Paul Robeson Jr, Trotskyites and Anti-Stalinism

The following text is a speech delivered by Professor Grover Furr, Professor of Medieval English literature at Montclair State University in New Jersey, during an online session (Watch the speech on YouTube)  organized by the Institute for the Critical Study of Society, at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Oakland, California, on Sunday 31 March. 

 

(Warning: Not for faint-hearted Trotskyites) 

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”.

 

Turkey's Communist Party emerges strengthened in municipal elections, doubles its votes

Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu and Hizam Hasirci

Against all odds and despite political polarisation between the governing AKP and the Kemalist Republican People's Party-CHP, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) emerged significantly strengthened from the municipal elections of March 31. 

Particularly significant is the performance of TKP in the earthquake-ridden Defne municipality, in Hatay, where its candidate, Hizam Hasirci, received 39.62% thus coming in the second place. Additionally, the communist candidate in the Istanbul district of Kadıköy, Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu (formerly mayor of Dersim) was placed third, with 10.01% of the votes. 

Communist Party of the Workers of Spain: Statement on the 75th anniversary of NATO

Statement of the Political Bureau of the CC of the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (Partido Comunista de los Trabajadores de España - PCTE) on the 75th anniversary of NATO:

April 4^th will mark 75 years since the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The so-called Atlantic Alliance, which Spain belongs to since 1982, is an imperialist alliance whose goal is to militarily defend and promote all over the world the interests of the big capitalists from its member countries.

Emma Stone to portray Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin's wife, in Yorgos Lanthimos' new film

After “The Favourite”, “Poor Things” and the soon to be released “Kinds of Kindness”, Academy Award winning actress Emma Stone and Greek film director Yorgos Lanthimos are once again joining forces towards a very promising project focused on the life of the great bolshevik revolutionary and father of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. 

As Lanthimos has revealed, Stone will portray Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin's faithful wife who played a significant role not only in Ulyanov's personal life, but also in the political scene during the first years of the October Revolution. 

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: With a stronger KKE in Greece and abroad, for a great pan-European counterattack

Speaking in Nicosia, Cyprus on Sunday, the General Secretary of the CE of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumbas, called for strengthening of the Party in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

"With a much stronger KKE much stronger in Greece and abroad, let's trumpet a pan-European counterattack! Let's send the appropriate message to the EU of brutality: A stronger KKE and bigger mass counter-attack struggles for the right of the peoples," he stressed. 

Milei’s chainsaw against the Argentine working class

On March 1, Javier Milei took advantage of his speech at the opening of the Ordinary Sessions of the Argentine Congress to put forward his line of adjustment and surrender, after the great defeat of the «Omnibus Law I», that officially was named Ley Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos, but was dubbed «Omnibus Law I» due to the numerous areas on which it was intended to legislate.

Following the same line as Sergio Massa, his electoral rival ─but class partner─, Milei proposed a «great national agreement»; a new «social contract» ─as he was dynamiting bridges between possible allies─ whose purpose is to guarantee governability and that the different bourgeois factions unite around their adjustment, surrender and repression projects. 

Belgrade International Conference for the 25 years since NATO's war in Yugoslavia concluded successfully

Under the title “25 years since NATO attack – We do not forget”, the Belgrade Forum for the World of Equals and the World Peace Council organized on 21-24 March 2024 an international conference in Belgrade, commemorating the 25th  anniversary of NATO's criminal imperialist attack against Yugoslavia. On Sunday 24 March, Serbian and foreign participants visited the Children Victims of NATO Memorial at Tasmajdan Park, as well as the Monument of the Eternal Flame at the Park of Friendship, paying homage to the victims of the 1999 crime committed by NATO forces.

The major speaker at the Conference was Živadin Jovanović, President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals who had served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1998 to 2000. 

KKE on Moscow attack: "Who armed the hand of the murderers?"

In a statement concerning the horrific terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow on 22 March, which claimed the lives of at least 139 people, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) points out (here in Greek): 

"The KKE condemns the heinous, criminal attack in Moscow that resulted in the death of dozens of people and the injury of many more.  The questions are many. 

