People's Democracy

CPRF HOLDS INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTIES

Strengthen Subjective Factor for Utilising

Objective Situation for Revolutionary Upsurge: Yechury

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) organised an international meeting of the Communist parties on December 15-16, 2012. The theme of the meeting was 'International Communist Movement Today and Tomorrow'. Select communist parties were invited to participate and present their opinions on the theme. The CPRF explicitly stated that it intends to discuss the problems and perspectives of the world communist movement in the context of the world financial and economic crisis. The meeting was scheduled to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the USSR (the USSR was founded in December 1922).

Those who had attended the round-table were Communist Party of China (CPC), Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU), Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Communist Party of India (CPI) apart from the host CPRF.

The meeting was taking place in the background of the advances made by the CPRF in the recent elections. In the last elections to the parliament, the CPRF secured nearly 20 per cent of the vote and increased its representation in the Duma, the lower house of the parliament. Because of this increased representation in Duma, the CPRF representatives were made the chairpersons of six out of thirty parliamentary standing committees.

Opening the meeting, chairman of the Central Committee of the CPRF, Gennady Zyuganov, mentioned that the meeting of the Communist parties was held after a long time in Moscow! Apart from the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Soviet Union, this meeting also coincides with the 70th anniversary of the historic battle of the Stalingrad, the defeat of Hitler's fascist army here, with the surrender of over three lakh fascist soldiers including 27 generals, which decisively marked the turning point in the course of the Second World War. After this, the fascist army was on the retreat, leading to its eventual defeat three years later – a defeat that was signalled to the world by the hoisting of the Red Flag over Hitler's headquarters, the Reichstag of Berlin.

Zyuganov spoke on the continuity and the spread of global capitalist economic crisis and said that the situation is likely to worsen in the coming couple of years. All participating communist parties in this round-table, he said, have two things in common – adherence to the revolutionary tenets of Marxism-Leninism and are convinced that there are no solutions to this crisis under capitalism and the only way to achieve true human emancipation and liberation is by the establishment of socialism, after overthrowing capitalism. On this basis, he said that we need to learn from history and its experiences in order to build a new socialism in the future. He also discussed the renewed imperialist aggression and spoke of the Syrian situation and NATO expansionism.

Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member, attended the meeting on behalf of the CPI(M). There were two rounds of discussions in the round-table meeting – in the first round each participant was given twenty minutes to present their opinions, followed by a second round in which all the participants responded to the interventions made in the first round. The discussions in the meeting helped in further understanding the positions of the various communist parties about the international situation, the situation in their respective countries in which they are functioning and the tactics and struggles undertaken by them. The following is the text of the intervention made by Sitaram Yechury.

At the outset many thanks to the CPRF for convening this meeting. As Zyuganov said, indeed we are meeting after a long time in Moscow. The last time I had attended such a meeting of Communist parties was way back in 1987, the seventieth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, convened by the then CPSU. As all of us know, the subsequent events led to the dismantling of the Soviet Union itself and the triumph of counter-revolution.

Your invitation explicitly stated that this was a free discussion, hence I had not come here with any prepared text. With due apologies to the interpretors, I seek to make a few observations on what Zyuganov has just stated.

As he said, we need to draw proper lessons from historical experiences. Many communist parties in the world have drawn their own conclusions and made their own analysis to understand and explain to their own people in their countries about the demise of socialism in the USSR. We have made our analysis way back in our 14th Congress in January 1992. Naturally all such efforts are both incomplete and inadequate until we have a reasoned evaluation made by the Russian communists themselves, who were part of this process. We have been expecting such an analysis from you for over two decades now. This unfortunately has not come so far. We hope that the CPRF will fill this gap – a crucial gap – that will help the international communist movement to properly understand and evaluate the experiences of the over-seven decades of socialism in the USSR. A period, so heroically crafted by the Soviet people in establishing for the first time in human history a socialist society free of exploitation of man by man, its contribution in the defeat of fascism and the consequent decolonisation process in the world and its emergence from within a very short period of time as a mighty bulwark against imperialism. These developments have irreversibly impacted upon the history of the twentieth century and irreversibly shaped the contours of future human civilisation. Unfortunately all this is now in the past.

On the basis of learning from past experiences, I wish to make five points. First, these experiences confirm the fact that the essence of Marxism lies in what Lenin stated as the 'concrete analysis of concrete conditions'. Secondly, the collapse of the Soviet Union does not in any way negate the creative science of Marxism-Leninism nor humanity's urge to realise the socialist idea. Thirdly, the transition period from capitalism to socialism is not a linear period as erroneously thought earlier. It is a period of where there is an intensification of class struggle and hence it is a period of many ups and downs, many advances and reverses. While the twentieth century was dominated by a period of advance, it ended and the twenty-first century began in a period of reversal. Fourthly, capitalism never collapses on its own, however intense its crisis may be. Finally, at any point of time in history, the basic determinant, during the transition period of the advance of the forces of socialism depends on the concrete political conjecture and a correct estimate of the balance of class forces. In today's context, this balance has shifted in favour of imperialism.

