100 years from the Communist International –

the fight for peace and socialism continues

Honorable Comrades, let me first convey you the great greetings to all of you present at the 21st International meeting of the Communist and the Workers' Parties from the Macedonian Communist Party members and me personal, and at the same time personal gratitude to the hosts for organizing this meeting, the Communist Party of Turkey and the Communist Party of Greece.

Historically, the internationally organized organization of the workers of a mass gathering in London on September 28, 1864, has been historically viewed and denoted as the First International. The organizers of the rally at the time were our English and French trade union leaders.

Historically it was accepted that the international organization organized by the workers at the mass gathering in London on 28 of September 1865 is representing the First International. The organizers leading it at the time were the most powerful English and French trade union leaders.

The international took the character of highly centralized party, based primarily on individual members organized into local groups, which were integrated into national federations, and there were exceptions where some labour unions and associations were grouped and included. Its supreme body was the Congress, which met every year in different city and formulated principles and policies. The Congress elected the General Council with seat in London serving as an  Executive Committee, appointing appropriate secretaries for each of the national federations, who also raised funds to support strikes in different countries and took care of the progress of the goals of the International.

Unfortunately, the First International itself at the beginnings was divided into different conflict schools (factions), which differently defined the fight against capitalism, some of which advocated for capitalist reforms, such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who openly opposed the idea and manner towards Socialism. However, according to Auguste Blanqui, the other French movement, the Blanquism fancy pursued radical steps, i.e. the comprehensive revolution, more precisely the coup d'état without doing previous political – economic and social analysis. The other side version for Anarchism, the version of Mikhail Bakunin would be complete reject  the struggle for workers' rights, to put it more massively into disobedience, and that the revolution should be led by his opinion, by  the unemployed, women of various minority groups, and he considered that Marx  had exaggerated the importance of the working class.

The good material and theoretical practical understanding for Marx was great political ammunition, which enabled him after numerous obstructions to reach great influence on the events during the First International. More precisely, it advocates for world-wide international solidarity among workers in Europe - the United States, the World giving a priori the fight against existing systems, the fight against National-chauvinism, a struggle oriented towards the revolutionary goal of working class political rule. It must be emphasized here that Marx himself did not sought exclusion of dissenters from the International.

After the bloody suffocation of the Paris Commune, the First International disintegrated into factions of socialists and anarchists so that over the course of the next 25 years, the socialists would be eliminated from the highest positions in the organization.

On Bastille Day in 1889, the workers' leaders re-formed the International. The big red flag hanged over the Paris hall with the insignia “Workers from all over the world unite!" met the delegates from 24 countries by which in essence the Second International Congress officially was opened with a special welcome of the German delegation as the nationalism in this delegation was void. But 25 years later, after formation and operation of the International, almost all parties in its organization and ongoing work will betray their ideals  and their mission by standing behind their national state elites in order to support the World War I. By that, they shattered and destroyed the International Solidarity, one by one the parties of the Second International as well as the free trade unions expressed the support to the ruling classes which will lead them to the slaughter of World War I, justifying that same war is a defense necessary to defend democracy. All of them have chosen the side of their nation, trampling on the international solidarity that they have been propagating for 25 years. It has to be mentioned here with a few exceptions, few smaller groups did not justify this manner. Among them was the resistance of the Bolshevik Party and such war for the Bolsheviks and later the affiliated Mensheviks this view was logic and they used the period of World War I to strengthen the working class independent activities to invoke international solidarity among workers worldwide.

The Third International, known as the Communist International or the Comintern, was founded in 1919 with the intention of promoting the need for world revolution, while others claim that it functioned only as body of Soviet control in the international communist movement. The left-wing group led by Vladimir Lenin also dismissed the nationalism and pacifism, with a socialist idea for transformation of war between nations (national war) into a class war, i.e. a war for the system transition.

However, the later developments in Europe, the rise of fascism and National Socialism in Germany, will make the Comintern deviate from its revolutionary policies in order to win over allies in the fight against Germany, thereby making victory over fascism the primary goal of the Communist International.

All of the lessons learned so far about all the attempts of the International Workers' Association show that the road is always difficult and bumpy, unpredictable and dependent on specific historical events and circumstances.

Marx and Engels stated  that the world needs to be observered in its particular historical setting i.e. through the prisms of time in which is living and they were be completely right. Today's workers live during a time when reproduction of the consumer society and the reproduction of capital are more aggressively destroying the world in which not only the workers but all the rest that is existing on this planet. The order of the ruling class - capitalism, for a long time has not only been genocidal but also ecocidal. Hence, the responsibilities of the modern worker, aware of his class affiliation are even greater because it is no longer a class struggle where two classes fight, one disadvantaged and exploited by the other.

For start, a new division of labor happens between machines and the world, trending in technology as “Machine Learning” by producing conditions that more jobs in the field are about to be replaced by computers. The consequences of this sea should be on the international level,and there is an urgent need of  closely monitoring and exploring of these conditions  by  the workers' organizations.

One of the most terrifying features of capitalism is one of the consequences of the destruction of life and the nature of the earth and only for  profit. These are questions, which due to the emergency of the particular historical instance, must be taken into account by all workers' organizations in the world. If Lenin had argued that the struggle between nations should be transformed into a struggle for socialism, for a more just world, today we can freely say that the struggle for rights workers will have to be transformed, very soon to fight for the life of the country and humanity, which can only be achieved through mutual solidarity.

The owners of the means of production and the civil class, who, through their privileged existence based on private self-ownership, and equate their survival with the survival of capitalism, departing not from reason but from their class interests, do not put in the foreground the survival of humankind but the increase of their material wealth and consumer standard. Never before in history, has man stood before the task of preserving life on earth and prevent the destruction of humankind.

The more intense destruction of life is leading to more and more collision between these two types of people, representing the modern class division of the world: a class of destructive fanatics of capitalism and a class of clever and uncompromising fighters for the survival of humankind.

In view of all of our previous analyzes, humanity – the worker, the laborer is in an extremely unenviable situation. Capitalism-imperialism is increasingly encouraged, as there is no adversary in the right sense. That is why we, the Communists - workers, through Internationalism, we can come down through the shortest path to the overthrow of Capitalism and return the Socialism to the major world gate. The greatest imperative for the worker is the overthrow of Capitalism. Only Socialism can contribute to reducing and destroying wars, reducing unemployment, starvation, and poverty in all parts of the world. All of us Communist-determined individuals need to mobilize en masse to win the indefinite masses in own rows for the ultimate victory of the world's greatest evil Capitalism - Imperialism.

The path of freedom from Capitalism is the right path for equality between the people and nationalities from all countries, the freedom of the laborer with all workers' rights, the path of peace, the path of prosperity, which constitutes the path of Socialism.   Once again great thank you to the hosts on my own behalf.

General secretary of the                                    Skopje  02.09.2019

Communist Party of Macedonia

Pero Odzaklieski