The necessary search, arrest and punishment of the guilty cannot diminish the importance of the question "who armed the hand of the murderers" and what is their aim, in the conditions of imperialist war and the escalation of antagonisms that the peoples pay with their lives". 

Venezuela's legitimate communists DO NOT SUPPORT Nicolas Maduro presidential candidacy

On Wednesday, March 20, the country witnessed a new farce: Nicolas Maduro Moros proclaimed himself a candidate of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) for the presidential elections scheduled for July 28. 

 

In order to to this, he relied on his political puppets who tried to legitimize a mediocre act of political servility by using the symbols of the Red Rooster. 

 

"No Pasaran!": KKE-KNE members in Alexandroupolis blocked train carrying US-NATO tanks

Photo: 902.gr

They did it again! Members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its Communist Youth, KNE, in the northern city of Alexandroupolis, set up a blockade on a train carrying US-NATO military equipment and combat vehicles (tanks).

As 902 portal reported, the KKE and KNE members blocked the railroad by staying firmly in front of the train with the banner and flags thus forcing the train to stop. Additionally, the protesters spray-painted the armored vehicles, writing on them the phrase "Killers Go Home".  

KKE: On the 2024 European Parliament Elections

Call of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the European Parliament elections that are due to take place on 9 June 2024:

"Workers, employees, toiling farmers, self-employed tradesmen, scientists, artists, pensioners, women, young people of working-class families

The KKE calls on you to join it in the struggle for the European elections on 9 June!

Communist mayor of Patras Kostas Peletidis visits Turkey, meets with TKP delegation

Kostas Peletidis, the communist mayor of Patras, Greece's third largest city, visited Turkey as a guest of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). In a joint meeting with TKP, the communists of both countries evaluated the elections and communist approach to municipalities. 

 

Delegations from TKP and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) met journalists in Istanbul on Friday morning.

Communist Party of Cuba denounces U.S subversive actions, appeals for internationalist solidarity

With a message addressed to fraternal Communist Parties as well as to social and political solidarity organizations across the world, the Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de Cuba - PCC) denounces the new attempt of the U.S government to destabilize the Revolution by openly interfering in the country's internal affairs. 

The communique of the Communist Party reads:

Israeli left-wing MP Ayman Odeh expelled from the Knesset because he condemned the massacre in Gaza!

The chairman of Hadash-Ta'al left alliance and MP, Ayman Odeh, was removed from the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, following statements against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the devastating humanitarian situation there.

"What the army is doing there is murder, it is a massacre - the starvation of children," Odeh said, adding that "there is blindness of heart and there is blindness of conscience. I appeal to you to be a real opposition against this government and its crimes in Gaza. There is a position regarding October 7, but what the army is doing there is a crime, it is killing, it is murder, it is a massacre". 

KKE honors Lenin's 100th death anniversary: "Hold high the flag of socialism-communism, the red flag of Lenin"

In the fully-packed conference hall at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in Athens, people of every age, workers, people of Letters, Sciences and Culture, young men and women, attended on Wednesday 20 March an event in honor of the 100th death anniversary of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the 20th century's greatest revolutionary.

The event, organized by the Party's Central Committee, consists part of a series of political and cultural events in honor of the Bolshevik revolutionary and father of the Soviet Union, on the occasion of the 100 years since his death. 

 

2024 Venezuelan presidential election: Manuel Isidro Molina will be the communist alternative to Maduro

The second phase of the XVI National Conference of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) held on Sunday, March 17, agreed "to propose to the Venezuelan people, in particular to its working class and to the allied forces of the popular, authentically democratic, patriotic, anti-imperialist and revolutionary camp the presidential candidacy of journalist Manuel Isidro Molina.” 

The announcement was made by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCV, Oscar Figuera in a public statement to the media after the meeting of one of the highest leadership bodies of the Venezuelan communists. 

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.

 

100th anniversary of El Machete, the newspaper of Mexico's communists

The 15th of March 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the first issue of "El Machete", the official gazette of the Communist Party of Mexico (Partido Comunista of Mexico). The historic newspaper was born as the organ of the Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors of Mexico, members of which were Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Cle Orozco and Xavier Guerrero. 

