�The Crisis of Capitalism, `Globalization' and the Answer
of the Working Class Movement�

Remarks of Miguel Figueroa, Leader, Communist Party of
Canada,
Athens, Greece, May 21-23, 1999

Esteemed Delegates,
Dear Comrades,

The historical moment which our world and its peoples are
currently passing through is without doubt the most complex
and dangerous since the rise of fascism plunged the world
into war more than a half century ago. That is why this
meeting bringing together so many communist and workers'
parties and revolutionary movements from every continent
is so timely and significant, and why our Party joins with
all others in expressing our gratitude to its organizers
and especially our hosts, the Communist Party of Greece,
(KKE), for convening this conference on capitalist
globalization and the working class and peoples' fightback
against it.

Comrades,
There was a time not so long ago, in the immediate
aftermath of the victory of counter-revolution in the
former Soviet Union and other socialist countries in
Central and Eastern Europe a world-historic setback which
spawned a profound political and ideological crisis
throughout the communist and revolutionary movements
internationally when just convening such international
conferences to exchange views, to draw lessons and to take
stock of the new situation was an important accomplishment.

Today, however, life imposes on our parties a much higher
responsibility. The offensive of international finance
capital and its imperialist states and blocs continues to
grow in intensity, undermining the sovereignty and rights
of all peoples, deepening the social crisis for the vast
majority through unemployment and rampant poverty,
plundering the world's resources and destroying the global
environment, and threatening the peace and security of
individual countries, regions, and the world as a whole.

We are therefore duty-bound as internationalists to connect
words with concrete deeds; to unite our common analysis
with coordinated action by the revolutionary movement at
both regional and global levels. Since the early 1990s,
international cooperation among communist and other left
and revolutionary forces has already begun to take shape
and to bear results. But efforts to date, while useful, are
insufficient to meet this challenge; such efforts must be
�magnified a thousand fold.� Can we use this opportunity
afforded us here in Athens to frame a �common agenda� and
draft an international program of action to mobilize the
working class and oppressed peoples in our respective
countries to confront this �new, imperialist world order�?
Our Party believes that such a joint initiative is
possible, and that it is urgently required. The Communist
Party of Canada stands strongly committed to such an
objective and will work toward its realization.

The most immediate and pressing task is to mobilize a
worldwide campaign to stop NATO's criminal war of
aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. With
each passing day, more and more of the world's people are
seeing through the heavy veil of imperialist propaganda and
disinformation. The motivation driving imperialism's
aggression has nothing to do with humanitarian concern for
minorities in Kosovo province. Imperialism has never
championed the cause of national rights and equality among
peoples indeed, its history is replete with colonial
plunder and national oppression of the peoples throughout
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The real objectives of imperialism are to bring down the
FRY government in Belgrade and to complete the dismantling
of Yugoslavia, replacing it with a string of small, highly
unstable ministates which it can dominate economically,
politically and militarily. The �militaryindustrial
complex� is also using the current conflict to ignite a new
and incredibly wasteful round of the arms race. The demise
of the next round of the START talks, and the U.S. decision
to increase arms spending (including the development of the
�Star Wars� missile defence system) fit neatly into this
dangerous strategy. By whipping up chauvinism, it can
justify a new, aggressive and expansionist role for NATO,
while at the same time dividing workers and weakening
working class resistance to capitalist �globalization.�

The most important goal of U.S. imperialism is however to
use Yugoslavia as a turning point to consolidate its global
role as the only superpower and to send a menacing signal
to all states and all peoples that its dictates will be
ruthlessly enforced through economic pressures and
blackmail, and even by military means, where necessary. To
this end, the U.S. is prepared to gut all international law
protecting the territorial integrity of states and the
sovereignty of nations. Part of this imperialist strategy
is the complete sidelining of the role of the United
Nations and its Security Council, in favour of a return to
the �law of the jungle� in which U.S. domination prevails.
This is perhaps the most significant and terrifying
objective of U.S. imperialism at the present time.

The decision of the Canadian and European governments in
NATO to collude with this dangerous imperialist agenda is
shameful and inexcusable. That 13 of these states are
currently led by social democratic or selfstyled
�socialist� governments, exposes the complete degeneration
of social democracy into the swamp of opportunism and
social chauvinism.

The Yugoslavian people are mounting a heroic resistance;
meanwhile, antiwar movements are growing around the world,
including in Canada and other NATO countries. This combined
resistance, in turn, is sharpening divisions within the
NATO bloc. These factors are creating the conditions to
bring this �dirty war� to a halt, provided all the world's
democratic and progressive forces can be united into a
powerful campaign to demand an immediate end to NATO
aggression, to restore the rule of international law, and
to seek to a peaceful, negotiated settlement.

