To the Presidium and the delegates of the XXI Congress of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
Dear comrades,
The Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Front (Italy), on behalf of the members of our Party, warmly and fraternally greet the Presidium and the delegates of the XXI Congress of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
The aggravation of the main contradictions of capitalism, which are the real cause of the current crisis of overproduction and over-accumulation, and the intensification of inter-imperialist competition pose new and complex tasks for the Communists. At the same time, however, the complex situation of the crisis, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, also opens up the prospect of a new impetus to the class struggle and more active participation of the working class and popular strata in the path of revolutionary transformation of society in a clearly anti-monopolistic, anti-capitalist, socialist direction. The disastrous management of the pandemic emergency helps the masses to understand that capitalism, the bourgeois state and governments are unwilling and unable to meet even the most basic needs of the workers and peoples, starting with their right to life and health. The systematic dismantling of the public healthcare system and the commodification of health, sacrificed on the altar of capitalist profit even on the occasion of the vaccination campaign, make workers and peoples hostage to the monopolies of the pharmaceutical industry and private healthcare.
Monopolistic capital uses the pandemic as a pretext to carry out a deep restructuring in order to raise the rate of profit, find new, profitable opportunities to invest over-accumulated capital and restart the stuck mechanism of capital reproduction in general. The pandemic is used in an attempt to hide the real causes of the crisis, attributing them to the virus as an unpredictable natural phenomenon, and not to the inherent contradictions of capitalism. This way, the bourgeoisie is trying to push through the lie that capitalist restructuring is an equally natural and objectively unavoidable consequence of pandemic emergency, while it is a precisely planned and purposeful class policy. Unless stopped by strong and determined workers’ and popular resistance, this policy will lead to massive layoffs, greater operational labor flexibility, increased working hours and work pace, higher retirement age, lower wages and further cuts in social services: in other words, it will lead to more intensive exploitation. On this basis and with this prospect, the capitalist bourgeoisie finds unity and cohesion against its class antagonist, the proletariat, despite the fierce competition between capital sectors for the redistribution of the huge resources provided by bourgeois states not to counteract the pandemic (this is proved by the scarce amounts allocated by the EU to healthcare through the Recovery Fund), but in order to maintain the rate of profit and resume the accumulation cycle. In order to suppress any resistance to restructuring plans, capital shows the true face of its dictatorship and with all the strength of the bourgeois state cracks down on the hotbeds of the class struggle by police repression and legal prosecution of the most advanced elements of the labor movement. This harsh course of capitalist restructuring is carried out in a coordinated manner at the level of the European Union, which adds to the persecution and criminalization of the class struggle at the practical level a shameful falsification of history at the ideological level, equating fascism and communism. The directives, regulations and recommendations of its bodies summarize the common class interests of the European capitalist bourgeoisie as a whole, despite the existing competition between national monopolies and between individual states.
Socialdemocrats and opportunists welcome the easing of austerity and budgetary stringency introduced in an attempt to find a way out of the crisis, consider it a significant change in the course of the European Union, and preach Keynesian theories as a factor of “humanization” of capitalism. This is a wrong and misleading position in its assumptions and conclusions. Firstly, the waivers to the strict fiscal policy pursued so far are extraordinary and time-limited. Secondly, the resources provided for by the Recovery Fund, regardless of whether they are repayable loans or block grants, have a price that the bourgeoisie intends to charge the proletariat. Thirdly, the provision of loans and aids to individual states is subject to the implementation of “reforms” (mainly regarding the labor market, “wage moderation”, restrictions on the right to strike and free labor union representation, the social security system, etc.) which reflect the restructuring criteria required by capitalist monopolies, in continuation of the usual anti-labor and anti-people policy of the European Union.
