Showing posts with label Opportunism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opportunism. Show all posts

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Joti Brar’s Tantrum About the Imperialist Pyramid

The Institute for the Critical Study of Society (ICSS) has announced its video session for Nov. 5, 2023. Joti Brar will speak on “The Theory of the Imperialist Pyramid.” Fortunately, she has written an article on the same topic.

The ICSS’s advance announcement coyly identifies Brar as a member of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. That she is. She is also a vice chair of the CPGB M-L and daughter of Harpal Brar, a founder of the group (be sure to include the “G” for Great Britain in order to avoid mistaking it for the CPB M-L).

Thursday, September 14, 2023

On the termination of the activity of the European Communist Initiative and the role of opportunism

By Nikos Mottas.

The erosive and undermining role of opportunism in the international communist movement has made its appearance again, this time by leading to the termination of the activity of the European Communist Initiative (INITIATIVE).

According to a statement by the Secretariat of the INITIATIVE, the “important ideological and political differences that have arisen over time and which have been aggravated since the outbreak of the war being waged between the USA-NATO-EU and capitalist Russia” were assessed during a last teleconference held on September 9.

Saturday, June 17, 2023

On the Alliance of the CPI and PCUSA: Opportunism Under the Mask of “Anti-imperialism”

By the Interim Executive Committee of the Communist Workers’ Platform USA

Following our split from the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA), we analyzed the events leading to the fracture. This analysis was undertaken to further our understanding of opportunism in the US, and shed light on its manifestations in one of the so-called leading “communist” parties, particularly in matters of organization. Here we further our work and aim to set the table for ideological confrontation with the strange political groupings taking place in the US communist movement. One such grouping is that of the PCUSA, led by Angelo D’Angelo, and the Center for Political Innovation (CPI), led by Caleb Maupin. Such alliances take place within the context of the drawing together of these forces within the orbit of the “World Anti-Imperialist Platform” (WAP).

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Communist Youth of Denmark: On the opportunist character of the "World Anti-imperialist Platform"

The Executive Committee of the Communist Youth of Denmark (DKU) issued a statement on the so-called "World Anti-imperialist Platform", accusing it as an opportunist formation that every principled communist must condemn:

"The World Anti-imperialist Platform (WAP) is the latest addition to the consolidation of opportunist forces in this period. 

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Note on the "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" Meeting in Caracas

In a statement about the meeting of the so-called "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" in Caracas, Venezuela, the International Relations Section of the CC of the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) notes:

"On March 3, the third meeting of the "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" begins, which amalgamates confused forces unknown until recently, together with strange to the communist movement political groups. Some exist only in the computers and minds of their spokespersons, such as the non-existent "Collective of Struggle for the Revolutionary Unification of Humanity" or the "Platform for Independence" of Greece. 

Friday, December 16, 2022

KKE: Every party is assessed by its participation in the class struggle

Every party is assessed by its participation in the class struggle

Regarding the (new) statement of the leadership of the RCWP, which repeats the well-known dead-end positions and attacks against our party, the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE notes the following:

First, SolidNet is an important achievement of the Communist and Workers’ Parties and the observance of the rules governing it requires responsibility, which, unfortunately, the leadership of the RCWP fails to demonstrate. In its statements, it continues its unacceptable characterizations, turns against specific comrades, uses inaccuracies, and distorts the positions of the KKE and other parties.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Brazil: Is social democracy the solution for the people?

By Nikos Mottas.

After four years of far-right Bolsonaro government, the old known social democracy is back in Brazil. Lula da Silva's electoral victory consists the culmination of social democracy's recent resurgence in Latin America, following the rise of Lopez Obrador in Mexico, Gabriel Boric in Chile and Gustavo Petro in Colombia.

Once again, opportunist left-wing forces will celebrate the victory of Lula da Silva, presenting it as a political triumph that will allegedly bring positive developments for the Brazilian working class and the popular strata. Without doubt, Bolsonaro's defeat would be positive news, but the major question that arises is the following: Does social democracy provide a real alternative solution to the dominance of the capital in Brazil? 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Gustavo Petro, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the fairytale of “left governments”

By Nikos Mottas.

