Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts

Monday, June 27, 2016

Nikos Mottas- Venezuela and the Opportunist Theory of “21st Century Socialism”

Venezuela and the Opportunist Theory of “21st Century Socialism”.

By Nikos Mottas.

Translated version of an article published on atexnos.gr.

Rapid developments have taken place in Venezuela during the last months. From last December's electoral victory of the right-reactionary opposition until the recent assassination of a retired Army General, we have seen a series of events which lead to the destabilization of Nicolas Maduro government. Eighteen years since the rise of Hugo Chavez in power, in 1998, the “Bolivarian Revolution” trembles dangerously, while the conservative opposition is on the counter-attack and a number of external agents (US government, OAS etc.) are variously trying to intervene in the country's internal affairs.

The crisis in Venezuela has two sides: On the one hand, the government and its people are facing a multidimensional attack from imperialist centers which aim in exacerbating the situation to such extend so that a possible (external) military intervention would be justified. The attack on Venezuela must be examined as part of the broader framework of inter-imperialist, inter-bourgeoisie contradictions and antagonisms which- fostered by the US policy- are taking place in Latin America. That comes out also as a result of the developments in Brazil (the 7th largest economy worldwide) where the inter-bourgeoisie confrontation and the scandal-mongering political orgy led to the expulsion of President Roussef.

Friday, June 17, 2016

The European Union and the crisis of capitalism-lessons from Greece

Source: inter.kke.gr.
On the 14/06/2016, The Workers Party of Ireland held an event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on the topic:  «The European Union and the crisis of capitalism-lessons from Greece. A delegation of the KKE headed by Elisseos Vagenas, member of the CC and Responsible for the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE had been invited to speak at the event. Below you can find his introductory intervention at the event.
Dear comrades and friends,
We are very pleased to be here today with you in Northern Ireland, at the invitation of the Workers’ Party of Ireland, in order to discuss the situation and developments in Greece, as well as the conclusions that the workers can draw from them.

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. 

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.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Brexit: Why workers in Britain should vote to leave the EU

Why British workers need a Brexit.
Source: Proletarian (CP of Great Britain, Marxist-Leninist), 
Issue 71, April 2016. 
Leaving the EU would undoubtedly weaken the ability of British, European and even US imperialists to dominate the globe, thus taking our struggle for socialism one small step forward.

“From the standpoint of the economic conditions of imperialism – ie, the export of capital and the division of the world by the ‘advanced’ and ‘civilised’ colonial powers – a United States of Europe, under capitalism, is either impossible or reactionary ...

“Of course, temporary agreements are possible between capitalists and between states. In this sense a United States of Europe is possible as an agreement between the European capitalists ... but to what end? Only for the purpose of jointly suppressing socialism in Europe ... On the present economic basis, ie, under capitalism, a United States of Europe would signify an organisation of reaction.” (On the slogan for a United States of Europe by VI Lenin, 23 August 1915).

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

The sharpening of the imperialist competition and the position of the KKE regarding the possibility of Greece’s involvement in an imperialist war

The sharpening of the imperialist competition in the region of the Southeastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. The position of the KKE regarding the possibility of Greece’s involvement in an imperialist war.

By Elisseos Vagenas (Communist Party of Greece).
Republished from the International Communist Review, 5th Issue, Nov.2014.

War is no chance happening, no “sin” as is thought by Christian priests (who are no whit behind the opportunists in preaching patriotism, humanity and peace), but an inevitable stage of capitalism, just as legitimate a form of the   capitalist way of life as peace is. Present-day war is a people’s war. What follows from this truth is not that we must swim with the “popular” current of chauvinism, but that the class contradictions dividing the nations continue to exist in wartime and manifest themselves in conditions of war” V.I.Leninó
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) also deals with issue of war through the prism of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, which it remains faithful to. The possibility of war and the involvement of Greece particularly concerned the recent 19th Congress of the KKE (11-14 April 2013). Important guidelines are provided in the Political Resolution regarding the preparation of the party in the case of such a possibility, as the developments completely vindicate Lenin, who underlined that war constitutes “an inevitable phase of capitalism, a form of capitalist life equally natural as peace”. The imperialist “peace” prepares the new imperialist wars. The KKE does not merely repeat the Leninist truths, but uses them as a basis, analyzing the specific socio-economic, political developments of our wider region, which are explosive and are creating a very dangerous situation for the lives of the workers. The specific article will refer to this approach of the KKE.