CONTEMPORARY

POLITICAL CONJECTURE

As regards, the contemporary political conjecture I wish to make six points. First, using this situation, imperialism is seeking to aggressively impose its uni-polarity on a world that under natural circumstances would evolve into a multi-polar world. This effort is manifest in all spheres – economic, political, military, social, cultural, etc. Secondly, this period is one where global capital under the leadership of international finance capital (IFC) has embarked on a course of merciless profit maximisation, resorting to various methods of primitive accumulation. The emergence of IFC does not in any way negate the Leninist understanding of imperialism where he spoke of the nexus between industrial and banking capital leading to financial oligarchies, who in their quest to maximise profits seek to continuously repartition the world under their spheres of influence. The consequent inter-imperialist rivalries lead inevitably to wars. This Leninist understanding was resoundingly vindicated within a decade after it was articulated, with the First World War. This was reconfirmed by the Second World War. This also reconfirmed the Leninist revolutionary strategic understanding on utilising these opportunities for converting the inter-imperialist wars into a civil war i.e., a class war within each country and break the chain at its weakest link. The Russian revolution vindicated this understanding resoundingly.

Is all this today negated with the emergence of IFC, which is not confined to any one imperialist centre but operates globally to maximise profits? No. On the contrary, it vindicates the Leninist prognosis, which in that very analysis of imperialism had said that increasingly global capitalism would be dominated by finance capital in the era of imperialism, a situation where all other forms of capital – industrial, commercial, etc., are enmeshed with and under the leadership of the IFC. This is precisely what is happening today. Lenin used his understanding of imperialism and applied to concrete conditions of his times and succeeding in leading the triumph of the Russian revolution. Those times were now changed, not Lenin's analysis.

Thirdly, this global dominance of IFC is leading to an increased exploitation where all known areas of human activity are being turned into avenues for profit maximisation – health, education, power, etc., etc. Fourthly, this unbridled exploitation of predatory capital has brought about the current crisis in the first place. This crisis today is in its fifth phase. It began with the sharp decline in the purchasing power of the vast majority of the global population. Anticipating the classic over-production crisis, global capitalism sought to overcome this by offering cheap credit to the people. As people spent this borrowed money, profits continued to be made, but the third phase of the crisis struck when people were unable to return the loans leading to the global financial meltdown in 2008. In order to overcome this crisis, the capitalist States in all the developed economies doled out huge bail-out packages and bailed-out those very banks and financial institutions that caused this crisis in the first phase. This led to the fourth phase of the crisis when corporate insolvencies were converted into sovereign insolvencies. In order to overcome this sovereign indebtedness, the capitalist states have began merciless austerity measures, the current fifth phase. This in itself will create the grounds for the sixth phase with the peoples purchasing power significantly cut by these measures. Therefore I agree with Zyuganov who said that the coming year would be worse. In fact, I would extend it to say that 2014 would be even worse when the bankrupt EU economies would not be able to return the huge loans that they have taken to come out of their sovereign insolvency. There is no answer to crisis within capitalism. The only answer lies in its political alternative, socialism.

Fifthly, in the ever rising protests against the rule of capital all across the globe, Latin America stands out as an inspiring example. But even here we must note that apart from socialist Cuba, all the other countries are offering alternatives to neo-liberalism, within capitalism itself. We are only hoping that these struggles will move forward to offer alternative to capitalism itself. They are the ones who are best equipped today, given the rising popular support that these progressive governments have in these countries.

PRINCIPLE

TASK

Finally, there is a need to forge unity at the global level of the various streams of protests and struggles that are taking place against imperialism. There are global protests against the economic crisis and neo-liberalism. There are global actions against wars unleashed by imperialism. There are global protests on issues of climate change, etc., etc. All these need to be forged together into a global anti-imperialist movement, whose core will remain the communists.

The moot point however is, how do we do this. Undoubtedly each one of our parties will have to radically alter the correlation of class forces in our countries. While the objective situation may be conducive for a revolutionary overthrow, the Leninist subjective factor, i.e., the strength of the class struggle of all the exploited sections under the leadership of the working class parties based on Marxism-Leninism, continues to remain weak and incapable of utilising the objective situation for the revolutionary upsurge. This is the principle task before all of us in all our countries.

I can briefly share with you our experiences in India. When imperialism and Indian ruling classes figured that without the CPI(M) led Left in India that it was not possible to form a Union government in India and this will not permit the smooth unfolding of their agenda, they joined together to mount an attack to weaken the Left in its strongholds. This political gang-up reminiscent of the opening lines of the Communist Manifesto, unleashed a vicious violent attack on the CPI(M) cadre in the state of West Bengal, the Left's stronghold. We held the government in this state for over three decades winning seven successive elections. Over 600 comrades of ours' were murdered since the last general elections in 2009.

While we are countering this offensive, we are also sharpening the popular struggles against neo-liberal economic policies. It is through such partial struggles that the mightier class struggles would be built. In our experience, this is the only way in which the subjective factor can be strengthened.

I am eager to hear the other comrades and learn from their experiences.

