Athens Meeting 8-10 October 2004, Contribution of CP of
Slovakia
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From: SolidNet, Wednesday, October 06, 2004
http://www.kss.sk , mailto:zahr@kss.sk
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Three Levels of Imperialism Today

By �ubo Blaha

Dear comrades, dear friends!

First of all, I would like to appreciate the effort of the
Greek Communist Party to provide this conference. I would
like to send them the cordial thanks for their work. This
is the true international attitude to the problems of the
world-wide character and just by these international
methods of the work we can cooperate to each other and
organise our activity in a world-wide area. I think nobody
doubts that such activities are needy in the time of the
boom of U.S. military aggressiveness, in the time of
growing callous economic globalisation, in the time of
unworthy ideology of neoliberalism capturing the minds of
people in the world.

Nobody here doubts that we all face the world system of
political supremacy, of economical exploitation, of
imperialistic cultural expansion, of ideological
imperialist expansion, of military imperialist aggression.
Yes, we speak about the imperialism which has the roots in
the laws of capitalism and which cannot be destroyed
without the destruction of capitalism. Since Rudolf
Hilferding, Nikolay Bukharin and Vladimir Lenin wrote their
ideas about imperialism before and during the World War I.,
a lot of things changed, but the substance has been the
same. We have still faced the conquering politics of the
capital and consequently of the Powers to expand the
markets. The struggle of capital for new markets, for cheap
labour power, for cheap oil and other stocks is immanent to
the capitalist mode of production. The period of the
uncompromising globalisation strengthen the negatives of
capitalistic laws and compel a lot of people to live like
poor and hungry men to live like the slaves of foreign
capital. However, they are not only hungry they are angry,
too! And this is the next law of the process which I am
talking about the pauperisation and globalisation
generates the power of refusal around the world the
revolutionary power of the change! Without our effort the
latent refusal of the exploited will not become
revolutionary. That is one of the reasons to talk about the
strategy of our struggle in the international measure.

The imperialism in a concrete way means especially the
exploitation, the war and the cultural brain-washing. I
would like to briefly speak about these three well-known
categories of present capitalism. I would like to speak
about them in a connection with the Slovak political and
economical situation and in a connection of international
situation.

ECONOMICAL IMPERIALISM
The exploitation: the neoliberal reforms in Slovakia

Concerning the imperialistic exploitation, allow me to
point out the consideration to the cruel and radical
neoliberal politics which my homeland Slovakia faces today.
Maybe you heard that Slovak right-wing government achieved
a lot of contributions from the present economic
organisations, economical magazines and so on. Slovakia was
designed the most reformist country in the world. Probably
you all have a hunch what does it mean. Thanks to the
present right-wing government Slovakia surrendered the
imperialistic ideology of neoliberalism in all the
policies. The neoliberal reforms of present ruling
coalition of Slovakia includes the reform of the pension
system, the reform of tax system, the reform of education
system and the reform of health care system. In addition,
Slovakia became the member of criminal NATO and neoliberal
EU.

What does it all mean in a concrete way? The reform of
pension system is the privatisation of pension system. That
is the end of solidarity in Slovakia. That is the birth of
individualistic neoliberal system where the rich people
become richer and poor people become poorer. In addition,
this reform will cost billions of Slovak crowns and the
tax-payer will have to even pay for this colossal
deception. Yes, this is the character of reforms in
Slovakia.

The reform of tax system is the similar annoying story. The
flat tax of 19 per cent for everything means the same
condemnation of solidarity. The millionaires will pay the
same tax from their millions as the poor men from their
little income. Even the consumption taxes on the
foodstuffs, on the books, on the building materials, and
even on the medicine are the same. It means that the
elementary commodities became more expansive and the
pauperisation of ordinary people again grows.

The reform of education is going to impose especially two
things. The first one is the cancel of the free education.
If on January the parliament adopts the reform, only rich
people will be allowed to study in Slovakia. The threat of
the aristocratism of education system is very hard. And not
only aristocratism and oligarchism of education system
threatens. There is also the second threat of educational
reform in Slovakia. The clericalisation and religious
intervention into to the schools is the present fact in my
country. The ultra fundamantal Christian-Democrat Minister
of Education decided the Christianity to be the obligatory
subject in the education of the children since their six
years. The Middle-Age is coming back to the education
system in Slovakia.

Recently the health care system reform was adopted in
Slovakia. It will have the same inhuman consequences like
the previous reforms. The health care reform means
especially the privatisation of the health care service.
The establishment of the joint stock companies from the
health insurance companies is only one of the absurdities
of this reform. The deviant neoliberal model of the health
care service of present Slovakia wants to get the stock and
gain principle into the health insurance. Nor the health
and life are sacred for the Slovak neoliberal government.

All these reforms are accompanied by the huge privatisation
of Slovak strategic companies to foreign capital. The
dictate of International Monetary Fund and World Bank is
followed in an extreme slavish way. Slovakia became the
model of neoliberal slavery dictated by IMF and WB. The
consequences are well-known: the pauperisation, the
unemployment and the growth of the gap between the rich and
poor. This is the effect of the neoliberal imperialism in
the economic way. My country is only one example of the
economic capitalist imperialism. The world is in a real
danger of the neoliberal plague and we must fight against
it.

