Thursday, July 7, 2016

An Unholy Alliance: The ties of Social Democracy and the 'New Left' with NATO and Fascists in Ukraine

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and its alliance with Ukrainian leftists supporting a pro-NATO course against Russia. 

Source: NewColdWar.org / Original Source: Junge Welt & [2].

An unholy alliance of leftists supporting a pro-NATO course against RussiaBy Susann Witt-Stahl and Denis Kovalpublished in German in Junge Welt, June 25, 2016.

The Die Linke (Left Party)-affiliated Rosa Luxemburg Foundation wants to play it safe. It relies not on historical pro-Soviet or Marxist left traditions but instead promotes a “new left”. The foundation is named after a world-renowned icon of anti-capitalist movements whose identity is bound with communist and anti-imperialist ideas. But the members of the Foundation’s leadership recommend to the left a convergence with the ‘liberal imperialism’ of the global hegemon, the USA.

Understandably, this requires some political flexibility. Progressive forces should not plant themselves on one side or the other of competing imperialist powers, says the Facebook page Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Ukraine. It demands that the “independent left” distance itself from the NATO-EU bloc, on the one hand, and from Russia on the other hand.

Chinese giant COSCO to PM Tsipras: "Dockworkers' strikes must be restricted"!

The official trip of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to China included everything: from sightseeing tour in the Great Wall and high-level talks with the Chinese government to agreements with some of the country's biggest monopoly groups. 

'Cosco', the shipping giant which holds the 51% of the Piraeus Port Authority (one of Europe's largest seaports), is one of these multinational giants which seeks in multiplying its profits from the investments in Greece. Prime Minister Tsipras met with the 'Cosco' boss Xu Lirong in Shanghai where they discussed the possibility of extending the collaboration between the Chinese giant and the Greek state. 

According to Greek media, Lirong asked from Tsipras to take any possible measure for the restriction of the strikes in Piraeus Port! Seems that 'Cosco' isn't pleased enough with the galley working conditions that exist in Greece's largest port and wants to extend the exploitation against dockworkers. Of course, this demand by 'Cosco' goes along the upcoming 2nd evaluation of the bailout agreement which includes new barbaric anti-workers laws, restriction of strikes, etc. 

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

KKE: Statement on the one year since the July 5th referendum

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

On the occasion of the one year since the referendum of the 5th of July 2015, the Press Office of the CC of KKE issued the following statement:

"A year ago, KKE said that the referendum, with the phony dilemma it was posing, was "mined". That the "NO" and "YES" will be used as a supposed approval of the Greek people for a new antipeople agreement with Troika. What followed is known to the Greek people. The parties of "NO" and "YES" jointly voted a new memorandum, on the basis of which the attack against the people escalates.

Today, all these political powers utilize the result of the referendum in order to pose as- supposedly- vindicated: The SYRIZA-ANEL government in order to continue the- bankrupt- fairytale of the "hard" negotiation and of her "good" memorandum. ND, PASOK and the other political powers of "YES" in order to "whitewash" their antipeople policy and their vote for the 3rd memorandum. The political powers which splitted from SYRIZA, in order to hide that, for months, from governmental positions, they were cultivating illusions that the EU can change and reassuring the people that their government will not sign memorandums, while today they continue the deception by propounding as an alternative solution the capitalist Greece with a national currency. 

One year since the Greek bailout referendum: KKE's position has been fully vindicated

One year since the Greek Bailout Referendum: KKE's position has been fully vindicated.

By Nikos Mottas.
5/7/2016.

It's been a year since the bailout referendum was held in Greece. The whole story surrounding the referendum, as well as what followed the referendum result, consists a major episode in a series of deceptions created by the Tsipras' coalition government. The referendum's question was whether the Greek people agreed or not with the bailout conditions proposed by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank [1]. The outcome was a triumph of the “No” vote with 61.31%, while a 38.69% of the voters choosed the “Yes” choice.

However, the referendum itself was proved a political fraud. The SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government- and Prime Minister Tsipras personally- openly advocated in favor of the “No” vote. Thousands of “No” supporters gathered in mass demonstrations, while the country lived a short but intense polarised period, trapped between the “No vs Yes” dilemma. A fake and illusive dilemma, which had nothing to do with the real interests of the working masses who, once again, found themselves entrapped in bourgeois political antagonism.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Friedrich Engels- The Principles of Communism


FRIEDRICH ENGELS: THE PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNISM


October-November 1847.
Selected Works, Volume One, p. 81-97, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969. Web Source: Marx2Mao.

* * *

Question 1 :  What is Communism? 

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.

Question 2 :  What is the proletariat? 

