Contribution of the Communist Party of Denmark 

23rd International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties 

October 2023, Izmir (Türkiye)

The price for wars is paid by the working class. 

It is not only wars that sacrifice human lives and create distress. The price for them is paid by the working class all over the world. To live in such a rich but small country as Denmark, where few families are some of the world's richest, such as the families of Lego and Maersk, who have fortunes that no human being can manage to spend in their lifetime. And they are getting richer now. Not only of the wars, but also on the exploitation of cheap labor far away from our country and tax evasion. 

We are here because we are internationalists and because together, we must exchange the knowledge about the development and features of capitalism, so that together we can fight and overthrow capitalism. We are all here because we want a different and better world, socialism for all and but not at the expense of other workers. 

Every time a company closes in Denmark and moves to other countries, it means unemployment. And the only reasons for moving are the expensive labor or environmental restrictions, that restricts the companies’ lust for profit. Right now, they are cheering in a small local community because the Danish government has bought back a closed ammunition factory, which must produce again because they lack ammunition for the war in Ukraine. The town is crying out for work because a slaughterhouse has moved out of the country and left the town in poverty.
At the same time, all municipalities are in the process ofcutting down funding for everything from schools to hospitals because of the EU's financial pact, which imposes a 2% cut every year and an increase in financial contributions to NATO. The state has plenty of money but chooses to use it for war. 

One's death another's bread.Most workers in Denmark have mandatory pension savings through their salary, but these pension fundsare invested on the basis of capital and thus also in arms production, so that the Danish worker can get the greatest possible return. Thus, we have become our own worst enemy. For the healthcare sector's pension fund, billions abound - a glaring dilemma where the healthcare staff's investments kill and create unnecessary patients for other colleagues. They have also bought government bonds in 12 different African countries. Some countries that murder protesters and are struggling with corruption. Angola, Benin, Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast Ethiopia, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda. Thus, Danish workers involuntarily support the reactionary governments that oppress their own population. Yes, capital is smart when it developsthese systems. Only the communists and our trade unions went against thedevelopment and construction of these systems when it was imposed on the trade union movement in the late 80s. But we lost that round to the Social Democrats. 

Our economy is thoroughly militarized now. After we lost our defense reservation in relation to the EU, things have gone fast. The EU and NATO suck all welfare out of us like a vampire. We are also one of the few member states that, apart from Greenland, have never had foreign bases on Danish soil. It's over now. We have got a NATO airport for the new f35 planes, and now the port in the city of Esbjerg, at the North Sea, is being expanded, because it is an attractive transport hub for NATO. The port must accommodate the reception of allied forces to the Baltic Sea area and the Baltics. The Israeli arms company Elbit, which produces artillery guns and rocket launchers, has been blacklisted in Denmark because their weapons are used by the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank. Now the government has bought from them again and the scandal is rolling. But the purchase has not been cancelled. I wonder if it will be forgiven now that Israel is being attacked by the not-yet-murdered Palestinians and has declared war on the land they already occupied. Again, it is Danish tax dollars paid by the working class, which contributes to the death and destruction of innocent people, nature, and infrastructure. Sorry Palestine. Our membership of NATO was created after the Second World War out of the US´ fear of the Soviet Union's influence and expansion. Since its inception in 1949, NATO has carried out military interventions and promoted invasions all over the world to maintain their imperialist supremacy. We pay and that means we agree that they are everywhere other than Europe, even far away like Columbia. The government wanted to start negotiations about a new defense cooperation with the US, "which has even reached out to Denmark", told our Prime Minister and perhaps future NATO general, Mette Frederiksen, a little over a year ago.

 The negotiations revolve around Denmark entering a bilateral base agreement with the US, which Norway has just concluded, and which Sweden already signed back in May 2016 and which the US expanded with Finland in 2018. During the next months in 2023, the expansion of the US bilateral base strategy, which will include Denmark, will find an end. The agreement will entail a significant change in Danish foreign and security policy. 

