Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Fidel Castro- Che’s ideas are absolutely relevant today

Fidel Castro Ruz- Che’s ideas are absolutely relevant today.
Source: Guevaristas.org.

The following speech was given by Fidel Castro on 8 October 1987 at the main ceremony marking the twentieth anniversary of Guevara’s death. It was held at a newly completed electronics components factory in the city of Pinar del Río.

Nearly twenty years ago, on October 18, 1967, we met in the Plaza of the Revolution with a huge crown to honor Compañero Ernesto Che Guevara, Those were very bitter, very difficult days as when we received news of the developments in Vado del Yeso, in the Yuro Ravine, when news agencies reported Che had fallen in battle.

Greek government versus 'Resign' initiative: A phony and staged confrontation

Pro-EU protests in Athens; such protests
actually promote the existing anti-people
governmental policy.
COMMENTARY.

The stage is ready and the actors are well prepared. A internet-based initiative under the name "Paretitheite" (Resign) calls for a mass demonstration in front of the Greek Parliament, having one basic demand: the resignation of the SYRIZA-ANEL government. Their major argument is that the government cannot effectively manage the present situation. On the other side, the SYRIZA-ANEL government reacts to this initiative, accussing the major opposition party, New Democracy, as the instigator of the demonstration. This is the framework of a staged, fake confrontation.

The 'Resign' initiative promotes slogans such as the following: "No colours, no parties, no labor unions", "we ask for Greece's fast exit from the memorandum's phase", "the country's position in the eurozone is non-negotiable" etc. What they truly ask for is drastic cuts everywhere, more cuts of wages and pensions, lay offs in the public sector and privatization programs. Their political proposal is no different from the one of the government- a capitalist development with harsh anti-people measures. Like the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the 'Resign' movement promotes the EU and the eurozone. 

Monday, June 13, 2016

PM Tsipras praises Greek Shipowners, SYRIZA's love-affair with the big Capital goes on

In Defense of Communism, with info from 902.gr.

The Greek shipping industry is a global power in the maritime sector. In 2015, the Greek Merchant Navy controlled the world's largest merchant fleet in terms of tonnage. Shipowners from Greece epitomize the power of the Greek bourgeoisie- according to a 1975 law, they have at least 70 tax breaks (!), while their fortunes are estimated in billions of dollars. 

The Greek Prime Minister- and SYRIZA's leader- Alexis Tsipras choosed the Maritime exhibition "Posidonia 2016" in order to express his strong will to serve the interests of the shipping industry. Addressing the event in Athens, Tsipras called the ship-owning billionaires to "trust the government" and praised the Greek shipping capital for it's "plan" and "vision". In his effort to convince the shipping giants that his government is an ally of the bourgeois-class, Alexis Tsipras said: "We feel the need to convince the Greek shipowners to trust us as far as we try to reform the Greek economy".

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Paul Robeson Vs House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

On June 12, 1956, an Afro-American militant Civil Rights proponent and talented artist appeared before the anti-communist House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). He was Paul Robeson, the internationally acclaimed concert performer and actor and consistent anti-imperialist activist.  In 1950, his passport was revoked. Several years later, Robeson refused to sign an affidavit stating that he was not a Communist and initiated an unsuccessful lawsuit.

In the following testimony to a HUAC hearing, ostensibly convened to gain information regarding his passport suit, Robeson refused to answer questions concerning his political activities and lectured bigoted Committee members Gordon H. Scherer and Chairman Francis E.Walter about African-American history and civil rights.

We publish Robeson's testimony, honoring the memory of a great human being, a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement for the black people in the U.S. and an honest fighter for the interests of the working class worldwide.

TESTIMONY OF PAUL ROBESON BEFORE THE HUAC
June 12, 1956.

THE CHAIRMAN: The Committee will be in order. This morning the Committee resumes its series of hearings on the vital issue of the use of American passports as travel documents in furtherance of the objectives of the Communist conspiracy. . . .

Mr. ARENS: Now, during the course of the process in which you were applying for this passport, in July of 1954, were you requested to submit a non-Communist affidavit?

Mr. ROBESON: We had a long discussion—with my counsel, who is in the room, Mr. [Leonard B.] Boudin—with the State Department, about just such an affidavit and I was very precise not only in the application but with the State Department, headed by Mr. Henderson and Mr. McLeod, that under no conditions would I think of signing any such affidavit, that it is a complete contradiction of the rights of American citizens.

Mr. ARENS: Did you comply with the requests?

Mr. ROBESON: I certainly did not and I will not.

Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. ROBESON: Oh please, please, please.