The proletariat is that class in society which draws its means of livelihood wholly and solely from the sale of its labour and not from the profit from any kind of capital;[2] whose weal and woe, whose life and death, whose whole existence depends on the demand for labour, hence, on the alternations of good times and bad in business, on the vagaries of unbridled competition. The proletariat, or class of proletarians, is, in a word, the working class of the nineteenth century.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

KNE Anti-Imperialist Camp: Thousands of young communists honored the heroic Democratic Army of Greece

VITSI, FLORINA (Source/Photos: 902.gr)- With a political event in the Memorial for the Battle of Florina, thousands of young communists, members and friends of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) honored today the heroic struggle of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE). Today's gathering was the conclusion in a series of events within the framework of the 25th Anti-Imperialist Camp of KNE which took place between 1-3 July in the mountainous area of Vitsi.

The camp's base was at Pisoderi, in Vigla, a mountain position at 1,550 metres. The area has a historic significance as long as the Democratic Army of Greece had maintaind there powerful bases, from Spring 1947 until August 1949. Also, the area had been the base for the General Command of the Democratic Army, of the CC of KKE and of the Provisional Democratic Government during the Civil War.

The 25th Anti-Imperialist Camp was also attended by representatives of communist youths from Italy and the former Yugoslavia. More specifically, members of the Youth Communist Front of Italy (FGC) and of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia participated in the events and delivered their solidarity messages

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Grover Furr- Evidence of Leon Trotsky’s Collaboration with Germany and Japan (Part II)

Grover Furr- Evidence of Leon Trotsky’s Collaboration with Germany and Japan (Part II). Continue from Part I.
Source: Cultural Logic, 2009.

Objectivity And Persuasion.

Political prejudice still predominates in the study of Soviet history. Conclusions that contradict the dominant paradigm are routinely dismissed as the result of bias or incompetence. Conclusions that cast doubt upon accusations against Stalin or whose implications tend to make him look either “good” or even less “evil” than the predominant paradigm holds him to have been, are called “Stalinist.” Any objective study of the evidence now available is bound to be called “Stalinist” simply because it reaches conclusions that are politically unacceptable to those who have a strong political bias, be it anticommunist generally or Trotskyist specifically. The aim of the present study is to examine the allegations made in the USSR during the 1930s that Leon Trotsky collaborated with Germany and Japan against the USSR in the light of the evidence now available. 

Friday, July 1, 2016

'Rizospastis': Brexit and the perspective of the EU

Brexit and the perspective of the EU.
Source: Rizospastis / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The result of the british referendum for exit from the EU has pulled to the surface contradictions between various imperialist centers regarding the future and perspective of the EU. The interventions of forces during the last days, both inside and out of the EU, confirm that. The President of the USA Barack Obama spoke about the need to avoid hysteria, because NATO exists and the Transatlantic Alliance hasn't been dissolved. On the same time, his criticism towards the process of the so-called political and economic deepening of the EU is of special importance. In order to explain what happened, he points out: "Regarding the issue of full European intergration, the pause button has been pressed", adding also that "the way the British voted is explained by the fact that, probably, the EU was moving faster than it should have". He expressed with clarity the dissagreement of the American monopolies regarding the way the German side promotes the deepening of the EU. Disagreements which of course meet other, respective dissents which are expressed also within the EU on the account of the bourgeois classes of France, Italy etc. Those who, the SYRIZA-ANEL government presents as "allies" of the Greek people, the same time when they crush the working-peoples' rights in their countries.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

What kind of 'Left' does Jeremy Corbyn represent?

COMMENTARY:

Let's get directly to the subject: Why so much noise about the UK's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn? First of all, Labour Party is a bourgeois party which poses no threat to the capitalist establishment. We don't speak about a revolutionary party of Marxist-Leninist principles, but about one of the two pillars (the other is, of course, the Conservative Party) of the British bourgeois political system. There is nothing revolutionary in a purely social-democratic party like the UK Labour Party. Having said that, let's go now to it's leader, Jeremy Corbyn. 

What is the kind of "Left" that Corbyn represents? Like his party, is he, or not, fully committed to the capitalist system? The answer is absolutely clear: Corbyn is a bourgeois politician, a social-democrat with some so-called "progressive" ideas. The fact that he is "more progressive" than Tony Blair or David Cameron doesn't make him a choice for the country's working class. In the history of the UK Labour Party we have seen numerous ‘left-wing’, ‘progressive’ members, scores of leaders and senior MPs who have had what they referred to as ‘socialist’ politics- even more radical than Jeremy Corbyn. However, that doesn't change the political nature of the party as a vehicle of Social Democracy. 

