INTERVENTION AT THE 23RD INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF THE CP AND WP

IZMIR 20 – 22 X 2023

Dear  comrades,

I welcome all those present on behalf of the Socialist Workers' Party and on my own behalf, I thank the organizer and host of the Turkish Communist Party for organizing this meeting and for the invitation that enabled us to participate in it.

Let me start with a few basic details about the country I come from. Croatia has been regressing for three decades compared to the pre-counterrevolutionary period. Industry was destroyed and agriculture was abandoned. Young people, entire families of fertil age leave in search of work, with no intention of returning, which has great implications for the demographic picture of society. Externally, the government humbly follows and fulfills all EU, NATO and American directives.            On the internal level, as a result of corruption, which is at the very top of Europe, affairs are happening almost on a weekly basis, but without any consequences for those in power. The government's rating does not fall, it is constant, and occasionally rises, which shows that bourgeois society perfidiously and successfully perfected the technology of ruling the masses. Even after three decades, the revision of history and revitalization of clerical-fascism does not abate, but takes on new forms and is present in all parts of Croatian society.

The only opposition to the rulers is represented by the president of the state, who in a sharp guard opposes the prime minister and his ministers, from the situation in Ukraine to the latest escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Comrades, at the very moment while this meeting is going on, the Palestinian people are experiencing perhaps the greatest tragedy in 75 years of continuous seizure of living space, persecution and extermination, in front of the eyes of the whole world, which shows no empathy.

The intervention of the Russian Federation in Ukraine took place on February 24, 2022, but the armed conflict began in 2014 after a coup involving armed extremist and pro-Nazi organized groups, supported organizationally, materially, politically and militarily by Anglo-Saxon imperialism, with physical the presence of prominent representatives of the US administration. Over 10,000 people died in these conflicts until the intervention. And the coup was preceded by the expansion of NATO in 5 waves towards the Russian borders. The Western imperialists did not hide at all that Russia is too big, that it is not fair that it has so many resources at its disposal and that it should be divided into several units, which would be easier to manage. The Russian Federation did not want a conflict, it sought and offered security guarantees to the West, it was rejected with indignation, it believed in the Minsk agreements, but it was tricked. Just by accepting the Minsk agreement, Russia showed that it has no territorial aspirations towards Donbass, which is part of Ukraine, but whose population should enjoy certain autonomy and the rights that derive from it. All this time, the path to Ukraine's accession to NATO continues. The West ignored all the warnings of the Russian Federation about the inadmissibility of that path for its existential security.

SOME SPECIFICITIES OF THE CONFLICT

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is not the only armed conflict after World War II. war, not to go deeper into the past, is not even the most destructive so far, but it was started by the "wrong" side, the one that has to that "right", which belongs exclusively to America and its minions. The unprecedented and counterproductive introduction of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which turned into indiscriminate Russophobia, is unprecedented on the scene. The sanctions, which were intended to hit the Russian economy and destabilize society, turned out to be a trap into which the EU members fell, because the main burden of the sanctions is borne by those who introduced them. It is interesting that the sanctions caused the least damage to America, which initiated them, and the countries that would not introduce them based on their own decision were subjected to strong political pressure to do so.

The intervention of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine gave birth to another specific feature on European soil. It is about the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees, who were accepted in an organized and accommodating manner, which is desirable from a humane point of view. However, the attitude towards refugees who came from the war-ravaged parts of Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and other endangered areas of Africa and the Middle East in previous years was fundamentally different, full of obstacles, using inadequate transport, which resulted in great human losses. Refugees are kept in inhumane conditions in camps on the outskirts of Europe. Countries that accept refugees from Ukraine in a civilized way, opposed these previous ones with the army and barbed wire on their borders, and the police on the ground terrorized and abused desperate people, and this has been documented in Croatia.

When asked by representatives of the media and humanitarians why this is so, prominent officials of European countries were told that Ukrainian refugees belong to a "different cultural circle". The answer is evidence in the "middle", that Europeans resort to cultural differentiation between peoples, which is a racial component, and racism is one of the pillars of fascism.

Propaganda-wise, the West tries to spread the image that the whole world condemns the Russian intervention in Ukraine, however, looking at the documents of the UN, EU and NATO, it is noticeable that the "white world" condemns the Russian intervention, with the exception of a few countries, while most do not. Also, a certain number of prominent leaders expressed a resolute attitude towards the Russian intervention, showing a high degree of understanding of the causes that led to the intervention, for which the collective West bears the blame.

An in-depth analysis and chronological review of the causes of the conflict in Ukraine makes it evident that the war is not imperialistic, but rather a war of the world hegemon America with the aim of crushing Russia and appropriating its resources, sacrificing Ukraine and Ukrainians. Russia did not enter this imposed conflict from an imperialist position, but from the need to maintain its own integrity.

With further analysis, we will come across elements of the inter-imperial conflict, but on the other side. By forcing its vassals from the EU to introduce counterproductive sanctions against Russia, America dealt a severe blow to the European economy, thereby weakening and for a long period of time putting its ally-competitor out of the race for prestige.

The tragic armed conflict in Ukraine has led to division and polarization in our ranks and it is causing damage, it is not strengthening but weakening the much-needed unity. There has been classification along certain parties, scruples are bypassed in criticism, humiliating rhetoric and labels, which have not been used until now, are used, dissenters are declared opportunists. It is the procedure that does not direct us towards dialogue, but towards trench digging.

I want to believe that we will overcome this obstacle, as we have so far.

In Izmir on October 20, 2023.

Vladimir Kapuralin