The same old fairytale of “left-progressive governments” is back in the news following the electoral victory of social democrat Gustavo Petro in Colombia, as well as the performance of leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in French parliamentary elections.

As it happened last December with Gabriel Boric' victory in Chile, a number of left-wing, opportunist forces in Greece and abroad celebrate the recent results, presenting them as a “triumph of the left” which can allegedly bring positive developments for the working people. 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Communist Parties' participation in bourgeois governments is a deeply erroneous strategy

By Nikos Mottas.

Every time a Communist Party compromised the aim of workers' power in order to participate (or support) a “progressive”, “left-wing”, “anti-capitalist”, “anti-fascist” etc, bourgeois government the results were utterly disappointing, leading to ideological degeneration and disintegration of the workers-popular movement.

A few days ago, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), a party with significant history, paid the price of its participation in the “progressive” government of the Socialists, by receiving a rather disappointing 4.4% and four seats in the legislative elections. This result marks an almost 2% loss compared to the 2019 election. 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

What kind of “communists” were elected in Graz?

When the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) won the local elections in Graz, the country's second largest city, we did not hide our concern about the political orientation of the party. “The KPÖ is affiliated to the Party of the European Left, the political alliance which includes social democratic and opportunist forces, like Greece's SYRIZA, Germany's Die Linke and Spain's United Left”, we wrote.

Eventually, the KPO and its Graz branch has received strong, but justified, critique by the Party of Labour (PdA) which was formed in 2013 by a Marxist-Leninist breakaway faction of the KPÖ who disagreed with the party's opportunist turn. According to the Party of Labour's chairman, Tibor Zenker, the KPÖ “is not a Marxist-Leninist party”, while concepts such as class struggle, socialist revolution and communism are included neither in the rhetoric, nor in the activities, of the KPO ("Das dunkelrote Graz", zeitungderarbeit.at). 

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Berlinguer: A good man, but not a communist

The following article was written by Marco Rizzo, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Italy (Partito Comunista) and published in "l'Unità" newspaper in November 11, 2015 under the title "Berlinguer, un brava persona ma non comunista". 

The article is a reminder of the deeply reactionary and reformist nature of Eurocommunism, a prominent founder and promoter of which was Enrico Berlinguer.

By Marco Rizzo.

There is always a beginning. We ask ourselves: What brought to consumption the great historical and political experience of Italy’s communists? What led Antonio Gramsci’s party to become today’s party of Matteo Renzi?

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Four years of SYRIZA government: A really valuable lesson for Greece's working class


The 25th of January marked the completion of four years since the electoral victory of SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) back in 2015. Today, four years later, we can draw valuable conclusions regarding the actual role of SYRIZA in Greece's political developments. Most importantly, the Greek working class can draw conclusions which can be proved helpful in the upcoming battles of class struggle.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Italian communist leader Marco Rizzo blasts Berlinguer's eurocommunist legacy

Marco Rizzo (left), General Secretary of the CC of the
Communist Party, Italy. Right: Enrico Berlinguer.
In a very interesting speech delivered at the 20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, which is taking place in Athens, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista) Marco Rizzo strongly criticized the ideological and political legacy of the so-called "Euro-communism".

The intervention of Rizzo marks a break-up with the traditional reformist line of the - once powerful- Italian Communist Party. "We reject with extreme firmness any hypothesis of political alliances between parties, both for electoral purposes, which, even worse, in support of self-styled "left "governments. The Italian labor movement has paid heavily for the lines of collaboration and compromise with the reformist parties" said Rizzo and added:

Sunday, August 12, 2018

PT-PCdoB coalition in Brazil: Be aware of social democracy bearing gifts, comrades!

By Nikos Mottas.

In a highly controversial decision, which may have negative effects for the country's working class movement in the long term, the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) agreed to participate in an electoral coalition with the social democratic Workers' Party (PT). 

The alliance between PCdoB and PT came as a result of the effort to create a broader alliance between "left forces" against the conservative and right-wing forces. More specifically, according to a statement issued by the Communist Party (PCdoB) "the coalition between PCdoB and PT has emerged as the possible and important alliance to build the victory of progressive forces in view of the strong orchestration of the conservative and coup forces."