Comrades,
At root, NATO's aggression seeks to consolidate a new
�world political order� necessary to protect and advance
the hegemonic economic interests of imperialism, driven by
the globalization process and the doctrine of
neo-liberalism.

What is the true face of the so-called �globalization�
process? Certainly, globalization taken to mean the growing
internationalization of production and production relations
has an objective basis, stimulated by advances in the
scientific and technological revolution in general, and in
production processes and information technology in
particular. But there is nothing �progressive� nor
inevitable about the form and character of globalization as
it is currently unfolding. After all, this process is not
taking place in a vacuum it is conditioned by the
prevailing class relations in the international economy;
i.e., it is developing under the auspices and in the
interests of international monopoly capital.

Globalization's main content is the intensified drive to
concentrate and centralize the world's natural and
productive wealth under the control of a tiny elite of
global finance capitalists.

The law of uneven development under capitalism, discovered
by Marx and Engels, is more apparent than ever, as obscene
wealth is amassed by the leading transnationals and
financial institutions, while conditions of immiseration
plague the vast majority of humanity.

Scientific & technological progress is increasingly skewed
to serve capitalist plunder around the world. The political
sovereignty of states, the social sovereignty of nations,
and the cultural identity of peoples are all swept aside in
the drive for global domination.

The process is uneven and highly contradictory, giving rise
to one world �market� while at the same time exacerbating
the rivalry between competing sections of imperialism
grouped around the three main imperialist centres. The
imperialist powers have a common interest in ensuring the
unfettered sway of transnational capital, and in repressing
the growth of anti-imperialist resistance. They attempt to
coordinate their economic and political strategies through
summit conferences, forums and corporate thinks; through
the World Trade Organization, the IMF, World Bank and other
international institutions under imperialist control; and
through the imposition of global trade and investment
regimes such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment
(MAI).

At the same time however, the �globalization� process also
increases the volatility of the world capitalist economy,
making it much more difficult for imperialism to �contain�
outbreaks of crisis to particular countries and regions.
The current global economic crisis, set off first in South
and East Asian countries, is a case in point. These periods
of crisis stimulate �protectionist� policies, on one hand,
while simultaneously encouraging each imperialist centre to
strengthen its own position in regional and global markets
at the expense of its rivals.

It is perhaps ironic, but nevertheless true that
�globalization,� instead of moderating and reducing
competition between the three imperialist blocs, is
actually exacerbating rivalry and conflict between the
imperialist centres. It would be fundamentally wrong, in
our view, to preclude the possibility that this
inter-imperialist struggle could ultimately lead to open,
military conflict in the not-too-distant future, the
consequences of which would be extremely grave for all
humanity.

Comrades,
Even though Canada is an advanced capitalist and
imperialist country, it has not been shielded from the
impacts of globalization. Owing to its historical
development and its current place in the international
division of labour, Canada has an exceptionally high level
of direct foreign ownership (mostly U.S.-based) in most key
sectors of the economy. Furthermore, Canadian trade flows
are oriented overwhelmingly towards the U.S. market (over
80% of all Canadian imports and exports). This distorted
nature of the Canadian resource-based economy, including
its relatively high level of monopolization, is
particularly vulnerable to developments in the U.S. and to
global economic �shocks.�

As elsewhere, the Canadian state has systematically applied
the neo-liberal doctrine of liberalized trade,
privatization and de-regulation, policies which have
sharply increased unemployment, shrunk the public sector,
and severely compromised our public health care system,
education and other public services which the Canadian
working class fought for the better part of this century to
obtain.

Again, as elsewhere, recent experience in Canada has shown
capitalist globalization has engendered an all-sided attack
on democratic institutions, and on the democratic rights of
the people. This is hardly a spontaneous or accidental
occurrence; the imperialist ruling circles are well aware
that the consequences of globalization are giving rise to
anti-imperialist feelings and active, organized resistance
among the working class and oppressed peoples around the
world. Democratic expression and democratic action even
within the constraints of traditional bourgeois democracy
are �luxuries� which imperialism can no longer afford to
concede. It is striving to undermine the effective power
and responsibility of elected governments at the national
level, while simultaneously attempting to gut the role and
authority of the United Nations and its affiliated
structures, in favour of other bodies (e.g. NATO, IMF,
etc.) which imperialism can effectively control.