Mr. SCHERER: Please answer, will you, Mr. Robeson?

Mr. ROBESON: What is the Communist Party? What do you mean by that?

Mr. SCHERER: I ask that you direct the witness to answer the question.

Mr. ROBESON: What do you mean by the Communist Party? As far as I know it is a legal party like the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Do you mean a party of people who have sacrificed for my people, and for all Americans and workers, that they can live in dignity? Do you mean that party?

Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. ROBESON: Would you like to come to the ballot box when I vote and take out the ballot and see?

Mr. ARENS: Mr. Chairman, I respectfully suggest that the witness be ordered and directed to answer that question.

THE CHAIRMAN: You are directed to answer the question.

(The witness consulted with his counsel.)
Mr. ROBESON: I stand upon the Fifth Amendment of the American Constitution.

Mr. ARENS: Do you mean you invoke the Fifth Amendment?

Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Mr. ARENS: Do you honestly apprehend that if you told this Committee truthfully—

Mr. ROBESON: I have no desire to consider anything. I invoke the Fifth Amendment, and it is none of your business what I would like to do, and I invoke the Fifth Amendment. And forget it.

THE CHAIRMAN: You are directed to answer that question.

MR, ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment, and so I am answering it, am I not?

Mr. ARENS: I respectfully suggest the witness be ordered and directed to answer the question as to whether or not he honestly apprehends, that if he gave us a truthful answer to this last principal question, he would be supplying information which might be used against him in a criminal proceeding.

(The witness consulted with his counsel.)

THE CHAIRMAN: You are directed to answer that question, Mr. Robeson.

Mr. ROBESON: Gentlemen, in the first place, wherever I have been in the world, Scandinavia, England, and many places, the first to die in the struggle against Fascism were the Communists and I laid many wreaths upon graves of Communists. It is not criminal, and the Fifth Amendment has nothing to do with criminality. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren, has been very clear on that in many speeches, that the Fifth Amendment does not have anything to do with the inference of criminality. I invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Mr. ARENS: Have you ever been known under the name of “John Thomas”?

Mr. ROBESON: Oh, please, does somebody here want—are you suggesting—do you want me to be put up for perjury some place? “John Thomas”! My name is Paul Robeson, and anything I have to say, or stand for, I have said in public all over the world, and that is why I am here today.

Mr. SCHERER: I ask that you direct the witness to answer the question. He is making a speech.

Mr. FRIEDMAN: Excuse me, Mr. Arens, may we have the photographers take their pictures, and then desist, because it is rather nerve-racking for them to be there.

THE CHAIRMAN: They will take the pictures.

Mr. ROBESON: I am used to it and I have been in moving pictures. Do you want me to pose for it good? Do you want me to smile? I cannot smile when I am talking to him.

Mr. ARENS: I put it to you as a fact, and ask you to affirm or deny the fact, that your Communist Party name was “John Thomas.”

Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment. This is really ridiculous.

Mr. ARENS: Now, tell this Committee whether or not you know Nathan Gregory Silvermaster.

Mr. SCHERER: Mr. Chairman, this is not a laughing matter.

Mr. ROBESON: It is a laughing matter to me, this is really complete nonsense.

Mr. ARENS: Have you ever known Nathan Gregory Silvermaster?

(The witness consulted with his counsel.)
Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Mr. ARENS: Do you honestly apprehend that if you told whether you know Nathan Gregory Silvermaster you would be supplying information that could be used against you in a criminal proceeding?

Mr. ROBESON: I have not the slightest idea what you are talking about. I invoke the Fifth—

Mr. ARENS: I suggest, Mr. Chairman, that the witness be directed to answer that question.

THE CHAIRMAN: You are directed to answer the question.

Mr. ROBESON: I invoke the Fifth.

Mr. SCHERER: The witness talks very loud when he makes a speech, but when he invokes the Fifth Amendment I cannot hear him.

Mr. ROBESON: I invoked the Fifth Amendment very loudly. You know I am an actor, and I have medals for diction.
. . . .
Mr. ROBESON: Oh, gentlemen, I thought I was here about some passports.

Mr. ARENS: We will get into that in just a few moments.

Mr. ROBESON: This is complete nonsense.
. . . .
THE CHAIRMAN: This is legal. This is not only legal but usual. By a unanimous vote, this Committee has been instructed to perform this very distasteful task.

Mr. ROBESON: To whom am I talking?

THE CHAIRMAN: You are speaking to the Chairman of this Committee.

Mr. ROBESON: Mr. Walter?

THE CHAIRMAN: Yes.

