Russia: Communist local deputy fined for appealing to Putin for peace

On May 27th, Communist lawmakers in Russia's far east Primorye region expressed their disagreement over the imperialist war in Ukraine and called President Vladimir Putin to end the military campaign (read here).

We demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. We demand an end to military action”, legislative assembly member Leonid Vasyukevich had said during a session. Vasyukevich, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) back then, said continuing Russia’s three-month campaign in Ukraine “would lead to an imminent increase in military deaths and injuries.” "During a military operation, people become disabled. These are young people who could be of great use to our country," he added.  

KKE MEP: The Euro-Atlantic camp and capitalist Russia are complicit in war massacres

On Wednesday 6 July, a discussion titled “The relations of the Russian government and diplomatic network with parties of extremist, populist, anti-European and certain other European political parties in the context of the war” took place at the plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. 

 

In his short and well pointed intervention, the MEP of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos stressed out the following:

The KKE denounces the sending of weapons to Ukraine by the Greek government

Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE and MP, made an intervention in the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs demanding that the Minister of National Defence inform the Committee about the sending of military equipment to Ukraine and not hold a briefing behind closed doors. 

 

He stressed that the issue is crucial and linked with the dangerous involvement in the war and the US–NATO plans. 

G. Marinos (KKE): The joint struggle of the communists against NATO and the imperialist war

Following an invitation of the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain, the KKE and the Communist Party of Turkey attended an event in Madrid on the occasion of the NATO Summit that will take place in Madrid in June 2022, under the tile “Your wars, our dead – no to the imperialist war”. Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, delivered a speech on behalf of the KKE, which reads as follows:

“Dear comrades and friends,

We would like to thank you for the opportunity given to the KKE to participate in today’s event, which is organized by the CP of the Workers of Spain on the 40th anniversary of the accession of Spain to NATO, and to shout out loud our will to strengthen the joint struggle against bourgeois classes, against NATO and all imperialist alliances, against imperialist wars and interventions. 

Russia: Communist Party deputies in Primorye region demand an end to Ukraine War

CPRF deputy Leonid Vasyukevich.

Defying their Party's official policy, two communist lawmakers in Russia's far east Primorye region on Friday expressed their disagreement over the imperialist war in Ukraine and called President Vladimir Putin to end the military campaign.  

“We demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. We demand an end to military action”, legislative assembly member Leonid Vasyukevich said during Friday’s session. Vasyukevich, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), said continuing Russia’s three-month campaign in Ukraine “would lead to an imminent increase in military deaths and injuries.” 

KKE: The imperialist war in Ukraine and the stance of the Russian Communist Workers’ Party (RCWP)

 Article of the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE

On the stance of the RCWP on the imperialist war in Ukraine

Following the article on the stance of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), we would also like to respond to some questions about the stance of the Russian Communist Workers’ Party (RCWP) regarding the war in Ukraine; questions which also arise from some unfounded remarks made by the RCWP about the Resolution of the CC of the KKE that some “well-intentioned” people, who are hostile to the principled positions of the KKE and support the geopolitical plans of the Russian bourgeoisie, took care to translate into Greek and disseminate in various media outlets.

KKE: On the imperialist war in Ukraine and the stance of the CPRF

By the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE.

“A struggle for markets and for freedom to loot foreign countries, a striving to suppress the revolutionary movement of the proletariat and democracy in the individual countries, a desire to deceive, disunite, and slaughter the proletarians of all countries by setting the wage slaves of one nation against those of another so as to benefit the bourgeoisie; these are the only real content and significance of the war. ” - V.I. Lenin, The Tasks of Revolutionary Social-Democracy in the European War, Collected Works, Vol 26, pp 1

All the above, underscored by the leader of the October Revolution more than one century ago, are absolutely true as regards the war in Ukraine. Many articles to date have highlighted aspects of the fight over markets, raw materials, and commodity transport routes.

D. Koutsoumbas: “We do not choose a camp between thieves, we choose the camp of the peoples”

On Friday 1 April 2022, thousands of people participated in the rally of the Party Organization of Attica of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) at Athens' Syntagma Square, where the General Secretary of the CC of the Party Dimitris Koutsoumbas delivered a speech. 

The demonstrators united their voices under the slogan “No to the imperialist war in Ukraine”. They demanded that our country's involvement should stop. They shouted that they will not accept that the people pay the price of the war, that they face high prices that erode the income of the working class and greater energy poverty.

KKE on Bucha killings: "Murdering civilians is the most horrific and barbaric aspect of the imperialist wars"

In a comment about the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, close to Kiev, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) stresses out:

"The murders of civilians is the most horrific and barbaric aspect of the imperialist wars, whoever commits them, wherever they take place, either now in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion or in the past, in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere under the responsibility of USA-NATO. 

Stepan Malentsov on Ukraine war: "The fundamental solution of the problem is only on the path of socialism"

Commenting on the developments in the Ukraine war, the First Secretary of the CC of the Communist Workers' Party of Russia (RWCP) Stepan Malentsov pointed out the following:

"I would strongly advise everyone to pay attention to the fact that the majority of the media talk less about the task of denazification, i.e. about the eradication of Nazism, fascism of the Bandera modification. It is understandable. This issue is much more complex than just demilitarization, i.e. destruction of military infrastructure during hostilities and further disarmament under pressure from the prevailing force.  

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.

British communists say "No to Putin's war, no to NATO"!

Britain's Communists have reiterated their opposition to Russian president Putin's invasion of Ukraine and urged people to step up the campaign for a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

'The working class and peoples of Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere will not be the winners of this war', Carol Stavris told the Communist Party's executive committee at the weekend. The CP women's organiser highlighted the huge and lasting impact of the Russian offensive on hundreds of thousands of women and children fleeing 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.

Russian communist lawmakers condemn Ukraine war

 Oleg Smolin, Mikhail Matveyev, Vyacheslav Markhaev

Three Communist Party members of the Russian Duma, Oleg Smolin, Mikhail Matveyev and Vyacheslav Markhaev have expressed their condemnation for the military attack against Ukraine. 

 

Despite the official position of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) which views positively the government's war campaign, the three lawmakers joined the anti-war movement in Russia by publicly denouncing the launching of a full-scale war by President Vladimir Putin. 

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:

KKE MEPs reject EU Parliament's resolution on Ukraine

The MEPs of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) voted against the European Parliament's resolution “On the Russian aggression against Ukraine” because it moves in the - dangerous for the people- direction of escalation of the EU-NATO-US conflict with capitalist Russia. 

 

The resolution promotes the directions of increasing the aggression of the EU and its monopoly groups it represents in the imperialist war that is taking place on Ukrainian territory. It calls for a new round of EU sanctions against Russia, including blocking her from the ports of EU member-states. 

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.