"NO to Imperialism, Close down the military bases": Anti-NATO protests to take place in Greece on July 7th

Pro-peace, anti-imperialist movements in Greece have called for mass rallies against NATO in Athens and Thessaloniki on July 7th. The Greek Committee for Peace and International Detente (EEDYE) and numerous labor unions, student and women associations have openly called for participation on Thursday 7th July's demonstration and march in the US Embassy of Athens. 

A similar protest will take place on the same day in Thessaloniki, outside the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC) headquarters. 

In it's statement, EEDYE points out the aims of the demonstrations:

- To decisively condemn NATO and the Summit in Warsaw in which new murderous decisions will be taken.

25th Anti-Imperialist Camp of KNE in Florina: Honoring the legacy of the Democratic Army

Thousands of young communists are expected to participate in the 25th Anti-Imperialist Camp organised by KNE (Communist Youth of Greece) between 1-3 July 2016. The camp takes place in Pisoderi, Florina in northern Greece and includes numerous activities, such as political and music events, walk-climbing in the mountain, visits in mountainous strongholds of the Democratic Army of Greece, etc. 

This year's Anti-Imperialist camp honors the 70 years of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), the peoples' army which fought against the national forces and the imperialists during the country's Civil War (1946-1949). On Saturday morning, the participants will have the opportunity to visit the town where the Provisional Democratic Government (Communist Mountain Government) was based in 1947. 

The camp will conclude on Sunday 3 July with a political event in the Memorial for the Battle of Florina. Speech will be delivered by the Secretary of KNE Nikos Abatielos. 

Greece’s biggest supermarket chain files for bankruptcy leaving 12,000 employees in uncertainty

The Marinopoulos supermarket chain, one of the biggest in Greece, applied for Bankruptcy in Operation.  An Athens court will discuss the request on July 1st, 2016 and until then the company will have protection from its creditors. 

The move is considered a big blow with a possible domino effect threatening to send 11,000- 13,000 people to unemployment. The Company with 700 stores across the country is said to owe 500 million euro to some 2,500-3,000 suppliers, while the debts to the state and social security funds are over 40 million euro.

The employers did not give any information to the unions, who have organized protests outside the supermarkets and the offices of the chain, all over Greece to protect the employees’ job positions.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

"No one will save you in your stead! Rise up!"- Statement by the Communist Party, Turkey on Istanbul terrorist attack

Statement by the Communist Party, Turkey (Komünist Parti) regarding the terrorist attack in Istanbul's airport / Source: International Communist Press.

No people is by nature predisposed to take massacres for granted, to kneel before tyranny, and to keep silent against fundamentalism. Any people who do so lose their humanity.

We reject to get used to massacres, bomb attacks, and political murders.

We reject to put up with a government who always try to present massacres, bomb attacks, and political murders as usual events.

We reject to keep silent against a government who interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, who prompt terrorists to attack those lands, and who back the same terrorists in the name of “sacred values” in its own country. 

We reject to recognize the law of those who pass new bills in the parliament while tens die due to the indifference, hypocrisy, sinister plans, and ineptitude of the government.

KKE: Solidarity message to the Communist Party, Turkey (KP) for the criminal attack in Istanbul's airport

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

The International Relations Department of the CC of KKE sent the following message of solidarity to the Communist Party, Turkey (KP):

Dear comrades,

We express our condolences for the victims of the criminal attack in the airport of Istanbul.

The people of the region must be alerted, because the contradictions and the clashes of imperialists in the region consist the soil upon which people shed their blood and such actions are imbedded in escalation plans of interventions and wars for the profits of the monopolies, imposing of repressive measures against the working people.

The AKP goverment bears serious responsibilities as long as with its policy has directly implicated Turkey in imperialist plans and antagonisms.

The people of the region, who pay a heavy toll of blood for the movements and upheavals between NATO, EU, US and Russia, Israel and the Gulf's monarchies, have every interest to unite in a common struggle, contrasting their interests against the interests of the monopolies, of the bourgeoisies, of the imperialists. 

Capitalist Crisis: Austerity and poverty for the people, profits for Greek shipping giants

This is Capitalism- For the vast majority of the Greek people the capitalist economic crisis of the last 7 years means harsh austerity, cutbacks in wages and pensions, mass lay-offs, destruction of the small businesses and new taxes for the low-income families. But for the Greek shipping companies- a dominant power in international maritime industry- the crisis is an opportunity for more profits.

Greek shipping giants are more powerful than ever and the value of the Greek merchant fleet is approximately $90,000,000,000 (90 billion) says the report of German "Die Welt". The Greek shipping industry is by far the most powerful, taking into account that the respective shipping industry of Germany (the 4th largest merchant fleet globally) has a value of $42 billion- less than half of the Greek one.