Furthermore, with NATO's new strategy in Europe and the changed picture of threat after the war in Ukraine, Denmark is given a position as a host country for NATO's material and personnel, an advanced position both in the US's and NATO's military strategy in Europe.Denmark joins the US empire of baseswith this path and opens Denmark up for access to the possible dominance of foreign troops on Danish soil by entering into this bilateral agreement with the US - where dangerously unknown premises for cooperation can find their way. It is not an expansion of NATO membership - but, as mentioned, an incorporation into the US mighty empire of bases all around the globe.In parallel with – and an expansion of NATO affiliation at national level in Partnerships for PEACE. A strategic change and an expansion that was already initiated in the 1990s, but which is still sought to be expanded and fully activated. 

The Global SouthThe poor countries in the global south, which are surprisingly rich in raw materials, are tired of the West and our use of them as dustbins and treasure troves. They see the double standards in the horror over Ukraine, when you consider that the West has intervened elsewhere and has a colonial history. Finally, it is a widespread assessment that the West considers the fight against Russia to be more important than the global economy. The world's total debt grew by 9,000 billion Dollar- and is now up to 253,000 billion dollars. This corresponds to 322 percent of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP), which is a record high level. Global debt build-up is mainly because indebtedness in many growth and developing economies has risen sharply. This applies not least in China, where the country's companies increased their indebtedness significantly until 2019. 

The World Bank, the IMF, has a system that gives the biggest shareholder the biggest voting power, (which means the US). Maybe that's why they invented their own BRICS bank? World Bank policy is decided by the rich countries but implemented by the poor. This results in a policy that is not in the interest of the developing country, whose social and economic policy will often be shaped by the World Bank's solutions. Many poor countries cannot possibly repay their debts or lift poverty to welfare, as the economic policy imposed on them is privatization. Will that change under BRICS? Don't confuse progressive with revolutionary. It is not in solidarity or charity. It is a more refined way of acting, more humane some might say, because they contribute with infrastructure and education. Just like our pension funds and government also do. But it is not in solidarity, but for the sake of self-interest. 

The profit is not going to belong to the people. BRICS need their raw materials. The profit enriches the local capitalist or the imperialist power that wins the battle. 

International monopolies are agreements between big capital in several countries to share as much as possible of the world market between them. The division of the world between the major capitalist powers. Some have got the idea that international imperialist competition with periodic, almost permanent wars can be avoided and that a world monopoly capital in the best sense systematically exploited the capitalist countries. However, such theories about a crisis-free big capital and about an international ultra-imperialism without wars are quite mistaken and not Marxist-Leninist, as real life proves every single day. What is a nation? The honor of both nations in a war are violated. Are we fighting for the honor of the nation? We know that no one fights for glory, but for profit. What is a nation? Are the political boundaries that determine the nation? So where do Danes, Poles and French belong in Germany? Or is it the language that characterizes the nation? But what is the German minority, the Swiss population, the Ukrainian and the Austrian people? Or should we seek common ancestry to define a nation? How about America where all races and all nations are represented since no nation? It is quite impossible to determine what a nation is. 

People of common ancestry and common language may be separated by political boundaries. And people of different origins and different languages ​​can be united in the same political area. We saw that during World War I, when the Danish minority in Germany were forced into the trenches without knowing German, just as food for the canons. As communists, we differ in what we consider civil wars, that is, wars waged by an oppressed class against the oppressor. Slave against slave owner, serf against landlord and wage earner against capital, as perfectly legitimate progressives and necessary. 

The wars of the last 30 years have alternated between recapturing former colonies for raw materials and taking over the former socialist countries and their riches. Since we lost the socialist countries, the reactionary forces from before they became socialist, together with the West/NATO, have been working to get their hands on the riches and markets. We see how fascism and neo-Nazism reappear and how we jump in with both feet when a people are disgraced in the service of war. There is not much difference in how you slowly but surely got people to change their views on Jews, Muslims and, as now, with Russians. Capital has chosen its side. In contrast, in Russia, they run wild on Nazism instead of appealing to peace-loving allies in Ukraine.We as communists must stand together against the common enemy, however it is disguised. Capital is not peaceful, environmentally conscious or caring. Nor its lackeys. We the people can only save the people and the land we live on.