Mr. ROBESON: The Pennsylvania Walter?

THE CHAIRMAN: That is right.

Mr. ROBESON: Representative of the steelworkers?

THE CHAIRMAN: That is right.

Mr. ROBESON: Of the coal-mining workers and not United States Steel, by any chance? A great patriot.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is right.

Mr. ROBESON: You are the author of all of the bills that are going to keep all kinds of decent people out of the country.

THE CHAIRMAN: No, only your kind.

Mr. ROBESON: Colored people like myself, from the West Indies and all kinds. And just the Teutonic Anglo-Saxon stock that you would let come in.

THE CHAIRMAN: We are trying to make it easier to get rid of your kind, too.

Mr. ROBESON: You do not want any colored people to come in?

THE CHAIRMAN: Proceed. . . .
 

Mr. ROBESON: Could I say that the reason that I am here today, you know, from the mouth of the State Department itself, is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa. For many years I have so labored and I can say modestly that my name is very much honored all over Africa, in my struggles for their independence. That is the kind of independence like Sukarno got in Indonesia. Unless we are double-talking, then these efforts in the interest of Africa would be in the same context. The other reason that I am here today, again from the State Department and from the court record of the court of appeals, is that when I am abroad I speak out against the injustices against the Negro people of this land. I sent a message to the Bandung Conference and so forth. That is why I am here. This is the basis, and I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in this United States of America. My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington’s troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave. I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be full citizens in this country. And they are not. They are not in Mississippi. And they are not in Montgomery, Alabama. And they are not in Washington. They are nowhere, and that is why I am here today. You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers too. And that is why I am here today. . . .

Mr. ARENS: Did you make a trip to Europe in 1949 and to the Soviet Union?

Mr. ROBESON: Yes, I made a trip. To England. And I sang.

Mr. ARENS: Where did you go?

Mr. ROBESON: I went first to England, where I was with the Philadelphia Orchestra, one of two American groups which was invited to England. I did a long concert tour in England and Denmark and Sweden, and I also sang for the Soviet people, one of the finest musical audiences in the world. Will you read what the Porgy and Bess people said? They never heard such applause in their lives. One of the most musical peoples in the world, and the great composers and great musicians, very cultured people, and Tolstoy, and—

THE CHAIRMAN: We know all of that.

Mr. ROBESON: They have helped our culture and we can learn a lot.

Mr. ARENS: Did you go to Paris on that trip?

Mr. ROBESON: I went to Paris.

Mr. ARENS: And while you were in Paris, did you tell an audience there that the American Negro would never go to war against the Soviet government?

Mr. ROBESON: May I say that is slightly out of context? May I explain to you what I did say? I remember the speech very well, and the night before, in London, and do not take the newspaper, take me: I made the speech, gentlemen, Mr. So-and-So. It happened that the night before, in London, before I went to Paris . . . and will you please listen?

Mr. ARENS: We are listening.

Mr. ROBESON: Two thousand students from various parts of the colonial world, students who since then have become very important in their governments, in places like Indonesia and India, and in many parts of Africa, two thousand students asked me and Mr. [Dr. Y. M.] Dadoo, a leader of the Indian people in South Africa, when we addressed this conference, and remember I was speaking to a peace conference, they asked me and Mr. Dadoo to say there that they were struggling for peace, that they did not want war against anybody. Two thousand students who came from populations that would range to six or seven hundred million people.

Mr. KEARNEY: Do you know anybody who wants war?

Mr. ROBESON: They asked me to say in their name that they did not want war. That is what I said. No part of my speech made in Paris says fifteen million American Negroes would do anything. I said it was my feeling that the American people would struggle for peace, and that has since been underscored by the President of these United States. Now, in passing, I said—

Mr. KEARNEY: Do you know of any people who want war?

Mr. ROBESON: Listen to me. I said it was unthinkable to me that any people would take up arms, in the name of an Eastland, to go against anybody. Gentlemen, I still say that. This United States Government should go down to Mississippi and protect my people. That is what should happen.

THE CHAIRMAN: Did you say what was attributed to you?

Mr. ROBESON: I did not say it in that context.

Mr. ARENS: I lay before you a document containing an article, “I Am Looking for Full Freedom,” by Paul Robeson, in a publication called theWorker, dated July 3, 1949.
At the Paris Conference I said it was unthinkable that the Negro people of America or elsewhere in the world could be drawn into war with the Soviet Union.

Mr. ROBESON: Is that saying the Negro people would do anything? I said it is unthinkable. I did not say that there [in Paris]: I said that in the Worker.

