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.

Alexis Tsipras: From “anti-imperialism” to US-NATO's most loyal ally

By Nikos Mottas.

Those who follow the political developments in Greece during the last decade have certainly understood the rapid transformation of SYRIZA- the ruling party in today's coalition government- from a small party of the opportunist left into the country's major social democratic power. In this site we have written extensively, in numerous occasions, about the role of SYRIZA a major pillar (alongside the center-right New Democracy party) of the bourgeois political establishment.

Marxist-Leninist Theory with Nikos Mottas | Socialist Revolution: The Political and Social Context [Audio]

PT-PCdoB coalition in Brazil: Be aware of social democracy bearing gifts, comrades!

By Nikos Mottas.

In a highly controversial decision, which may have negative effects for the country's working class movement in the long term, the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) agreed to participate in an electoral coalition with the social democratic Workers' Party (PT). 

The alliance between PCdoB and PT came as a result of the effort to create a broader alliance between "left forces" against the conservative and right-wing forces. More specifically, according to a statement issued by the Communist Party (PCdoB) "the coalition between PCdoB and PT has emerged as the possible and important alliance to build the victory of progressive forces in view of the strong orchestration of the conservative and coup forces."

The 1968 Prague Spring: Counterrevolution as the “Trojan horse” of Imperialism

By Nikos Mottas. 

It was August 1968- 50 years ago- in the capital of the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, Prague, where the internationalist solidarity of the Warsaw Pact countries were crushing one of the most significant counterrevolutionary efforts of the Cold War era. The events in Prague consist a milestone in the struggle of the socialist world against imperialism. At the same time, the then events continue serving as a source of anticommunist propaganda by various bourgeois and opportunist forces.

For many decades, the bourgeois historiography- supported by opportunists and counterrevolutionaries (trotskyites, eurocommunists, social democrats, etc.) refers to the “soviet tanks” which, as they argue, “drowned Prague in blood” thus ending prematurely the effort for a “socialism with a human face”.

Macedonia name deal: A “solution” that serves the interests of NATO-EU imperialists

By Nikos Mottas.

Tsipras and Zaev agreed; the US, NATO and the EU applause. That phrase can describe the recent agreement between the governments of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding the decades-old name dispute. “We have a deal” said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday in a televised announcement, describing the accord between the two countries on the name “Severna Makedonija” (Northern Macedonia).

Karl Marx's 200th birth anniversary: The man who changed the world forever

By Nikos Mottas.

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

 

- Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach.

Two centuries have passed since the birth of the greatest thinker in the history of mankind. It was the 5th of May 1818 when Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier, Rhenish Prussia (present-day Germany). 

He was the man who tried not just to interpret the world, but to change it. The issue of how to change the world consisted the core of his remarkably unique theoretical work as well as his practical activity. The result was the scientific theory of the working class, for the overthrow of the capital's power and the establishment of the workers' power, the "dictatorship of the proletariat", the abolition of the exploitation of man by man and the ultimate transition from class societies to communism. 

What will Greek Communists do in case of a war?

By Nikos Mottas.

The recent escalation of Turkish government's aggressiveness, within the framework of the broader sharpening of the intra-imperialist competitions in the region, gave the opportunity to far-right and fascist circles to propagandize their known nationalist “wet dreams”. An integral part of the nationalist, far-right propaganda was always the stance of the KKE (Greek Communist Party) in case of a war between Greece and Turkey.

Recycling their unhistorical, repulsive anticommunist theory about the supposed “traitorous KKE”, various fascists across Greece's political spectrum- including, of course, the criminals of the Nazi Golden Dawn- began spreading blatant lies and vulgarities.

“In case of Greece's engagement in a war with another country, the KKE has ordered its members to avoid fighting” was the title of a text which, a few days ago, had been republished in various bourgeois, far-right and not, news sites. Of course, this is a known tactic for the political descendants of Maniadakis [1], who are masters in throwing mud against the KKE in order to vilify the Party and the Communists.

Harry Truman: A War Criminal in the center of Athens

By Nikos Mottas.

Two days ago, Greek police forces, following orders of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, brutally assaulted anti-war demonstrators when they tried to bring down the statue of U.S. President Harry Truman. This 3.2-meter statue - “a fossil of the bloodstained american imperialism”, as the KKE called it in a statement- has been in the center of the Greek capital since 1963.

The recent events give us the opportunity to remember who Harry Truman really was. A representative of U.S. imperialism, Truman was the perpetrator of the most horrendous war crime of the previous century. We refer to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Joseph Stalin: 65 years since his death

By Nikos Mottas.

Sixty-five years have been passed since the 5^th March 1953 and the bourgeois in all over the world still tremble before his name. For the fascists and neo-Nazis, his image creates nightmares. The various opportunists, trotskyites and counterrevolutionaries still try to conjure him with tons of lies and slanders.

More than six decades since the death of Joseph Stalin, the slanderous campaign against his legacy continues unabated. The anti-stalinist slanderers have used every single kind of defamation in order to tarnish the personality of Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili: From the ungrounded fairytales of the Nazi sympathizer Solzhenitsyn to the fabricated, anti-communist stories of the so-called “Ukrainian famine”, the (committed by the Nazis) Katyn massacre, the supposed millions of executed prisoners in the notorious Gulags, etc.

Greece in NATO: 66 years of tragedies

By Nikos Mottas*.

It was 66 years ago, on 18th February 1952, when the Greek Parliament ratified the country's accession in the imperialist North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Greece's NATO membership turned the country into a base for the adventurous plans of the imperialists, both against the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries and in the broader region of the Middle East. At the same time, it was a decision that led our people in very dangerous situations, with poignant results which, seven decades later, continue to afflict Greece's political affairs.

Vladimir Putin, Communism and Christianity

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". - Karl Marx. [1]

By Nikos Mottas*.

A few days ago, during an interview for the documentary Valaam an excerpt of which was broadcast on Russia 1 TV channel, Russian President Vladimir Putin likened communism to christianity and Vladimir I. Lenin's mausoleum to the veneration of the relics of saints.

More specifically, Putin said: “First of all, faith has always accompanied us, becoming stronger every time our country, our people, have been through hard times. There were those years of militant atheism when priests were eradicated, churches destroyed, but at the same time a new religion was being created. Communist ideology is very similar to Christianity, in fact: freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice – everything is laid out in the Holy Scripture, it’s all there. And the code of the builder of communism? This is sublimation, it’s just such a primitive excerpt from the Bible, nothing new was invented.”

“Gulag Archipelago”: Exposing the anticommunist fabrications of Solzhenitsyn

 By Nikos Mottas*.

One of the most famous and celebrated works of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, the “Gulag Archipelago”, has been for a long time a kind of “holy bible” for every anticommunist. Firstly published in 1973, it- supposedly- consists an analytical record of the conditions existed in the so-called “labour camps” of the Soviet Union. Within the framework of the slanderous anticommunist campaign, bourgeois historiography has extensively promoted Solzhenitsyn's work as a source of arguments about the so-called “Stalinist dictatorship” and “communist crimes” in the Soviet Union.

However, there is a fundamental problem in the work of the deeply reactionary Solzhenitsyn: Gulag Archipelago is a completely antiscientific book, based almost entirely in rumors, speculations, third party opinions as well as interpretations of opinions by Solzenitsyn himself! In other words, the reader of this book becomes “hostage” of a novel type, unverifiable, recording to alleged events by Solzenitsyn and others who supposedly “saw”, “heard” or “learned” something.