Athens Meeting 19-20 June 2003, Contribution by New CP of
the Netherlands
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From: SolidNet
http://www.ncpn.nl , mailto:manifest@wanadoo.nl
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by Will Van der Klift

A REVOLUTIONARY THEORY
AND COLLABORATION THE RECIPE TO VICTORY

Dear comrades,

Again I thank the KKE, in the name of the cc of the NCPN,
for organizing this important consultation even in a period
KKE and a lot of organizations related to the party are
involved in many activities against capitalist Europe.
Conferences like this one are of great importance. Only by
coordinated efforts we can overcome the many difficulties,
theoretical as well as practical.

The effectiveness of our efforts however depends on many
factors.

If you look at the website of our party - but please do
realize it's in Dutch only - you will see at the front page
following text of Lenin:

"Our teaching is not a doctrine, but a guidance for action.
That's what Marx and Engels used to say and they mocked
rightfully at those who learned by heart and repeated
formulas, which in the best case can only serve to point
out a general task which necessarily undergoes
modifications through the specific economic and political
situation in each separate stage of the process... One
should keep in mind the unquestioned truth that a Marxist
should take in to account life as it is, the exact facts of
reality and not stick to the theory of yesterday"

We think this is a very important lesson for all of us and
a warning too. We think that especially according to the
main problems of our time these lessons are of extreme
importance.

Comrades,
To discuss at this moment the position and role of
communists towards the existing movement against
imperialist wars and capitalist globalisation is very
important, because the question is actual and there are
many difficulties to overcome, mainly related to the fact
that the situation in the world has been changed rapidly
and still is changing day by day. The political facts are
bigger and more dangerous than ever. So totally new
strategies and tactics are necessary. Another problem is
that circumstances in many countries are very different, so
it's not easy to compare our experiences. But to get a
clear view it is absolutely necessary! So we have to invest
more in getting concrete analyses, detailed and accurate.

By mentioning this points the first major obstacles to make
a proper analysis are known. But there are other problems
to solve:
Today, once more the communists in every country apart and
also on a global scale have to play a role in the popular
masses against the threat of a possible Third World War.
Our main task is to work for the unity of all communists
and in addition to the union of broad movements on a
national as well as on an international level. In order to
achieve this, Lenin teaches us that a principle struggle
must be waged against revisionism and Right opportunism,
against unity outside of the basic principles of
Marxism-Leninism. And on the other hand against left
radicalism and sectarianism, against the maintenance of
divisions between communist groups if there are no
fundamental antagonisms. Differences, even serious ones,
can exist inside the unified communist party of a given
country. Communists dispose of weapons, that have been
tried and tested, such as democratic centralism, communist
discipline, criticism and self-criticism, the mass line,
the participation in revolutionary struggles and the
summing up of experiences to resolve disputes.

But anyhow these deviations to the right and the left are
very hard to control and to overcome. We need a lot more
discussion on this issue, without attacking each other and
on a concrete level of analysing specific activities: their
possibilities and barriers, the strong and weak points. So
let's be more concrete, more detailed, more to the point.

The second task to establish the broadest possible alliance
between the communists and other anti-war and
anti-imperialist forces, in each country and
internationally, seems to me the most difficult.

Dear comrades,
Today we are witness of the full results of the fall of the
socialist countries in Europe. After one decade the
architects of the New World Order-ideas are ready to bring
them blatantly in practice on a full scale. The war of
aggression on Iraq perpetrated by the US and British
imperialists, which began on 20 March 2003, marks a real
turning point in history.

The US superpower mainly tries to realize their aims by a
"military globalisation", using its overwhelming military
superiority, in order to save its multinationals, at the
expense of the rest of the world. The US multinationals
today take the only way left for capitalism, when
confronted with an insoluble economic crisis: the road to
world war, boosting the economy through massive arms
production, and with the purpose of crushing their rivals
and grabbing sources of raw materials and markets
everywhere in the world, where they consider it necessary.

Only the United States disposes of a military budget for a
world war, amounting to 400 billion dollar, compared to
Russia's 65 billion (16.3% of the US military budget),
China's 47 billion (11.9% of the US), France's 29.5 billion
(7.4%) and the Germany's 25 billion dollar (6.25%). It is
only the US that is extending its military interventions on
all continents, is preparing wars of aggression in the
whole world and is ready to use nuclear weapons in the
coming world war.

With Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle and
Armitage in power the most reactionary, repressive,
expansionist and bellicose section of the US bourgeoisie
has taken over. The US has resumed its march on the road of
fascism and aggression on a world scale, as it did in
1948-53.

Bush has resolutely opted for a world-scale war policy to
save US imperialism from its severe crisis. Paul Wolfowitz,
currently Assistant Secretary of Defence, wrote in 1992,
just after the counter-revolution in Soviet Union: "The
United States will use its unrivalled military power to
manage the global order, if necessary unilaterally and
pre-emptively. (...) Our first objective is to prevent the
re-emergence of a new rival. This is a dominant
consideration underlying the new regional defence strategy
and requires that we endeavour to prevent any hostile power
from dominating a region whose resources would, under
consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global
power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the
territory of the former Soviet Union and Southwest Asia."