Mr. ARENS:
I repeat it with hundredfold emphasis: they will not.
Did you say that?

Mr. ROBESON: I did not say that in Paris, I said that in America. And, gentlemen, they have not yet done so, and it is quite clear that no Americans, no people in the world probably, are going to war with the Soviet Union. So I was rather prophetic, was I not?

Mr. ARENS: On that trip to Europe, did you go to Stockholm?

Mr. ROBESON: I certainly did, and I understand that some people in the American Embassy tried to break up my concert. They were not successful.

Mr. ARENS: While you were in Stockholm, did you make a little speech?

Mr. ROBESON: I made all kinds of speeches, yes.

Mr. ARENS: Let me read you a quotation.

Mr. ROBESON: Let me listen.

Mr. ARENS: Do so, please.

Mr. ROBESON: I am a lawyer.

Mr. KEARNEY: It would be a revelation if you would listen to counsel.

Mr. ROBESON: In good company, I usually listen, but you know people wander around in such fancy places. Would you please let me read my statement at some point?

THE CHAIRMAN: We will consider your statement.

Mr. ARENS:

I do not hesitate one second to state clearly and unmistakably: I belong to the American resistance movement which fights against American imperialism, just as the resistance movement fought against Hitler.

Mr. ROBESON: Just like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were underground railroaders, and fighting for our freedom, you bet your life.

THE CHAIRMAN: I am going to have to insist that you listen to these questions.

MR, ROBESON: I am listening.

Mr. ARENS:
If the American warmongers fancy that they could win America’s millions of Negroes for a war against those countries (i.e., the Soviet Union and the peoples‘ democracies) then they ought to understand that this will never be the case. Why should the Negroes ever fight against the only nations of the world where racial discrimination is prohibited, and where the people can live freely? Never! I can assure you, they will never fight against either the Soviet Union or the peoples’ democracies.

Did you make that statement?

Mr. ROBESON: I do not remember that. But what is perfectly clear today is that nine hundred million other colored people have told you that they will not. Four hundred million in India, and millions everywhere, have told you, precisely, that the colored people are not going to die for anybody: they are going to die for their independence. We are dealing not with fifteen million colored people, we are dealing with hundreds of millions.

Mr. KEARNEY: The witness has answered the question and he does not have to make a speech. . . .

Mr. ROBESON: In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being. Where I did not feel the pressure of color as I feel [it] in this Committee today.

Mr. SCHERER: Why do you not stay in Russia?

Mr. ROBESON: Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no Fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear? I am for peace with the Soviet Union, and I am for peace with China, and I am not for peace or friendship with the Fascist Franco, and I am not for peace with Fascist Nazi Germans. I am for peace with decent people.

Mr. SCHERER: You are here because you are promoting the Communist cause.

Mr. ROBESON: I am here because I am opposing the neo-Fascist cause which I see arising in these committees. You are like the Alien [and] Sedition Act, and Jefferson could be sitting here, and Frederick Douglass could be sitting here, and Eugene Debs could be here.
. . . .
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, what prejudice are you talking about? You were graduated from Rutgers and you were graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. I remember seeing you play football at Lehigh.

Mr. ROBESON: We beat Lehigh.

THE CHAIRMAN: And we had a lot of trouble with you.

Mr. ROBESON: That is right. DeWysocki was playing in my team.

THE CHAIRMAN: There was no prejudice against you. Why did you not send your son to Rutgers?

Mr. ROBESON: Just a moment. This is something that I challenge very deeply, and very sincerely: that the success of a few Negroes, including myself or Jackie Robinson can make up—and here is a study from Columbia University—for seven hundred dollars a year for thousands of Negro families in the South. My father was a slave, and I have cousins who are sharecroppers, and I do not see my success in terms of myself. That is the reason my own success has not meant what it should mean: I have sacrificed literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars for what I believe in.

Mr. ARENS: While you were in Moscow, did you make a speech lauding Stalin?

Mr. ROBESON: I do not know.

Mr. ARENS: Did you say, in effect, that Stalin was a great man, and Stalin had done much for the Russian people, for all of the nations of the world, for all working people of the earth? Did you say something to that effect about Stalin when you were in Moscow?

Mr. ROBESON: I cannot remember.

Mr. ARENS: Do you have a recollection of praising Stalin?

Mr. ROBESON: I said a lot about Soviet people, fighting for the peoples of the earth.

Mr. ARENS: Did you praise Stalin?

Mr. ROBESON: I do not remember.

Mr. ARENS: Have you recently changed your mind about Stalin?


Mr. ROBESON: Whatever has happened to Stalin, gentlemen, is a question for the Soviet Union, and I would not argue with a representative of the people who, in building America, wasted sixty to a hundred million lives of my people, black people drawn from Africa on the plantations. You are responsible, and your forebears, for sixty million to one hundred million black people dying in the slave ships and on the plantations, and don’t ask me about anybody, please.

Mr. ARENS: I am glad you called our attention to that slave problem. While you were in Soviet Russia, did you ask them there to show you the slave labor camps?

THE CHAIRMAN: You have been so greatly interested in slaves, I should think that you would want to see that.

Mr. ROBESON: The slaves I see are still in a kind of semiserfdom. I am interested in the place I am, and in the country that can do something about it. As far as I know, about the slave camps, they were Fascist prisoners who had murdered millions of the Jewish people, and who would have wiped out millions of the Negro people, could they have gotten a hold of them. That is all I know about that.

Mr. ARENS: Tell us whether or not you have changed your opinion in the recent past about Stalin.

Mr. ROBESON: I have told you, mister, that I would not discuss anything with the people who have murdered sixty million of my people, and I will not discuss Stalin with you.

Mr. ARENS: You would not, of course, discuss with us the slave labor camps in Soviet Russia.

Mr. ROBESON: I will discuss Stalin when I may be among the Russian people some day, singing for them, I will discuss it there. It is their problem.
. . . .
Mr. ARENS: Now I would invite your attention, if you please, to the Daily Worker of June 29, 1949, with reference to a get-together with you and Ben Davis. Do you know Ben Davis?

Mr. ROBESON: One of my dearest friends, one of the finest Americans you can imagine, born of a fine family, who went to Amherst and was a great man.

THE CHAIRMAN: The answer is yes?

Mr. ROBESON: Nothing could make me prouder than to know him.

THE CHAIRMAN: That answers the question.

Mr. ARENS: Did I understand you to laud his patriotism?

Mr. ROBESON: I say that he is as patriotic an American as there can be, and you gentlemen belong with the Alien and Sedition Acts, and you are the nonpatriots, and you are the un-Americans, and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

THE CHAIRMAN: Just a minute, the hearing is now adjourned.

Mr. ROBESON: I should think it would be.

THE CHAIRMAN: I have endured all of this that I can.

Mr. ROBESON: Can I read my statement?

THE CHAIRMAN: No, you cannot read it. The meeting is adjourned.

Mr. ROBESON: I think it should be, and you should adjourn this forever, that is what I would say. . . .
 
Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of U.S. Passports, 84th Congress, Part 3, June 12, 1956; in Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts from Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938–1968, Eric Bentley, ed. (New York: Viking Press, 1971), 770.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Spain Elections: 'Podemos' coalition is a spanish version of SYRIZA; a social-democratic fraud

Alberto Garzón (left) with Pablo Iglesias.
COMMENTARY.

The electoral alliance between 'Podemos' and 'Izquierda Unida' (United Left) in Spain aims in offering an alternative of Capitalism's management. The leaders of the two parties, Pablo Iglesias and Alberto Garzón hailed the formation of the coalition as a "historic step". Amid anti-austerity fever in the country, polls in Spain show that the 'Unidos Podemos' coalition could unseat the long-established the center-left 'Socialist Party' (PSOE) for first time in Spain's political history.  Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said the party has offered to form a coalition with PSOE after the election. "We need to agree with them [the PSOE] so that we can have a progressive government", he said.

What does Iglesias mean by "progressive government" is something we can easily understand by having a look at the 'Podemos' ideology and political program. In fact, the electoral alliance of Iglesias' party with 'Izquierda Unida' (in which the opportunistic Communist Party of Spain-PCE participates) is a spanish version of SYRIZA. It consists a social-democratic formula which uses radical slogans in order to foster illusions to spanish people that "another capitalist world is possible". The 'Podemos' program, like SYRIZA, does not - in any case- questions the EU and NATO membership of Spain. On the contrary, it tries to offer an alternative political vision within the boundaries of the capitalist system.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Communist Party, Turkey: German Parliament's resolution on the Armenian genocide and AKP government's reaction

Communist Party, Turkey (KP) released a statement on the AKP government's reaction to the German parliament's resolution on the Armenian genocide
The German parliament approved a resolution declaring that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One was a "genocide", at the beginning of this month. The vote was responded by harsh statement by the AKP government and Erdoğan himself. Turkey recalled its ambassador and Erdoğan threatened Germany with further action and indicated the Europen countries had mcuh more dark archives in the sense of "genocide". Additionally Turkey's newly assigned Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed a "racist Armenian lobby" for the resolution.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

"Clinton makes History": CPUSA's opportunist transformation

COMMENTARY

The transformation of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) into an opportunist political organisation has been a long process. Since 1988, the CPUSA endorses the candidates of the bourgeois Democratic Party: Dukakis (1988), Clinton (1992, 1996), Gore (2000), Kerry (2004), Obama (2008, 2012). In an article published yesterday on 'People's World', the presidential nomination of Hillary Clinton is presented as "a major milestone in the fight for women's rights". Once again, CPUSA endorses a political representative of the U.S. monopoly capital and a war criminal. What a shame really for a party with such a long, significant history and close ties with the U.S labour movement.

Hillary Clinton, like Donald Trump, is a choice of the U.S. monopoly capital, of the country's bourgeois class, for the position of the President. Mrs.Clinton's service as Obama government's Foreign Secretary is known and has been proved disastrous: Libya, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Syria, Yemen. The people of these countries know, better than anyone, what Imperialism means and what was Clinton's contribution in war crimes. 

European Parliament: Enormous hypocrisy by SYRIZA MEPs regarding privatizations

Source: 902.gr / 
Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The hypocrisy of SYRIZA was once again highlighted during a discussion in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg regarding a resolution which promotes the privatization of the railways. 

More specifically, the SYRIZA MEPs signed an amendment which denounces the railways privatization, while, on the same time, they promote the privatization of the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) in Greece! Furthermore, some of them signed the above resolution but avoided to sign another resolution which calls the governments (the SYRIZA-ANEL government in Greece as well) to reject the privatizations of the railways! Hypocrisy at it's best!

Addressing the plenary session the KKE MEP Sotiris Zarianopoulos said the following:

"KKE votes against the resolution because it further promotes the privatization of the railways project, in detriment to the industry's workers and the passengers as well. 

Pablo Neruda and Mikis Theodorakis "CANTO GENERAL"- Concert in Chile 1993

   
CANTO GENERAL.
Poetry: Pablo Neruda / Music & Conducting: Mikis Theodorakis.
Singers: Arja Saijonmaa, Petros Pandis, Choir.
Teatro Monumental, Santiago de Chile, 23.4.1993.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Varoufakis Illusion- An "erratic Marxist" at the service of Capitalism

By Nikos Mottas.

Last April, the former Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis was among those who addressed one of "Nuit Debout" movement's rallies in Paris. Expressing his solidarity, Varoufakis compared the french "Nuit Debout" with the 2011 Greek movement of indignant citizens: "It was an earthquake. We changed the policy in Greece, but also in Europe" he said. Of course, that was another example of bombastic nonsense by the former Minister. 

Varoufakis and his former political alter ego, Alexis Tsipras, didn't change anything, neither in Greece nor in Europe. The coalition government of SYRIZA-ANEL, which came to power on January 2015, continued on the steps of the previous governments; they served the aim of Greek capitalism's recovery and they continue doing so. Mr.Varoufakis- who since then has been an international 'celebrity' by presenting himself as a 'guru' of economics- never disagreed on the fundamental policy of the SYRIZA government. As we wrote in a previous article ("The simple truth about Varoufakis and his DiEM25 party"), Mr.Varoufakis had agreed on the 67% of the austerity reforms, according to his own words in a Berlin press conference, on February 2015. 

Discontent for EU's anti-people policies grows- Nearly half of europeans aren't happy with the Union

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Forty-seven percent of Europeans have an unfavorable view of the European Union, a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 10 large EU states has revealedThe poll published on Tuesday showed that the number of people with favorable view of the bloc had almost come up with the number of their opponents and estimated at 51 and 47 percent respectively.

The research center added that Euroscepticism was on rise among the EU nations and in such states, as Greece, France, United Kingdom and Spain showed that EU adherents were outnumbered by their opponents.

The survey showed that such issues, as possible Brexit, migration crisis, the European Union's handling of economic problems and Brussels' policy of "ever closer union" fueled concerns of EU citizens over prospects of the bloc.

Spain: PCPE presents 42 lists to the General Elections on June 26th

PCPE (Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España) presents 42 lists to the General Elections on June 26th.
Source: Solidnet.org
Due to a huge militant effort, the PCPE has presented one more list than in the elections on December 20th.
The added presence in the circunscription of Gipuzkoa increases the percentage of population that can vote communist. More than 93% of the voters will be able to support the communist lists and fill the ballots with demands and proposals in favour of the working class and the people.
Once again, the option is between those who defend any of the versions of management of the dictatorship of the monopolies and those who struggle for the working class to decide on their own future.
PCPE will speak clearly in these election on the issues that really concern the majority of the population: unemployment, evictions, privatizations, the progressive destruction fo the basic social services, the cost of living, the war, the cuts promoted by the European Commission... All of them are problems related to our participation in the Euro, the EU and NATO, and they will not be in the agenda of the bourgeois parties.
The communists, the PCPE will speak about all this and we will firmly work for the people to speak and mobilize for the exclusive defence of their interests.
We know that threre are no favourable solutions for the working class and the people under capitalism, we struggle also in the elections for the workers' power and Socialism.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The KKE is fighting for Greece's disengagement from the EU and NATO with workers' power

Interview of the MEP of the KKE, Sotiris Zarianopoulos, with the Russian newspaper IZVESTIA. Reproduced from inter.kke.gr.

There is a scandal around the already approved plan of economic reforms proposed by the party in power, "Syriza". As it turned out after the plan has been carried out hastily through Parliament, it contains a clause that allows the country's top officials to own offshore companies. Party and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is now accused of bad faith and a departure from its own commitment to fight corruption. Could you give your reaction? Why your party think this item needs to be?
Answer: The SYRIZA-ANEL government has also been exposed by the unacceptable governmental provision concerning offshore companies, which it later withdrew. Nevertheless, the KKE stressed in Parliament that the offshore companies, the tax havens, the multifaceted privileges of capital are integral to the rotten system of exploitation today and are being reinforced in every way by the EU, which is a reactionary anti-people union. For this reason the government and the other bourgeois parties do not dare to even look at the proposals of the KKE for the abolition of the confidentiality of shares and the naming of the shareholders. We have no illusions that any provisions in the conditions of capital's dominance can deal with the decay and corruption that is a fundamental characteristic of the capitalist system. It is in its DNA.

KKE political event held in London - The political developments in Greece and Britain's EU referendum

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.
Read the full speech of G.Marinos here.

A successful political event organised by the KKE Party Organisation of Britain took place in London, with major speaker being Giorgos Marinos of the Political Bureau. The subject of the event was "The political developments in Greece, the British EU referendum and the positions of KKE". A large number of Greek immigrants, as well as British people, attented the event.

In his introductory speech, Giorgos Marinos refered to the anti-people policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government: "The political route of this government must be condemned in the peoples' conciousness, this is a precondition for the development of class-struggle and the confrontation of the fake dilemmas which favor the phony bipolarism between SYRIZA and New Democracy [...].

Monday, June 6, 2016

Muhammad Ali (1942 - 2016)

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr).
January 17, 1942 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
June 3, 2016 Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.

My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. ... Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.  

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Would the situation for Greek people be better if KKE participated in a government with SYRIZA?

Question: Would it not be better if KKE participated in a government with SYRIZA or even supported it critically so that it could shape government policy?

Answer: 

The experience of the 1 year government of SYRIZA confirms the fundamental conclusion that there cannot be a pro-people management of the rotten and obsolete capitalist system. The government of SYRIZA not only did not give whatever crumbs promised to the people, but continues the same unpopular policy as the previous governments, it did not overthrow even one anti-people law from those which were voted in the previous years, it voted a 3rd barbarous memorandum with the lenders. The participation or support of KKE in such governance would mean betrayal of the people’s interests. It is not a matter of intentions, besides as historical experience shows, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The illusion that the participation of Communist Parties to bourgeois governments can pressure for something better for the people, has been answered not only by KKE but also from other revolutionaries. 

Saturday, June 4, 2016

What really happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989?

This month marks the 27th anniversary of the end of the "Tiananment protests" in China. The western media and historiography usually describe the 1989 events in Beijing as a "bloody massacre". But, what really happened in the Chinese capital 27 years ago? On this occassion we republish two interesting articles which debunk the dominant western point of view. 

Tiananmen Square Massacre is a Myth, 
All We' re 'Remembering' are British Lies.

By Gregory Clark.
Source: IBTimesUKJune 4, 2014.

The original story of Chinese troops on the night of 3 and 4 June, 1989 machine-gunning hundreds of innocent student protesters in Beijing's iconic Tiananmen Square has since been thoroughly discredited by the many witnesses there at the time -- among them a Spanish TVE television crew, a Reuters correspondent and protesters themselves, who say that nothing happened other than a military unit entering and asking several hundred of those remaining to leave the Square late that night.
Yet none of this has stopped the massacre from being revived constantly, and believed. All that has happened is that the location has been changed – from the Square itself to the streets leading to the Square.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Message of the International Relations Department of the CC of KKE to the Communist Party of Venezuela

Message of the International Relations Department of the CC of KKE to the Communist Party of Venezuela. 