Finally, it is very cold in Moscow this year. Apart from everything else, the fact that the October Revolution was successfully led by Lenin in such cold weather and the fact that Stalin led the defeat of fascism in similar conditions was a source of inspiration for all of us. It keeps reminding us that with determination and firm ideological rooting, the revolutionary movement can overcome all obstacles.

Thank you for your attention.

SECOND INTERVENTION

I have with great interest heard all the interventions of comrades. They come with varied and different experiences. Some on the basis of strengthening socialism under the present circumstances, others who are seeking the restoration of socialism in their countries and others like us, who are seeking the establishment of socialism in our country. Yes, as many have said, all of us share a common objective in socialism and a common ideology in Marxism-Leninism. But the important point is, how we achieve our objective keeping in consideration our national specificities. Kalashnikov, (Member of the CC Presidium of the CPRF) spoke about certain mistakes that were committed in the past, when such national specificities were not understood by the Communist International when it existed, or even later by major parties regarding other countries. He mentioned the example of China and Vietnam. I only wish to humbly add our experiences in India. For about twenty years after the CPI(M) was formed, no party that is present at this round-table recognised us as a communist party, or any other type of a party for that matter. It is only when the CPI(M), based on our national specificities, emerged as the strongest communist party leading the Left front in India and forming governments in some Indian states that the then international communist movement started taking notice of us. I am not complaining. I am only urging that all of us must learn from such experiences in order to build a better future for humanity.

In the process of the strengthening of the subjective factor, as I said earlier, there is a need to constantly build the class struggles on intermediate slogans and tasks to move towards achieving that strength to pose an assault on the rule of capital itself. In my country's situation, partial struggles of the exploited sections for a better livelihood, in defence of its democratic rights and freedom etc., are all issues of importance for our people. It is only through sustained struggles on all these partial issues that the strength of the subjective factor can be built. I therefore wish to disagree with Eliseas of KKE, who says such partial struggles are in fact the social-democratisation of the communist movement and the only answer to capitalism is socialism. Of course, in the final analysis, socialism alone is the answer to capitalism. These partial struggles are not answer to capitalism. These partial struggles are the process through which brick by brick we build our strength to the political alternative, socialism and eventually reach that point. May be such a need for partial struggles does not exist in the concrete conditions of Greece today. KKE is the best judge. But there is a crucial need for strengthening of such struggles on such issues in India and that is our concrete reality. I repeat Lenin, “concrete analysis of concrete conditions is the living essence of dialectics”. This is the importance of national specificities. This is also importantly argued by our Chinese comrade in their description of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

At the global level, the task of uniting different streams of protests and struggles into a powerful global anti-imperialist movement requires a certain degree of unified approach by the international communist movement on certain crucial issues. The 'Arab Spring' has thrown up the important question of the democratic aspiration of the people against authoritarian regimes. Some of these regimes may be taking an anti-imperialist position, but in the name of anti-imperialism, can we support authoritarian regimes? And ignore the peoples' democratic aspirations? Neither can we, in the name of democracy, facilitate imperialist objectives in any specific country or region. This is an issue that once again needs to be resolved by taking positions depending crucially on national specificities. There cannot be a uniform common understanding unless the concrete conditions of these countries are concretely analysed.

In many countries, Islamic fundamentalism has emerged as a powerful force opposing US imperialism. In many instances it was the US imperialism that had provided the strength to such fundamentalist forces in order to advance their strategic objectives and block the rise of progressive pro-socialist regimes. The fundamentalist forces in turn used such support to weaken the communist-led Left movements and in many instances to decimate it. US supported regimes have invariably done this in the Arab world and elsewhere. Islamic fundamentalism has a retrograde socio-economic agenda and is essentially anti-communist. So our construct of a global anti-imperialist movement cannot harbour any such anti-imperialist visions like the fundamentalism does. It is important that in these kinds of meetings such issues need to be thoroughly discussed in future and a degree of clarity arrived at.

Finally, in its quest for global hegemony and uni-polarity under its leadership, US-led imperialism constantly adopts and compromises with its own positions, if it advances its agenda. Recollect that after the Second World War when decolonisation process set-in, imperialism learnt that wherever the communists were in the leadership of the national liberation struggle, invariably revolutions triumphed like in China, Vietnam and Korea. Learning from this, imperialism ensured that wherever such a potential possibility existed in Africa, its leader was assassinated, whether it be Patrice Lumumba, Augustino Neto, Amilcar Cabral and the latest being Chris Hani in South Africa. We need to sharpen our alacrity in anticipating imperialist manoeuvres. For instance, it has now shifted sixty per cent of its naval forces to the Indian Ocean. This is obviously to control the Asia-Pacific region and more importantly to achieve its strategic objective of 'containment of China'. What does it mean to the other countries in the region? To the revolutionary forces in the region? These are issues that merit a proper discussion in the future.

I return to the cold once again. Today is the coldest day so far. I am told that this winter was one of the worst winters in the century. It was in such cold weather that Lenin led the successful October revolution. May be it is time for another revolution in Russia! I end by congratulating the CPRF on its successes in the recent elections and wishing them all the best in the run up to their 15th Party Congress in February next year.

Thank you for your attention.

(Sub-headings have been added - Ed)