On May 1, 1925, El Machete became the Central Organ of the Communist Party, Mexican Section of the Communist International, thus becoming a tool for the organization of the Party and the working class under the conception.Marxist-Leninist of the revolutionary press.

Aleka Papariga — Lenin on the role of the revolutionary vanguard, the Communist Party

By Nikos Mottas.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's death, an important event titled “Lenin on the role of the revolutionary vanguard, the Communist Party” was organized on Wednesday 13 March in the fully-packed “Studio” cinema, in the heart of Athens. 

The keynote speaker was Aleka Papariga, the former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), former MP and currently member of the CC. The speech was followed by the screening of the 1937 Mikhail Romm classic film “Lenin in October”. 

Communist Party of Turkey: 14 Communist Principles for Municipal Elections

As the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) prepares for the local elections on March 31 (check out here TKP's major candidacies), it declares that it will act with the following principles wherever a communist municipality will be actualized:

1. For communists, the main goal in municipalities is first and foremost to open channels for the people, who are becoming increasingly conscious of their organization, to participate in governance.

Mass rally of the KKE in Athens: No participation of Greece in NATO’s abattoir of war!

The General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, was the main speaker at the mass rally held by the KKE outside the Greek parliament on Monday 11 March.

In his speech, D. Koutsoumbas called on the people to break the omerta that the New Democracy government and all other parties are trying to impose on the involvement of our country in the imperialist wars raging in the region and in all the dangerous plans of the USA and NATO. “The message that the New Democracy government and the warmongering EU will receive in the coming elections, should be much more resounding! The only ballot paper that can carry this anti-war message across Europe is that of the KKE”, he stressed.

Portugal Elections 2024: Poor performance for the Communist Party, while the far-right rises

Bad news come from Portugal, following March 10 parliamentary elections. The Unitary Democratic Coalition, comprised of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Greens, received 3,30% (approximately 203,000 votes), which marks a regression in relation to the 2022 results (4,39% and 236,600 votes).

Unfortunately, it seems that, among others, the Portuguese Communist Party pays the price for its political support – also known as Geringonça - towards the social democratic governments of Antonio Costa in 2015-2019 which cultivated empty promises to the working class but ultimately led to disappointment. 

The Communist International, its dissolution and the international struggle of communists today

Article by the International Commission of the Kommunistische Organisation:

80 years ago, on May 15, 1943, in the midst of the Second World War and shortly after the victory of the Red Army in Stalingrad, the dissolution of the Communist International was announced. 

The dissolution of the Communist International (Comintern for short) was announced and implemented a short time later. The joint international organization of Communists, which had been founded under Lenin’s leadership and had organized, supported and coordinated the struggle of the world communist movement for 24 years, no longer existed. An equivalent replacement for it was never created again.

Mitsotakis' anti-communist rant against the KKE

By Nikos Mottas

Today, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis couldn't hide his disturbance for the fact that the Communist Party (KKE) leads the struggle against the monstrous bill which establishes private universities. For that reason he resorted to hideous anti-communism, unleashing slanders against the KKE.

The pretext behind Mitsotakis' rant was yesterday's speech of KKE's General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas who exposed and denounced phenomena of extreme exploitation of female and male students in Nordic countries due to the commercialization of High Education. More specifically, Secretary Koutsoumbas criticized the so-called “Scandinavian model”, saying: 

International Working Women’s Day 2024: Statement by the European Communist Action

Statement of the European Communist Action (ECA) on the International Working Women's Day:

"International Working Women’s Day symbolises the process of emancipation of working-class women. It is inseparable from class struggle and the fight against the ever-worsening conditions of inequality experienced by women, which cannot be decoupled from the capitalist system in which we live.

93rd anniversary of the Communist Party of Venezuela

On March 5, 1931, under the most adverse conditions of persecution and political extermination, the first communist branch was formed in Venezuela. Since then, 93 years of consistent struggle for the definitive emancipation of the working class from the yoke of capital have passed.

