle committee of 'Elektroniki's employees issued an announcement regarding the rapid developments in the company, where it states among other things:

Yuri Gagarin: 10 facts about the legendary Soviet cosmonaut

April 12, 1961, will always be remembered in history as the day when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who was only 27 years old at the time, became the first man in space. Sputnik remembers Gagarin and his historic flight by sharing 10 commonly unknown facts about the world’s first cosmonaut.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first man in outer space when the Vostok-1 spacecraft with the Soviet cosmonaut on board was launched from the Baikonur space center on April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM local time, marking a new era in human history.

Cuba: 1,000 delegates to participate in Communist Party's 7th Congress on April 16-19

Source: Granma.

The 7th Congress of PCC will be held on April 16-19 with about 1,000 delegates and will focus on the continuity of the economic reforms to update Cuba's socialist model approved at the 6th Congress in 2011.

Guaranteeing greater representation of all Communist Party members around the country and ensuring that participants increasingly reflect the areas from which they come, were key considerations during the election of delegates to the 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, to be held April 16-19. 

According to an announcement made at the Party Central Committee Department of Cadre Organization and Policy, 1,000 delegates – similar to the number of participants in the 6th Congress - representing all territories will attend the organization’s most important event.

KKE: Condemnation of the recent anti-communist persecution in Poland

KKE MEPs K.Papadakis and S.Zarianopoulos.

Source: inter.kke.gr

The KKE delegation in the European Parliament tabled the following question in relation to the recent anti-communist persecution in Poland:

"recently members and cadres of the CP of Poland were convicted by the regional court of Dąbrowa Górnicza to prison sentences of up to 9 months, many months of "limited freedom" and compulsory social work and also fines, because the dissemination of their ideas through the newspaper "Brzask" and the website www.kompol.org is considered to be an "offense" and a "crime".The court in order to convict them, following the anticommunist positions of the Polish authorities, utilized rotten and groundless accusations regarding "the public promotion of a totalitarian system". This is part of their attempt to cancel and slander the gains of the workers under socialism, the right to work, labour and social rights. The Polish authorities have for some years provocatively banned the communist symbols and now convict the communists, invoking "democratic values".

Bernie Sanders is America's "Tsipras"

Special to In Defense of Communism.

Let's get directly to the point: Many progressive americans support Bernie Sanders because they can't stand the Republicans or Hillary Clinton. The possibility of a Trump presidency is a nightmare, while Mrs.Clinton is nothing but the continuity of Barack Obama's administration. Senator Sanders has been presented in various ways: socialist, social-democrat, democratic socialist etc. Even Sanders himself has called himself a "socialist". But, does he really know the meaning of "socialism"? Is he confused with the political terminology or he does that by purpose?

Senator Sanders has as much relation to Socialism as Alexis Tsipras does. Tsipras, the leader of SYRIZA and current Prime Minister of Greece, was elected based on radical slogans, socialist rhetoric and illusions about "humanizing Capitalism". What Tsipras' government did is well known: he signed a new bailout agreement with the creditors and applied the same- and in some cases even harder- austerity measures. In fact, he did what his conservative predecessors did. 

The simple truth about Yanis Varoufakis and his DiEM25 party

By Nikos Mottas/ In Defense of Communism.

On February 8th, in Berlin, the former Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis presented the 'manifesto' of his new pan-european party called "Democracy in Europe Movement 2015" (DiEM25). Having as a major slogan "transparency in Europe", the DiEM25 manifesto was stating among other things: 

"The European Union was an exceptional achievement, bringing together in peace European peoples speaking different languages, submersed in different cultures, proving that it was possible to create a shared framework of human rights across a continent that was, not long ago, home to murderous chauvinism, racism and barbarity. [...] Alas, today, a common bureaucracy and a common currency divide European peoples that were beginning to unite despite our different languages and cultures. A confederacy of myopic politicians, economically naïve officials and financially incompetent ‘experts’ submit slavishly to the edicts of financial and industrial conglomerates, alienating Europeans and stirring up a dangerous anti-European backlash. Proud peoples are being turned against each other. Nationalism, extremism and racism are being re-awakened. [...] At the heart of our disintegrating EU there lies a guilty deceit: A highly political, top-down, opaque decision-making process is presented as ‘apolitical’, ‘technical’, ‘procedural’ and ‘neutral’. Its purpose is to prevent Europeans from exercising democratic control over their money, finance, working conditions and environment. The price of this deceit is not merely the end of democracy but also poor economic policies".