17 IMCWP, Written Contribution of NCP of Yugoslavia [En]

Dear comrades,

First of all, I want to express hearty greetings in the name of New Communist Party of Yugoslavia and thank the host for invitation to the remarkably organized 17th summit of communist and workers parties.

Dear comrades,

We thank you for the invitation to participate in the work of 17th summit of communist and workers parties, which unfortunately we were unable to do. Internacional summit of communist and workers parties has always been very significant forum in which communist and workers parties from around the world could exchange their ideas We're almost 25 years apart from one of the most tragic moments in the history of mankind – the breakup of the first socialist country and Eastern Bloc. There's no doubt that perestroika betrayed Marxism-Leninism, socialist revolution and proletarian internationalism, that perestroika is opportunism and revisionism of the worst kind. However, even today we're unable to perceive all the negative and tragic consequences of these events and to derive concrete lessons for the future from the tragic days of humanity.

The breakup of USSR and the Socialist Bloc in Europe has disoriented many communist parties all over the world. Because of these tragic events the world communist movement has been in serious ideological, organizational and material crisis for almost 3 decades. We are faced with a situation that many of the communist parties have crossed the line of revisionism and opportunism. They abandoned the class struggle and traversed to the road of so-called social dialogue with the ruling class, they substituted workers marches and strikes for cozy ministerial armchairs and offices. However, “Whatever the difficulties and possible temporary failures or the waves of counterrevolution – the final victory of the proletariat is unavoidable”. (V. I. Lenin). Lenin wrote : “The class struggle and not my nice wishes is going to determine the character of new Russia”, and in this spirit our goal should be our organizational and ideological strengthening and uncompromising struggle.

Dear comrades,

Capitalism is becoming even more aggressive and dangerous at the expense of the peoples and is characterized by the full scale offensive against the working class and people’s rights, the crises and imperialist wars.

It is well known that the crisis of capital over-accumulation and overproduction that broke out in a synchronized way in 2008 in many countries expresses the anarchy of capitalist production, its contradictions, the sharpening of the basic contradiction between the social character of production and labor and the capitalist appropriation of their results on the terrain of the power of the monopolies and capitalist ownership of the means of production. The reality reveals that the basis of the crisis is not the one or the other form of bourgeois management. The crisis is not a product of “neo-liberalism”, or the “uncontrolled activity of the banks” as the forces of opportunism claim. These claims mislead the peoples, exonerate the capitalist system and its economic laws, foster illusions that there exist pro-people forms for the management of the system and lend support to the social-democratic form of management.

We, undoubtedly, are in the midst of class war. It's nothing unusual. In capitalism there's always a class war going on, “history of the all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”(C. Marx). Today, the class war is more intense due to the crisis of capitalism – the crisis deep-seated in the excessive accumulation of capital. During this crisis capital has sharpened the class war against the workers class. Austerity measures, cuts, the need for sacrifices – these are the demands of capitalism whilst urging the workers to bear the brunt of its failure. This is the war conducted by capitalist states against the laborers to make them give up on results of its previous struggles' successes.

We are obliged to participate in and decisively support the struggle of the working class, the popular strata, the youth, and to utilize every possibility to coordinate our activity.

Dear comrades,

The imperialist aggressiveness has been intensifying and the inter-imperialist competition has been sharpening during the capitalist crisis.

The monopolies and major business groups are at the core of imperialism which is the highest stage of capitalism (and not just the expression of an aggressive foreign policy). They compete to expand their business activities, to control the markets, the natural resources and the energy pipelines, and this is also expressed at an inter-state level.

This is manifested in old and new flashpoints of tension and war. War is the continuation of politics with other violent means.

Let's look at what's happening today in Europe, especially on Balkans. Refugees from Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries are running away from wartime events in these countries induced by western imperialists, among them the European Union. Under international law every state's duty is to accept refugees running away from war, but instead of that some countries terrorize the refugees, make walls and other barriers to prevent their entry. EU, whose mouth is full of “people's rights and democracy”, hypocritically refuses to accept the refugees for whose misfortune is its own fault due to its aggressive imperialist acts.

Dear comrades,

The Balkan today is an important experimental region of Europe when it comes to strategies for surviving the crisis of capitalism which was created. In the Balkans today we have hordes of fascists and religious fundamentalists being recruited, whose rampage and terrorism affects in many cases, and creates pressure against powerful working-class (klasis) response to the crisis. In the Balkans today they examine to what extent all the measures can go in the way of political pressure and the conditioning by the European Union, The International Monetary Fund and NATO. Our party is firmly committed to close cooperation and solidarity among the Balkan peoples. The problem of disunity and discord among the Balkan people has been one of the main factors that go into the hands of imperialist domination of our region. We are in favor that all the national issues in the Balkans must be solved only under the anti-imperialist platform, each self-determination under the sponsorship of imperialism is only the option for imperialism and against the interests of the broadest social strata respectively. Therefore, communists of Balkan countries have a special responsibility and commitment in the process of unmasking the imperialist aims behind such projects as “Independence of Kosovo”. The existing situation in the Balkans is not a precedent. The Balkans are on record for their long history of bloody imperial “divide et impera” politics. Here is what more than fifty years ago a Serbian social democrat Dimitrije Tucovic had to say about it: “The peoples of the Balkans, taken separately and not united, are systematically targeted by the imperial conquerors in every war. […] and they shall always be targeted unless they unite. The history has taught us the lesson, more than once unfortunately, that our disunity suits our conquerors' interests, never our own. Grouping and mutuality of countries and peoples in the Balkans is the only road that leads to economic, national and political liberation.