The efforts and contributions of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) to the organization of the working people of the city and the countryside for the conquest of political, social and labor rights, constitute deeds of ample recognition that no power can erase from history or from the memory of our people. Nor can the firm and intransigent struggle against imperialism of the Venezuelan communists be hidden.

Was Stalin poisoned by the West? Communist Party in Russia calls for probe over Soviet leader's death

On the occasion of the 71st death anniversary of Joseph Stalin, the "Communists of Russia" party, appealed to the FSB and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation with a request to check the possible involvement of Western intelligence services in the death of the great Soviet leader, RIA Novosti reported. 

“The party appealed with a request to check the possible involvement of Western intelligence services in the death of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin,” says Sergey Malinkovich, chairman of the party.

Rizospastis: Greek government's participation in EU Red Sea mission serves the interests of Greek capital

Article published in Rizospastis, Organ of the CC of the KKE, on Tuesday 5 March 2024:

"Since last Sunday (3/3), the frigate Hydra has been sailing in the dangerous waters of the Red Sea.

Its participation in the European and Euro-Atlantic naval mission confirms that the bourgeoisie does not hesitate to involve the people in military adventures, even to lead them into war, in order to defend its interests and those of its US-NATO allies.

Is There a Future for the Left?

By Greg Godels

"…the Left narrative, no matter how accurate and intellectually powerful it may be, cannot expect to catch the imagination of the citizenry without including a vision for a real alternative future. Moreover, working-class institutions need to be reinstituted for the enhancement of class consciousness and authentic socialist parties need to be rediscovered for the Left narrative to become politically effective. Social movements are important, but their actions rarely have lasting effects. Only political parties can succeed in forging the Left narrative into the policy agenda and turn it into a programmatic plan for social change. 

Communist Party of Sweden to participate in European Elections, presents list of candidates

In order to strengthen the Party even further and bring forward the communist alternative, the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP) has decided to stand in June's European Parliament elections with its own ballot.

As SKP's Riktpunkt portal reports, “for the second time in the history of Sweden there is a revolutionary alternative in the European Parliament elections”, thus giving to the country's working people the opportunity to vote something different other than the system's parties. 

 

European Communist Action Conference: We intensify the struggle for women's emancipation, against the EU and the system of capitalist exploitation and imperialist wars

The European Communist Action (ECA) held a conference titled "We intensify the struggle for women's emancipation, against the EU and the system of capitalist exploitation and imperialist wars" on the occasion of International Women's Day (March 8). You can find below the contributions of 11 Communist Parties on the issue:

The Opening Speech of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE): 

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. 

KKE on EU Parliament's Resolution for Navalny's death

Concerning the European Parliament's resolution on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny ("JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the murder of Alexei Navalny and the need for EU action in support of political prisoners and oppressed civil society in Russia"), the EU Parliament Group of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) underlines with particular concern “the fierce geo-political competition, the intentions and the evolving dangerous games surrounding Navalny's death”, part of which is the relevant resolution of the EU Parliament”. 

 

Tudeh Party of Iran: Statement on the forthcoming "elections" of the Islamic Parliament and the Assembly of the Experts

In a statement concerning the the forthcoming "elections" of the Islamic Parliament and the Assembly of the Experts, the CC of the Tudeh Party of Iran stresses out:

"Dear conscious compatriots, workers, and toilers!

Progressive and freedom-loving forces of Iran!

The twelfth "election" of the Islamic Parliament and the sixth "election" of the Assembly of Experts will take place on 1 March.  According to a report by the Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran, more than 11,000 individuals (52% of registered applicants) were approved by the vetting process [to stand as candidates] and the results [of the vetting] were sent to them via text message by the "National Elections Headquarters" on 5 January.  

Revolutionary Komsomol: Statement on the second anniversary of the imperialist war in Ukraine

In a statement about the two years since the imperialist war in Ukraine, the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Youth League of Russia (Bolsheviks) stresses out the following:

Two years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) on the territory of Ukraine has begun. 