Finally, the adoption of different economic policy measures, of one or another theory of capitalist management, does not change the substantial nature of the EU as an instrument of class oppression and exploitation. In any case, the proletariat should not expect anything positive for itself from an imperialist interstate union, regardless of the applied economic theory of monopolistic interests management, whether it is “neoliberal” or “neo-Keynesian”. Therefore, we believe that any illusion on the reformability of the EU and its bodies should be firmly rejected and the Communists must intensify their activity to unveil the true nature of the EU and their struggle for the withdrawal of their respective countries from this imperialist union.
We consider equally erroneous, and therefore reject, the position of right opportunists, who abandoned the Leninist analysis of imperialism and adopted the theses of the nationalist and “sovereigntist” right forces.
They see the EU as an external “colonial power” from which it would be necessary to gain freedom through a kind of struggle for “national liberation”. This is an inter-class position that ultimately supports the national bourgeoisie and capital, or sectors of them, in their competition with the other countries’ bourgeoisie and capital. Therefore, it must be rejected, since it leads the proletariat to split at the international level and to stand under others’ flag to the benefit of others’ interests.
Against all opportunism, right or left, against all revisionism and reformism, the Communist Front (Italy) is engaged in building a truly revolutionary and internationalist Communist Party. We fight against any form of deviation from Marxism-Leninism not only on the theoretical level, but also by eradicating opportunistic behaviors and habits which result from a long co-existence with parliamentarianism and bourgeois “legality” and, unfortunately, largely exist in all parties, that were formed in Italy so far and refer to communism.
We are working in difficult conditions of political-ideological backwardness and political-labor union fragmentation of the Italian proletariat, whose class consciousness we are trying to restore by spreading within it the theory of scientific socialism and fighting the non-Marxist leanings that are again existing in the labor movement.
The Communist Front (Italy) is struggling for the reorganization of the labor movement, for the restoration of its class consciousness on the basis of scientific socialism, for the grassroots unification of the workers’ struggles in order to overcome the current fragmentation and create a broad and united front of struggle which is able to fight back against the attack of capital and launch a counter-offensive. We are aware of the dialectical relation that must exist between the party and the class: the party is the prerequisite and the vehicle for the construction of class consciousness; at the same time, close connection with the masses is a necessary condition for the party to grow, preserve its class character and perform its role of organized revolutionary vanguard. For this twofold reason we try to be physically present, wherever we can, at strikes, pickets and all places and moments in which class conflict concretely arises. We seek to raise the stakes of the conflict from the economic level to the true political level, trying to link the everyday claims of the movement to the political goals of Italy’s withdrawal from the EU and NATO, the overthrow of capitalism and bourgeois dictatorship, the workers’ power and the construction of socialism-communism.
Dear comrades, we have read with great attention the Theses of the XXI Congress of the CCP and have translated them into Italian with pleasure, as they are very important for the correct political and ideological education of our cadres, too. We consider them a significant contribution to the theoretical and practical development of the communist movement as a whole, and we broadly share your thorough analysis of the contemporary world, the capitalist crisis, and the current development of imperialism. We also share the tactical and strategic directions that come from your analysis. We find in them a strong affinity of approach, in thought and action, to the solution of our common problems, which are very similar, since they are determined by the general laws of the development of capitalism, despite the differences that still exist between Greece and Italy: we have the same goals and the same enemy. We also appreciate the tireless commitment of the KKE to the fight against opportunism, revisionism and reformism within the International Communist Movement, for the success of consistently Marxist-Leninist, internationalist and revolutionary positions.
We are sure, dear comrades, that your XXI Congress too will represent a further enrichment of the Marxist-Leninist theoretical elaboration not only for your Party, but also for the communists all over the world, and will contribute, creatively and in step with the times, to the spread and achievement of communist ideas, as well as the promotion of the socialist revolution. With the will to make the ties between our two Parties ever closer and more coordinated, we wish you a fruitful congressional work and new, greater, successes in our common struggle against imperialism and its wars, for Socialism-Communism.
PROLETARIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD, UNITE!
Rome, May 20, 2021
COMMUNIST FRONT (ITALY)
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee
