https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-parties-around-the-world-are-on-the-rebound/
Communist Parties around the world are on the rebound
December 13, 2018| 1:45 PM CST| | By Chris Butters
Communist Parties around the world are on the rebound
With capitalism still stuck in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis,
Communist Parties and the ideas of socialism are getting a second wind.
Here, a worker shines up a hammer and sickle emblem at an exhibition in
Moscow. | Maxim Marmur / AP
ATHENS—“Communist Parties around the world are gaining a second wind and
are deeply involved in working-class struggles in their respective
countries,” Rossana Cambron, the Communist Party USA delegate told
representatives at the 20th International Meeting of Communist and
Workers Parties (IMCWP), held here in November.
The international communist conference was the 20th installment of a
meeting held every year since 1998. These seminal meetings have become
the world’s most comprehensive gatherings of Communist and workers’
parties. Some 91 parties participated in this year’s deliberations.
Speaking on behalf of the CPUSA, Cambron described the Trump
administration as representing the most reactionary sections of big
business. “The coming to power of political forces promoting unbridled
racism, anti-Semitism, and right-wing nationalism represents a grave
danger throughout the world,” Cambron argued.
The meeting was opened by Dimitris Koutsoumpas, general secretary of the
Communist Party of Greece, which hosted the conference. Referring to
bourgeois “end-of-history” ideologues, Koutsoumpas declared that
“developments have proven them wrong.” The Greek party leader cited
“capitalism’s deepening crisis, recent upsurges, and the continued
burning relevance of revolutionary Marxism.”
Catch a YouTube live stream discussion of the conference, featuring
Rossana Cambron and Chris Butters—Thursday, December 13th at 8:00pm Eastern.
The much-awaited recovery from the Wall Street crash of 2008 has still
not happened, the delegate from the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
pointed out, asserting that the capitalist economy is no longer capable
of growth with only the occasional recession to upset things. Now, it
can only produce stagnation with occasional changes that leave
diminishing prospects.
The Portuguese Communist Party noted the revolutionary potential of the
period, but also recognized that “the more reactionary and aggressive
sectors of capitalism are increasingly betting on war and fascism as a
way out of the deepening structural crisis.” This, they concluded, makes
it all the more important that popular mobilizations be strengthened.
Communist Party USA delegate Rossana Cambron addresses the 20th IMCWP in
Athens, Greece. | CPUSA
The CP of Britain criticized the anti-labor policies of the European
Union, pointing to the necessity “of defeating the populist and racist
right, those who seek to exploit fear and poverty in the interests of
big capital.”
Parties from the Balkans and Eastern Europe condemned the privatization,
mass unemployment, and militarist policies of the EU. They described the
devastating impact of privatization, deindustrialization, and attacks on
democratic rights by post-Soviet right-wing governments. They condemned
attempts to outlaw Communist Parties in countries that had formerly been
socialist.
The danger of rising xenophobia and nationalism was underlined by the
French CP: “In Europe, the current political, democratic, social, and
economic crisis…favors the emergence of an authoritarian line of
ultra-nationalist and xenophobic forces.”
Read the CPUSA’s contribution to the conference, delivered by Rossana
Cambron.
The CP of the Russian Federation shared these anti-NATO, anti-EU
positions, but also pointed to the erosion of democratic rights,
incomes, and living standards under the austerity regime of President
Vladimir Putin.
The participation of the Communist Party of China in the international
working group which prepares the conferences was an important new factor
this year. The CPC reported achievements along the “Chinese Road to
Socialism,” including lifting 800 million of the nation’s people out of
poverty in recent years.
The International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, stated the
CPC representatives, has provided “an important platform to conduct
exchanges and dialogues over the past two decades.” The Chinese party’s
goal, they continued, is to “strengthen communication and expand
cooperative ties in a new type of party-to-party relationship that
features common ground while preserving differences and learning.”
The Cuban CP’s representative addressed that party’s “determination to
update the economic and social model of socialist development that will
enable us to have an independent, sovereign, socialist, democratic,
prosperous, and sustainable nation.”
Cuba pointed to the difficulties in achieving this objective “in the
face of the intractable U.S. policy of aggression and its economic,
financial, and commercial blockade, which has been tightened by the
present Trump administration, thus imposing a significant reversal in
relations between the two nations and a return to the hostile language
that characterized the Cold War years.”
The Middle East was an important topic at the IMCWP. The CP of Israel
condemned that country’s “brutal and ugly oppression” of the Palestinian
people and called for solidarity. They reiterated their party’s
commitment to uniting and organizing workers of every nationality and
securing a two-state solution in accordance with international law.
The Iraqi Communist Party discussed significant gains resulting from
their electoral campaign for a secular free and federal Iraq. They
denounced the Trump administration’s plans to create the Middle East
Strategic Alliance (MESA), a so-called “Arab NATO.” MESA would be a new
military and political alliance in the Middle East composed of Saudi
Arabia and five other Gulf states plus Egypt and Jordan, allied under
the pretext of countering Iran’s expansion in the region.
The South African Communist Party pointed to the need to grapple with
and understand the roots of right-wing populism. “The rise of right-wing
politics has its origins in the decaying of the politics of, amongst
others, center parties and social democracy. These are dangerous times
for democracy.” They continued, “For those worried about Trump and about
populism, it is not enough to mobilize and protest and resist, it is
also necessary to engage in the politics of persuasion that must begin
by understanding the discontent that is roiling politics.”
The parties present did not see eye-to-eye on every question. Some
called for a direct road to socialism, downplaying stages and
participation in capitalist governments. Others spoke to the complexity
of the revolutionary process. The British CP, for instance, cited the
necessity of building broad fronts around a “People’s Brexit” in their
country. The defense of democratic rights was a major focus for the
parties that come from countries which make up the former Soviet Union.
Opposition to fascism and racism in the U.S. was a key topic of
discussion, and electoral campaigns against religious sectarianism in
Iraq, India, and other countries were also on the agenda.
The final appeal adopted by the IMCWP reflected broad agreement on a
number of issues, however. It calls for the development of common and
joint actions on the following issues:
Crowds at the mass rally held in conjunction with the 20th IMCWP in
Athen in November. | Rizospastis
— Opposition to imperialist war, interventions, and militarism;
— Defense of the history of the communist movement and the values of
proletarian internationalism;
— Strengthening international solidarity with peoples facing occupation,
imperialist threats, and interventions;
— Building multi-faceted class solidarity with workers’ struggle for
labor, social, and trade-union rights, and against the offensive of capital;
— For women’s rights and emancipation;
— Struggle for political and trade union freedom and democratic rights
against fascist forces, reactionary regimes, racism and xenophobia,
religious sectarianism, and social oppression.
Tags:
capitalism
communist party usa
CPUSA
socialism
CONTRIBUTOR
Chris Butters
Chris Butters
Chris Butters is a retired NYC court reporter, and a former DC 37
(AFSCME) chapter officer. Chris is a co-producer of WBAI-FM'
(Pacifica)'s Arts Express radio show. He has published two books and
four chapbooks. His poetry has appeared in Blue Collar Review, and many
other literary and left poetry magazines.
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