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Belgium's Communist Party (PCB) withdraws membership from the "European Left"

The recent Congress of the Communist Party of Belgium (Le Parti Communiste de Belgique), which took place in Brussels, decided with a 83% majority to withdraw the Party's membership from the Party of the European Left (PEL).

According to PCB, several reasons led to this decision, including PEL's hostility towards historical socialism (20th century socialism), as well as the "unacceptable attitude of the European Left's leaders towards NATO". 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Interview with the Communist Party (Italy)

Special interview with Guido Ricci, member of the Political Bureau and head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Italy (Partito Comunista). 

IDC: Taking into account the existing difficulties and the political correlation of forces, how do you evaluate the result of the March elections for the Communist Party, Italy? Did you achieve the basic objectives you had set before the elections?

PC: As you know, our Party does not consider elections and the parliamentary activity as the only possible form of struggle. According to the teachings of Lenin and Gramsci, the presence in the bourgeois parliament must be used to develop the work outside and against it. We approached these elections as an opportunity to verify our Party's mobilization ability, improve our organizational skills and attract new militants. We considered the elections as a means of making the party grow. Actually, a considerable number of workers and young people came into contact with the Party during the signatures drive and the election campaign. New party organizations have been established and the existing ones have been strengthened thanks to new comrades joining them.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

The KKE responds to the slanderous lies of Carmelo Suárez's group (Comentario en español)

The International Relations department of the CC of the KKE issued a statement (commentary) replying to the recent slanderous delirium of the opportunist "Carmelo Suárez faction". Surpassing all limits, the Suárez faction shamelessly involves a third party (Communist Party of Venezuela) in order to vilify the KKE and the Communist Party of Mexico. 

In a recent article under the title "The declaration of Caracas as a necessity of the historical moment in Venezuela", the group of C. Suárez unleashes a provocative slanderous attack against the Communist Parties of Greece (KKE) and Mexico (PCM) for not being among the signatories of a random declaration of solidarity towards Venezuela.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Communist Party of Greece: Criticism of certain contemporary opportunist views on the state

POSITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SECTION OF THE CC OF THE KKE AT THE 11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE "V.I.LENIN, THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD".

Source: inter.kke.gr.

The importance and timeliness of Lenin's work on the state

100 years ago, a few months before the Great October Socialist Revolution and in particularly difficult and complex political conditions, V.I. Lenin wrote a fundamentally important work, "The State and Revolution", which, of course, was published for the first time after the October Revolution in 1918.
In this work, Lenin highlighted the essence and analyzed the class nature of the state: “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable.”[1]

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

The voice of American Communists: PCUSA on Trump, Cuba-US relations and opportunism

The Party of Communists USA (PCUSA) was founded on May Day 2014. Formed out of the ashes of the Communist Party USA, the PCUSA aspires to become the base for a new beginning for the communist movement in the United States. On the occasion of Donald Trump's rise to power, we asked from the PCUSA to share with us the party's views on some topics. 

Below we publish the response we exclusively received by the PCUSA's Council of Secretaries.

Monday, February 6, 2017

The nature of SYRIZA and why it is supported by the bourgeoisie

Photo credit: IDC.
Source: Rizospastis / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The identification of SYRIZA's political positioning requires first of all the clarification of the relationship between bourgeois politics and the opportunist (political) stream. In respect to its class substance, the opportunist political line is a bourgeois political line, but as it is manifested within the lines of the labour movement. While it is a policy which supports the strategic objectives of the capital in economy and politics, it appears with a socialist cloak and slogans. The fact that the opportunist perceptions objectively have a common "core" with the bourgeois ideology and politics is expressed both in the occasional convergences between opportunist and bourgeois parties as well as in the convertion of opportunist parties into parties of bourgeois governance, especially in times when this is necessary of capitalism.

When an opportunist party is called to manage the general interests of the bourgeois class from governmental posts, then it de facto becomes subject to a series of political, ideological and organisational adjustments that are characterized by the retreat of its opportunist elements and references without, of course, meaning that these do not continue to be utilized for the entrapment of popular forces in the bourgeois pursuits.