On the termination of the activity of the European Communist Initiative and the role of opportunism

By Nikos Mottas.

The erosive and undermining role of opportunism in the international communist movement has made its appearance again, this time by leading to the termination of the activity of the European Communist Initiative (INITIATIVE).

According to a statement by the Secretariat of the INITIATIVE, the “important ideological and political differences that have arisen over time and which have been aggravated since the outbreak of the war being waged between the USA-NATO-EU and capitalist Russia” were assessed during a last teleconference held on September 9.

Cuba arrests 17 for trafficking men to fight for Russia in Ukraine: "Cuba is not part of the military conflict"

Cuban authorities informed on Thursday about the arrest of 17 people involved in a human trafficking network that operated to incorporate Cuban citizens into war operations in Ukraine. 

 

Specialists from the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation at the Ministry of the Interior said on national television that the persons involved in this criminal network in Cuba are being investigated.

They added that three persons belonged to the recruitment scheme within Cuba, directed from abroad. The remaining 14 persons confessed that they had joined the operation by their individual and voluntary decision in exchange for residence in Russia and substantial monetary compensation.

 

KKE on Mitsotakis-Zelensky joint declaration: Their invocation of international law is hypocritical

In a statement concerning the Joint Declaration signed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy in Athens, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) stresses out:

“As much as Mr Mitsotakis hypocritically invokes the “international law”, he can't hide that actual aim of his government, which is the more active and deep involvement of our country in the imperialist war in Ukraine and in NATO plans in the region. Essentially, that is, the ND government feeds those factors that led both to the NATO-Russia conflict in Ukraine, as well as to the aggravation of the problems in the Balkan countries. 

The timely task of struggling against NATO is linked to a revolutionary understanding of the world

"The timely task of struggling against NATO is linked to a revolutionary understanding of the world, to confidence in the power of class struggle"

 

On 14/7/23, Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Head of the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE, delivered a speech during the 32nd Anti-imperialist Camp of KNE, held in Nestorio, under the theme “NATO Summit: more fuel to the fire of war and competition”.

 

KKE: The NATO Summit in Vilnius will add further fuel to the fire of imperialist competition and wars

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement on the NATO Summit in Vilnius, which reads as follows:

“The NATO Summit in Vilnius (Lithuania), which is due to be held on 11–12 July 2023, will add further fuel to the fire of imperialist wars and rivalries. These rivalries are currently manifested in the fierce military conflict in Ukraine, as well as in the tension in the Indo-Pacific and other regions, where the struggle over raw materials, energy, the transport routes of the commodities, market shares, i.e. for the division of capital’s profits, is escalating.

Revolutionary Communist Youth Union (Bolsheviks): Statement on the Putin-Wagner standoff in Russia

In a statement about the recent developments in Russia, with the "rebellion" of Prigozhin's Wagner against the government of Vladimir Putin, the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Union (Bolsheviks) points out:

 

"On June 23, 2023, the owner of the Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, declared a rebellion and moved his troops into the territory of the Russian Federation. The Russian President Vladimir Putin called these actions «a treason» and «a stab in the back», while drawing analogies with the actions of the Bolsheviks in 1917. 

KKE: On the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform and its damaging and disorienting position

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

The outbreak of the imperialist war in Ukraine has sharpened the contradictions within the international communist movement around serious ideological-political issues that have been plaguing it for years and express the opportunist influence in its ranks. Naturally, the focus was on the stance towards the imperialist character of the war that is being waged between the USA-NATO-EU and capitalist Russia on the territory of Ukraine, the stance towards the bourgeoisie and its political representatives such as social democracy, the problematic analyses of the imperialist system and the position of China and Russia, and other issues, more deeply connected with the question of the erroneous strategy of stages towards socialism, of support for and participation in bourgeois governments.

RCWP, "MAGA communists" and the imperialist war

The following article was published in 902 portal («Η στήριξη του ιμπεριαλιστικού πολέμου και η «τρικυμία στο κρανίο»), the official news portal of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). on 31 March 2023: 

Recently, the website of the Russian Communist Workers' Party (RCWP) published an interview with Haz Al-Din, a U.S citizen of Arab origin, who alongside with others have created an “online collective” known as “Infrared”. This person considers himself to be a “Marxist-Leninist” and, as the RCWP website informs us in the introduction, he “infiltrates” the U.S Republican Party. Apparently, this is something interesting for the RCWP which decided to present his views in Russia. 

Austrian Communists slam Zelensky's appearance at Vienna Parliament

The Party of Labour of Austria (PdA) sharply criticises the propaganda appearance of the Ukrainian president Zelensky in the Vienna parliament. 

 

The representative of a war party as well as of a reactionary, repressive regime is out of place in the democratic heart of a neutral country. What is needed is a policy of neutrality and peace instead of NATO war propaganda. 

Joint Statement of Communist and Workers' Parties on the one year since the imperialist war in Ukraine

JOINT STATEMENT OF THE COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES ON THE ONE YEAR SINCE THE IMPERIALIST WAR IN UKRAINE

We must strengthen the struggle against the monopolies and the bourgeois classes, for the overthrow of capitalism, for the strengthening of the class struggle against the imperialist war, for socialism!