Comrades,
These developments require that the Communist, left and
democratic forces have a clear analysis of the way forward
to advance both their short- and long-term goals under the
new �globalized� conditions.

The question is sometimes placed thus: Is it still possible
to achieve socialism (or even win significant reforms and
social advances under capitalism) in one country, or a
small number of countries? To which we answer: �Yes!� Has
the strictly �national� platform of struggle been eclipsed
by these new conditions, requiring instead a new,
international strategy to confront global capital? To which
we also answer: �Yes!�

In our view, the main arena for the struggle for social
change remains at the national state level. While the
�logic� of the expansion of capital is leading
international banks, transnational corporations and even
national governments to curtail their role in the economy,
and to facilitate the free mobility of capital across
national frontiers, the economic and political interests
still require strong national states to protect their
interests and investments for three purposes:
(1) to protect their investments from �unfair� competition
from other rivals
(2) to service their investments with infrastructure and
subsidies; and
(3) to curb the organization and resistance of the working
class in each country so that the maximum possible surplus
can be squeezed out of every investment dollar.

It is therefore still appropriate and necessary that the
working class and its political vanguard continue to focus
their attention and energies and winning profound
democratic reforms and transformations, and ultimately
state power at the level of the national state.

That said, it is equally obvious that the prospects of
advance for the working class and people's struggle are
severely compromised by the unfavourable international
conditions. Workers know from their own experience that
capital is much more mobile than before (although less
mobile than capitalists would have us believe, at least in
certain key sectors of the economy). They know that
transnationals have a much greater capacity today to move
production elsewhere around the world on short notice in
order to frustrate and defeat workers who challenge their
economic, social or political hegemony.

In order to successfully challenge the power of
international finance capital, the working class must
develop a truly international strategy. While opposing
capitalist �globalization� and all it entails, Communists
fully support the growing internationalization of relations
between peoples and nations. These international relations
economic, political and cultural should be based on the
principles of peace and cooperation, full equality, mutual
understanding and respect, and recognition of the sovereign
rights of all nations, including the achievement of a New
International Economic Order which prevents the
exploitation of countries and peoples and furthers the
mutual advancement of all humanity.

This international strategy should include a heightened
campaign to build regional and international unity and
coordination first and foremost amongst the revolutionary
forces, but also among labour, democratic and
anti-imperialist forces to support anti-capitalist and
anti-imperialist struggles wherever they erupt, and to take
simultaneous militant action against global capital
whenever opportunities for such joint action arise.

In the view of our Party, what is urgently required is the
building of a broad anti-imperialist democratic front on an
international scale, a �popular front� which can mobilize
the anti-imperialist forces in their millions against
imperialist designs and aggression, against the resurgence
of fascist and proto-fascist forces, against high-tech war
and weapons of mass destruction, and in favour of peace,
equality, national sovereignty of all states and peoples,
and social and economic development. The social and class
base for such a broad anti-imperialist and democratic front
is perhaps greater today than ever before.

I have already suggested that the most urgent undertaking
in this regard at the present moment is the building of a
powerful international movement to stop NATO's aggression
in the Balkans. Let me add another suggestion for joint
action. As you know, the worldwide campaign to stop the
MAI, combined with internal trade and investment disputes
among (at least) some of the imperialist powers, forced the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) to suspend the MAI negotiations last October. This
was an important victory for the anti-imperialist forces.

At the same time however, it was and is patently clear that
imperialism, especially U.S. imperialism, has not abandoned
its intentions to impose such an �agreement� on the peoples
of the world. Negotiators for the U.S. and the other
leading capitalist states have now indicated that they will
attempt to resurrect a �re-worked� version of the MAI under
the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) this coming
October. Behind the scenes, U.S. officials have been
working feverishly to overcome some of the contradictions
and disputes which (partially) mired the negotiations at
the OECD level. They are also reportedly drafting a
slick-worded but totally toothless �social charter�-type
section that they hope will co-opt or at least neutralize
labour and democratic opposition to the new version of the
MAI.

But make no mistake; such re-engineering will not
fundamentally alter the reactionary, pro-imperialist and
pro-corporate character of this investment treaty. It is
therefore incumbent on our movement to do everything
possible to expose this duplicity and to mobilize wide left
labour and democratic opposition to this �MAI-2� to prevent
its adoption.

Thank you for your attention.

Presented by:

Miguel Figueroa,
Leader, on behalf of the Central Committee
Communist Party of Canada
Athens, Greece
May 21-23, 1999