In other words: Russia, China, India and, in some extent,
the European Union, are potential enemies, which may suffer
"pre-emptive wars" from the US. In the report to the
Congress about the world strategy of his administration,
Bush said: "We are attentive to the possible renewal of old
patterns of great power competition. Several potential
great powers are now in the midst of internal transition -
most importantly Russia, India and China."

Dear comrades,
Without a revolutionary theory there will not be a
revolutionary movement. So the main question is to define
the just revolutionary program. But it is not enough to
know what has to by done and why, we also have to know how
to do it, when and with what partners.

What are our main tasks?

1. Block the US war preparations and to preserve world
peace, demand the withdrawal of the US occupation troops
from the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, the dissolution of
NATO and the dismantling of all US military bases abroad.
Fight the preparations of a new world war.

2. Defend the two most directly threatened countries: the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of
Cuba. If Korea were to be occupied, US would start its war
preparations against China. To defend Cuba is to defend the
flame of independence, anti-imperialism and socialism,
which Cuba represents for the whole world, mainly for the
Latin-American continent.

3. Mobilise against the US threat of launching a nuclear
war! For the first time since 1953, US imperialism dared to
claim publicly, as it prepared to attack Iraq, that it was
considering all options, including resorting to nuclear
weapons! The threat of a nuclear world war has never been
so serious! For the commitment of the nuclear powers never
to use nuclear weapons the first. For total nuclear
disarmament under UN control, starting with the country
that possesses the largest number of nuclear weapons, in
order to obtain total and simultaneous nuclear disarmament
of all nuclear nations.

4. Fight the possibility of bringing in to practice the
brutal theory of "pre-emptive" nuclear attacks on Iraq,
North Korea, China, Russia and some other countries,
mentioned as possible targets. The threat of a nuclear
world war has never been so immediate and critical!

5. Unite against the number one enemy: US hegemonism! We
are still in the era of imperialism, and socialist
revolution is still the only way to eliminate capitalism,
exploitation and domination once and for all in the whole
world.

6. Fight the severe attacks on the social security of the
masses. The new phase in the crisis of capitalism forces
all multinationals and big capitalists to intensify
exploitation, cut wages, impose social retrogression,
intensify spying on the working population, repression and
fascisation. In all capitalist countries, the communists
must organise the workers for the struggle against their
exploiters and oppressors and for the support to the people
who are fighting neo-colonialism.

7. In all dominated countries, the struggle for political
and economic independence, territorial integrity and
national sovereignty is the first and foremost
revolutionary task.

9. Fight for total nuclear disarmament under UN control,
starting with the country that possesses the largest number
of nuclear weapons, in order to obtain total and
simultaneous nuclear disarmament of all nuclear nations.

10. Organize solidarity with all democratic and
anti-imperialist forces in the United States.

Dear comrades,
Broad alliances are increasing. An anti-war and
anti-hegemon, movement unparalleled in history is
constantly blooming against Bush's imperialist plans and
actions. It is crucial to strengthen and broaden the unity
of the popular forces in their struggle for peace, in all
countries. The tens of millions of militants against
capitalist globalisation and imperialist wars are
essentially opposed to the dominance of the imperialist
powers and to the wars of aggression they are organising.

Communist parties must take their responsibility in the
struggles of the mass movements that mark this era and
integrate the Marxist-Leninist ideas with the popular
masses' protest movements against the established order.
How confused and contradictory those movements may be and
how weak and limited the communist are, the
Marxist-Leninist theory gives us the possibility to find
better answers on most questions, if we will be able to
develop our theory and if we make proper analysis about
developments in the world.

In order to build the front against US hegemonism and its
preparations for a third world war, the communists and the
oppressed peoples must exploit the contradictions among
imperialists center. They must distinguish the main enemy
from the secondary enemies and concentrate their battle
against the former. They must win over the largest possible
forces for every battle.

These conflicts may be used to strengthen and broaden the
popular mobilisation against the main danger that is
threatening the world: the global war policy of US
hegemonism. This mobilisation will also allow for the
awakening of the popular consciousness to the entirety of
the problems posed by imperialism.

It is stage upon stage that the communists of the entire
world will advance with the undertaking started in 1848 by
Karl Marx, until the victory of socialism in the whole
world.

Dear comrades,
The list of tasks is pretty long. If you ask our party to
do all this and overcome all internal and external barriers
I will ask all of you to send us 10 members of your party
to help us.

If you are not prepared to do so or not be able to do so
than help us to make proper priorities. The leadership of
the NCPN hopes that our cooperation will become more
concrete. That we will be successful in discussing the
characteristics of any operation better. Together we win.
The main question will be how to convince people and how to
overcome the confusion among many, many ordinary people.
How to get the level of consciousness higher?
Communists always have work to do. What we need is
patience, a lot of humour and better, more concrete
analyses.