Source: 902.gr.
Translation: In Defense of Communism.

In a message to the Communist Party of Venezuela, the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece points out the following:

To the Communist Party of Venezuela.
Central Committee, Caracas, Venezuela.

Dear comrades,

We express our internationalist solidarity to the working class and the popular strata of your country who are facing with the consequences of the capitalist economic crisis as well as the increasing aggressiveness of Imperialism and the reactionary forces.

KKE denounces every attempt of intervention in the domestic issues of Venezuela, such as the one which is manifested within the framework of the OAS (Organisation of American States), as well as the military provocations by the US and their allies, the open targeting by the US, NATO and the EU, alliances in which our country participates and fulfilling a negative role for the people.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

War and Refugees in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The dangerous role of the EU and NATO

Imperialists Collide: War and Refugees in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The dangerous role of the EU and NATO.
Remarks of Kostas Papadakis, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and member of the CC of KKE, at the panel organised by the site Marxism-Leninism Today, at the Left Forum John Jay College, City University of New York, May 21, 2016.
We would like to thank Marxism-Leninism Today for the opportunity afforded to us to hold a discussion today, here in New York, on serious issues related to the struggle of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece), specifically our internationalist struggle. Greece and the USA may be separated by thousands of miles, but our goal and ambition is for communists and radical militants to form unified criteria in terms of examining the developments and organizing the struggle for the interests of the working class.
Our tool for this must be our worldview, Marxism-Leninism, which provides us with the capacity to draw the necessary conclusions regarding the causes and development of complex issues that mark the era of the highest stage of capitalism, imperialism. Above all, communists at an international level must form a unified revolutionary strategy against a ruthless and powerful enemy, the capitalist system. This is not a task for a distant and undefined future. It is something absolutely necessary in today's conditions. Its absence leaves its mark on the developments, makes it difficult for the workers and the poor popular strata on both sides of the Atlantic to understand that the capitalist system is their real enemy, to recognize its objective laws and the methods it uses to achieve its goal, which is none other than the safeguarding of the maximum profitability possible and its own perpetuation as a system.

Interview with KKE's Makis Papadopoulos: "The communists need to struggle decisively and methodologically against imperialism"

Special interview with Makis Papadopoulos, member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Greece (KKE), responsible for the Ideology Department.

Source: International Communist Press, 01 June 2016.

ICP: As a result of the protocol that exists between CP of Greece and CP, Turkey you came to give a seminar on imperialism to the cadres of CP, Turkey. Do you think that the seminar was productive?

Makis Papadopoulos (MP): The seminar itself proves the substantial and fraternal cooperation in the relationship of the two parties. CP of Greece (KKE) and CP, Turkey (KP) in order to develop a revolutionary strategy they realize the need of a new theoretical analysis in the Marxist-Leninist approach. This seminar was productive because it gave us the chance to clarify the Leninist approach of our party and to debate certain critical points of the topic. At a period which the antagonism among the inter-imperialist centers is intensifying and with NATO getting more aggressive, thus there is a risk of a more general war, the communist parties need to be alert to act in time.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

What the Capitalist Economic Crisis in Greece has taught us

By Nikos Mottas.

It was six years ago, on May 2010, when the then Prime Minister George Papandreou, in a televised message from the picturesque island of Kastelorizo, was announcing Greece's entry to the support mechanism of the IMF and the EU – the 'memorandum phase'. The economic crisis in Greece had manifested itself a year earlier, in 2009, when it entered in a phase of rapid recession, following the outbreak of global financial crisis in 2007-2008. Today, after four bourgeois governments (Papandreou, Papademos, Samaras, Tsipras) and three memorandums of harsh austerity packages, we can draw some significant conslusions. What did the Capitalist Economic Crisis in Greece teach us?

1. The Source of the Crisis.

Contrary to various bourgeois interpretations and theories of the economic crisis (over-consumption, casino-capitalism, etc.), there is one clear, scientifically proven, reality: Capitalism itself contains in it's DNA the inevitability of crises. Capitalist production, with it's contradictory character and anarchy, contains the seed of such crises. In Capitalist economy lies the motive to push capitalist reproduction to extremes levels, to accumulate immense profits, thus giving a monetary speculative form to the appropriation of surplus value from the working class labour. The devaluation of capital (either commercial or financial) and the devaluation of labour power (as a commodity), has occurred repeatedly in the past and will certainly occur in the future for as long as the exploitative system called 'Capitalism' exists.