One year has passed since the start of the imperialist conflict in Ukraine, which is one of the consequences of the tragic situation that has developed for the peoples after the overthrow of socialism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 

KKE: On the war in Ukraine and China’s “proposals for peace”

On the war in Ukraine and China’s “proposals for peace”" 

Their peace is being built upon the ashes and in the fire of the imperialist war

“Those at the top say:
Peace and war
Are of different substance.
But their peace and their war
Are like wind and storm.
War grows from their peace
Like son from his mother.
He bears
Her frightful features.”

— B. Brecht, From A German War Primer

Letter by the Union of Communists of Ukraine — Письмо Союза коммунистов Украины

Letter by the Union of Communists of Ukraine to the SolidNet Parties:

Dear comrades, participants of the annual Meeting of communist and workers' parties,

Bearing in mind the “Statement of the Central Committee of the RWCP, the Communists of Ukraine, Donbass, and the parties of the republics of the Soviet Union” submitted for publication on the solidnet.org website (On military operations in Ukraine following the results of the year of the SMO of the Russian ground forces and the Donbass militia), we inform you that the Union of Communists of Ukraine did not sign and could not have signed this document since it categorically disagrees with its positions. 

KKE: Greece’s participation in the imperialist war in Ukraine must stop!

We do not choose a camp between thieves, our only hope lies in the struggle of the peoples!

The KKE addresses the people who want to live in peace, who can no longer bear to see other peoples and their lands being destroyed, who are concerned about the powder keg that has been storing up and the escalation of the imperialist confrontation in Ukraine.

Italy: Workers, students rally against the imperialist war and the transportation of weapons to Ukraine

Under the slogan “Put down the weapons, raise the wages”, thousands of dockworkers and students protested last week in Genoa and other cities in Italy against the imperialist war and the transportation of weapons to Ukraine.

A strike was declared and organized by USB (Unione Sindacale di Base) trade union, while multiple protests were also held in other cities, including Rome, Milan, Turin and Bologna. 

One year since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine: The KKE firmly at the forefront of the struggle against the imperialist war

One year since the outbreak of the imperialist war in Ukraine: blood and tears for the peoples - profits for capital

The KKE firmly at the forefront of the struggle against the imperialist war

Twelve days before V. Putin announced the “Special Military Operation”, as he called the Russian military invasion of the Ukrainian territories, Rizospastis commented the statements of the US official Kurt Volker, who claimed that “Russia may annex one-third of Ukraine”, assessing that Ukraine could lose all access to the Sea of Azov and that a land passage could be formed connecting the Russian Federation with Crimea.

D. Koutsoumbas: Statement on the one year since the beginning of NATO-Russia war in Ukraine

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the beginning of the war between NATO and Russia in Ukraine, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas, made the following statement (here in Greek):

“After a year of war in Ukraine and the danger of a generalization of the war is more than existing, especially when the conflict between USA and China for the primacy in the imperialist system is clearly projected in the “big picture”. 

Spanish communists denounce PSOE-Unidas Podemos government for sending weapons to Ukraine

Statement by the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE): 

On the Confirmation of the Delivery of Heavy Weaponry to Ukraine by the Spanish Government

After the authorization by the German Government to deliver Leopard armored car models to the Ukrainian Army, the Spanish Government has immediately announced that our country will collaborate in the delivery of some dozens of its own A4. 

KKE: Every party is assessed by its participation in the class struggle

Every party is assessed by its participation in the class struggle

Regarding the (new) statement of the leadership of the RCWP, which repeats the well-known dead-end positions and attacks against our party, the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE notes the following:

First, SolidNet is an important achievement of the Communist and Workers’ Parties and the observance of the rules governing it requires responsibility, which, unfortunately, the leadership of the RCWP fails to demonstrate. In its statements, it continues its unacceptable characterizations, turns against specific comrades, uses inaccuracies, and distorts the positions of the KKE and other parties.

Union of Communists of Ukraine: Letter to the Russian Communist Workers' Party

Union of Communists of Ukraine, Letter from the Union of Communists of Ukraine to comrades from the Russian Communist Workers' Party

At this critical moment, when the instigators of imperialist war managed to pit the peoples of the two, until recently, fraternal republics that founded the Soviet Union, the Russian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, against each other. The republics which made the greatest contribution to its great deeds - industrialization, the victory over German Nazism, conquest of outer space, development of unique Soviet social relationships, creation of the outstanding Soviet culture - we address to you, the rank-and file communists, who are just like us do not seek comfortable seats in the Duma, Verkhovna Rada, or local parliaments; who do not wait for any approval of those in power; with whom we “will share the glory", and to whom "socialism, built in battles, will be a common memorial". 

MEPs of the KKE reject EU Parliament resolution that labels Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism”

Cunning Euroatlantic supporters

Supporting the further escalation of the imperialist conflict in Ukraine,  on 23 November 2022 the European Parliament adopted a resolution characterizing Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”. Putting forward the well-known “anti-terrorist” pretexts that have been utilized for imperialist interventions around the globe, the European Parliament, in continuation of previous resolutions-warmongering frenzy, attempts to “whitewash” the role of the Euroatlantic bloc in the imperialist conflict in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. It paves the way for further involvement of the EU in the war as well as for new sanctions that add fuel to the fire.