Contribution of the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP) to the

22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Havana

Dear Comrades, 

The Communist Party of Sweden wishes to thank the Communist Party of Cuba for hosting the 22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, and to also thank the people of Cuba for the hospitality shown to us. We reiterate our solidarity with the struggle of the Cuban people and condemn the long-standing US blockade of Cuba. A blockade that in its very essence is economic warfare designed to crush the admirable achievements of the Cuban revolution, and to make the Cuban people bend to the demands and exploitation of US imperialism. We demand an immediate end to the imperialist blockade, which for more than six decades has caused the people of Cuba immeasurable harm and hardships. 

The imperialists cannot allow, in any shape, form, or location, the liberation from exploitation which socialism brings the peoples. Imperialism, being the highest stage of capitalism, has nothing to offer the peoples but exploitation and strife in the name of bourgeois profits. The nature of this system, which places profits above all else, is such that any peace is a temporary peace, to be replaced by the bloodshed of imperialist war when markets, resources and transport routes cannot be secured by other means. 

This is undoubtably the nature of the ongoing war in Ukraine, where the Ukrainian capital has chosen sides with the Western US-EU-NATO imperialist block to the disadvantage of Russian capital. The war in Ukraine is a manifestation of sharpening imperialist competition. One of the effects of this sharpening is the application of Sweden to join NATO. The facade of neutrality is no longer the most profitable position for the Swedish monopoly capital. Make no mistake that the Swedish NATO application is not the result of NATO pulling the wool over the eyes of Swedish politicians. The Swedish Social Democratic Party acted, as usual, on behalf of Swedish capital when they led Sweden onto the path towards NATO membership and, through that, onto the path of further escalation. 

Despite two of the established parliamentary parties claiming opposition to the Swedish NATO application, this proved a non-issue during the recent elections. To the Left Party, opposing Swedish NATO ascension would have stood in the way of their highest goal; to be able to enter into a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party. In the Left Party's former guise as Eurocommunists any revolutionary tendencies had already been abandoned, and whatever principles remain can be jettisoned if they might come in the way of the party finally getting to administer the capitalist state from a position of government. That to do this would mean having to enter into government with the Social Democrats they so freely criticize, the Social Democrats who will adapt positions thought to belong to the most reactionary forces in the Swedish parliament, is to the Left Party a wholly acceptable compromise. 

To this end the Left Party has even toned down its rhetoric, which has long been the most radical aspect of the party. It has also been a defining aspect of the party's roles within capitalism, that of channeling radicalism into pathways that do not threaten the established order, and to give a red splash of color to the bourgeois parliamentary democracy. 

This arguably most progressive party in the Swedish parliament thus undeniably serves capitalism in its own way and harbors no greater ambitions than to hold governmental power within the bourgeois democracy, to administer capitalism, and to rally support in service of that goal. 

Continuing on the subject of Swedish ascension to the imperialist military alliance that is NATO, it must be said that organized opposition within Sweden has been weak. Not only in the size and frequency of protests, but also in their nature. Only the Communist Party of Sweden has opposed NATO membership with arguments that put it in its imperialistic context. Otherwise the arguments have been of a bourgeois nature, arguments that inspire illusions of peace without struggle against the imperialist system. Herein lies the problem of the so-called progressives, who lack, or reject, a Marxist understanding, and despite their good intentions inspire illusions among the peoples about the nature of the world and how to combat the symptoms of imperialism. 

There must remain no doubt that the so-called progressives are principally useful for the bourgeoisie, that they first and foremost are able to channel radical impulses into pathways that do not threaten the position of the capitalist class. Even if these progressives are not outspoken in their anti-communism, they still serve the bourgeois state whether they intend to or not. 

History has proven conclusively that alliances with the so-called progressive elements of the bourgeoisie, or popular fronts, do not further a revolutionary agenda, and that there is no escape from the capitalist exploitation of the peoples without a revolutionary agenda. The common cause must be that which is built on the firm foundations of Marxism-Leninism, a revolutionary common cause to upend the current class rule, and to replace it with proletarian power and the construction of socialism. We cannot make common cause with those who are against our primary goal, but instead we must win over the masses to our side, to realize their own interests. That is our historic task.