Clearly the government and the entire establishment in Serbia are not just puppets put to power by the European Union and the big powers, to obey and implement the imperial politics. Their own interests are also at stake. These interests are responding to broad strategic and economic imperial objectives : 1/ Dismantling of national economic and social infrastructure under the plundering privatization program that transferred the most profitable state assets into the hands of foreign big capital; 2/ free-market sponsored regionalization and further dismantling of Serbia.

The conditions created under the cover of attracting foreign investors actually are that of economic occupation and total submission of Serbia, crippling domestic industries, prompting massive job cuts and the replacement of living wage union jobs with jobs in sectors with low pay, minimal benefits and no job security. The European Union sponsored corrupt legal system, having policy of free market plunder as its primary objective, is in all evidence supervising the interests of the capitalists, domestic or foreign mafia.

The catastrophic New Labor Law written by the foreign non-governmental organizations such as USAID in accordance with the IMF that keeps blackmailing Serbia promising new credits, is a flagrant proof that the ruling social-democratic regime has not maintained its electoral promises that helped it win the elections in Serbia.

Despite the more frequent rebellion and protests of workers, of whom more than 30% officially, and actually at least 40% are unemployed, of which nearly 60% of young people are unemployed, the largest trade unions in Serbia have not done and do not do anything in terms of resistance to government measures, and interest of improving the position of the working class and job creation. For example, trade unions are calling for social peace in the name of “higher goals”. They call all workers to endure the daily humiliations and layoffs by employers. A significant part of the employees are working illegally, working for 10 or 14 hours a day for a price that is lower than the minimum of the bourgeoisie who are legally committed, and the leaders of the bourgeoisie are talking openly that the working class is lazy, and they should be grateful if they have a job even when they don't receive a salary in a few months. The deep crisis of capitalism affects widely popular classes in our country, education is becoming less accessible, increasing privilege of the rich, living from pension is very hard, fertile land is sold to foreign and domestic tycoons and mafia capitalists, and peasants are converted to serfs, for women everything is unenviable in the field of social welfare and equality on the labor market.

In a country where the acquisition of wealth as the ultimate value of the sight lines are sharp class conflict between the so-called successful and powerful against the poor which are presented as incompetent, helpless and uncreative. Our party leads to persistent struggle to break down such displays of class relations in our society today, and although it is not parliamentary power and has no ability to use the loud speakers platform from which our party can better reach out to the working class which justified rebellion is constantly gaining momentum. It is necessary to further politicize the bunt in the goal of sustainable class struggle and insistence on non-agreement class requirements otherwise this fight will not lead to a progressive order that will achieve new quality and new conditions of economic and social development. Therefore, in the present state opportunism and revisionism in our movement is especially important topic. Class principles and requirements arising from scientific socialism the working class adopts faster and most complete in terms of the development of modern industry. But in the crisis of capitalism, reduced or completely dead industrial production or the lagging economic relations, the labor movement and the working class generally become more prone to adopt only certain claims which are arising from scientific socialism, just some slogan or strategy of fight, but without being able to decisively break with the traditions of the bourgeois view of the world. It is a breeding ground for some who partially lead the revolutionary struggle which is always in the end counterrevolutionary because in its core it is opportunist, reformist and revisionist. In a weakened position due to the crisis of capitalism some revolutionary parties, and being self-critical and say that our party is one of those, you should not look for inconsistencies or historical obsolescence of political practice, although we are ready to take on any responsibility in full for the same. Also in the modern achievements of other parties of the movement should not necessarily look for the historical relevance of which is linked to the birth of an authentic revolutionary new breakthroughs. There is no success in the struggle for a new world, the new social relations, if it is based on collaboration with imperialism and its bars, the cooperation with exploitative class and its allies, there is no progressive society if we give up class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat, there is no consistency if you give up our in our struggle of revolutionary traditions and symbols of our movement, no solidarity of the working class if it's not based on patriotism and internationalism.

Comrades,

We must overcome present reality with united forces, unified in one unique militant communist movement. With inane declarations and statements we achieve nothing, we need to act progressively, honestly, organized, in the spirit of communism, while paying attention to all the specifics, the past and the present and all the precious lessons from the past.

The tasks of the communists are very important and require that organized, e exchange experience from the development of the struggle in each country in a systematic way, that we intensify the efforts to coordinate our activity and to form the basis for the strengthening of the international communist movement.

Social development moves towards a higher level and cannot retreat due to occurrence of the counterrevolution and the overthrow of socialism in the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries.

In today's transition into the last phase of capitalism – imperialism, the inevitable, crucial battle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, it is our task to turn the scales into the favor of proletariat, for the salvation of the mankind.

After the bloody experience the mankind has with capitalism only in XX century, it is obvious that to this destructive system can't possibly be given the responsibility for the fate of humanity. All these facts obligate the communist movement to critically face its history, all of its mistakes, defeats and achievements, and to, on the basis of experience, freed from the burdens of dogmatism, opportunism and revisionism, open the new page of struggle for the liberation of man, which is going to be the compass for all the people and the confirmation that the socialism is possible and achievable.

With the hope that these meetings will continue to contribute to the strengthening of the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist principles in our joint action, as well as the activities of the political parties individually, both large and small, and those that are in power and those in the underground, we continue the fight for the world social justice and progress for world socialism/communism.

Thank you!