Since the beginning of the SMO, the RKSM(b) has issued a number of statements devoted to the problems of combat operations on the territory of Ukraine. We list them below:

Charlie Biton, Israeli Black Panthers founder and long-time Hadash MP, dies at 76

Charlie Biton, former Hadash member of Knesset for more than 15 years and one of the founders of the Mizrachi protest movement Black Panthers, died on Saturday evening, February 24, aged 76. He was the first Israeli MP who met the historic leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, in 1980. 

Biton founded the Israeli Black Panthers in 1971 in response to class and ethnic discrimination faced by Israelis of Middle Eastern and North African descent.

Colombian Communist Party denounces assassination of party member Ludivia Galindez Jiménez

In a statement issued on 25 February 2024, the Colombian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Colombiano) denounces the assassination of Ludivia Galindez Jiménez, a militant member of the local party leadership in the region of Caquetá.

Jiménez was a staunch defender of human rights and president of the Association of Community Action Boards of the municipality of La Montañita, as well as a leading member of the Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH). 

Putin and the unbearable hypocrisy of the West

By Nikos Mottas

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, western imperialism always seeks for a “boogeyman” in order to justify its crimes: In 1991 and 2003 it was Saddam Hussein, in 1998 it was Slobodan Milosevic, in 2001 Osama Bin Laden, in 2011 Muamar Qaddafi, in 2013 Bashar Al-Ashad and so on. 

During the last two years, as a consequence of the imperialist war in Ukraine, the role of the villain in global politics has been given to Russia's President, Vladimir Putin. 

Turkey's Communist Party nominates journalist Orhan Gökdemir to run for Istanbul mayor

In a meeting held at Nazim Hikmet Cultural Center in Istanbul, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) presented its candidates for the local elections that are scheduled to take place on 31 March 2024. 

TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan underlined: “We are a Marxist party. We know that it is the central political power that will change everything. "However, local elections offer the opportunity to create some cracks in the order", he said.

European Communist Action: Statement on the two years since the imperialist war in Ukraine

Joint statement of the European Communist Action following the conference held on Saturday 17 February, on the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the imperialist war in Ukraine, under the  title "Two Years Since the Imperialist War in Ukraine: The Experience and Conclusions of the Communists":

"We, the communist and workers' parties which constitute the European Communist Action, came together at the conference organised in the second year of the imperialist war in Ukraine in order to evaluate the experiences and conclusions of the communists during the period we have left behind.

Spain: PCTE will participate in 2024 European elections

At its IX Plenary Session of the Central Committee, the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE) decided to run in the European elections that will be held in the country on June 9, 2024. 

 

The PCTE  considers as essential that the communist ballot be present in the polling stations, that the workers know and can opt for an independent option that supports leaving the European Union.

Mass farmers rally held outside the Greek Parliament

On 20 February, thousands of farmers from all over Greece, who have set up more than 50 roadblocks at the national road for a month now, arrived in Athens with dozens of buses and tractors and held a large march, which ended with a rally outside the Greek parliament.

The poor farmers were warmly received in the Greek capital by trade unions, university students’ unions, unions of the self-employed of the city, the Federation of Women of Greece and other mass organizations.

Party of Labour of Austria (PdA): Strengthen the Marxist-Leninist pole of the international communist movement!

Resolution of the 6th Congress of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), Linz, 10 February 2024:

The international communist movement continues to remain in a process of differentiation. It is the consequences of the counter-revolution in the USSR and Eastern Europe, but also a continuation of modern revisionism and "Eurocommunism" as well as the invention and propagation of false ideas and goals such as "market socialism" or a capitalism transformed into a "society of solidarity", which are unfolding their negative effects in the ICM. 

KKE: Two Years Since the Imperialist War in Ukraine — The Experience and Conclusions of the Communists

The contribution of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) at the European Communist Action's conference held in Istanbul on Saturday 17 February, on the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the imperialist war in Ukraine, under the  title "Two Years Since the Imperialist War in Ukraine: The Experience and Conclusions of the Communists.

Two years of killing people “for the master’s dish to get filled”

Dear comrades,