2. MILITARY IMPERIALISM
The war: the U.S. aggressive imperialism

The second mode of the imperialism is the most noticeable
in the international view. Naturally, I am talking about
the imperialistic war. U.S. aggression against Afghanistan
and Iraq, the threats for the North Korea, Cuba, Iran and
the sinister attitude of American foreign policy to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the subjects which
radically changed the world in a few years. The military
aggressive policy of the United States, of Great Britain
and of many countries including Slovak Republic in this
criminal war-coalition showed to the world the true face of
imperialism. The refusal against the war of the ordinary
people was not enough to stop these wars. The power
arrogance is stronger than the will of people. The power of
oil and economic interests are stronger than the principles
of humanity, nation sovereignty, freedom and peace.

Everybody knows what the American goals were like and why
they attacked Iraq. Everybody knows the true face of
imperialism. Especially today is for everybody absolutely
clear the fact which was absolutely clear for the
communists since the beginning of the American instigators
policy toward Iraq. But what is the consequence of the
known truth? Nothing, but the power ignorance. The desire
of idealists that the knowledge of the truth is enough for
changing the things naturally cannot work. However, the
demonstrative refusal is the only way not how to change the
things but especially how to show to people that the
communists will ever fight for the better society freed of
wars and imperialism.

3. CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
The brain-washing: the dominance of neoliberalism and
Macdonaldisation

The most sophisticated mode of imperialism is the
spreading the ideology by the massive brain-washing around
the world. Contemporary TV world is easily jeopardized to
the threat of commercionalization, Macdonaldization and of
the total imperialistic propaganda of capitalistic dogmas.
Capitalist propagandists reached to master the minds of
many people in the world. Like Karl Marx wrote in
Manifesto, the bourgeoisie can easily destroy all the
cultural and traditional structures into the callous
business relations. The bourgeoisie created the consumption
society in a Western world and now the laws of capitalism
require the new markets and new victims. The brain-washing
and propaganda spread to the Islamic countries, to the
Asian region, to Africa and Latin America. Whole world is
in danger. The material imperialism spread by the
economical pressure and military aggressiveness must be
contributed by the mental imperialism spread by propaganda
and brain-washing. The capitalistic elites learned a lot
from totalitarian practices of fascism. The terror is
called democracy, the individualism is called modernity,
the pauperisation is called reformism, the poverty is
called the necessity. The TINA became dogma in the minds of
people.

I work in a scientific area of political philosophy and I
can even illustrate that the neoliberal boom is present
also in the core of the discussion about the basic
political categories. The liberalism and the conservative
communitarism master the political philosophy and we should
consider this fact and to analyse it before the meaningful
counterstroke.

So, I would like to state in generally three partial
conclusions of the diagnosis:

1) Neoliberal model of economical imperialism dictated by
IMF and WB to entire world means the spread of the
exploitation and pauperisation. The globalisation and the
dogmas about the free market and privatisation master the
present world economy.

2) The American model of military imperialism recently
brings two cruel wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. USA
found the formal justifying dogma for war and in the name
of struggle against terrorism terrorized the world. The
problems of Israel terror against Palestinians and American
threats against next sovereign countries are the next
examples of the power arrogance of imperialistic Powers.

3) The cultural and mental imperialism including the
consumption propaganda, neoliberal dogmas and
commercionalization and Macdonaldization spreads to entire
world. If the strong alternative of socialism does not
again attract the people in the world, the total capitalist
propaganda will destroy any mental refusal and people will
start to believe that there is no alternative.

4. The general proposals

I would like to suggest some modes of the struggle against
these levels of imperialism in a concrete way. I cannot be
exhaustive. I just want to point out a few of the modes of
the struggle. At first I would like to emphasise that my
goal is not to state the list of the means how to destroy
the imperialism. My point is to structure the debate. I
think we should think about the imperialism in the various
levels and in this connection to fight against it. Every
form of imperialism calls for the different means of
struggle. And of course the division of work is necessary,
too.
My brief proposals will be only orientating:

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ECONOMIC IMPERIALISM

In every country is the pressure of IMF and WB present and
every country is threatened by the dogmas of neoliberalism.
The regular changing of the information of struggle against
the neoliberal reforms between the communist parties and
movements, the regular seminars about the concrete struggle
against the neoliberal reforms concerning the tax system,
health care system, education system, pension system, the
steps of the communists against privatisation and against
the free market dogma all these subjects should be
regularly discussed between all the communist parties and
movements. We must be prepared not only to offer the vision
of socialism, but especially to offer the actual
alternatives in all the sectors of state policy though we
live under the capitalistic cancer. The neoliberalism is
not easy enemy. We cannot underrate it, though we despise
it.

The Marxist economists should again and again present their
alternatives. All the communist parties should provide the
proposals of the solution to all the parties around the
world. The left alternatives must be seen and people have
to know them.

We have to resist the neoliberal imperialism and to fight
for the free education, free health care system,
progressive taxes and solidarity in pensions. We have to
fight for social justice and to prepare the mode of the
fight for socialism. Imperialism doesn�t mean only the war
and power interests. The economic imperialism is the most
dangerous form of imperialism and we must to fight
especially against it.

The conferences must be convened - about the education,
about the health care, about the taxes, about the actual
economical problem, about the public property and its
advantages against the private property of means of
production and so on. We, the communists in Slovakia, will
do our best for theoretically and practically happening
concerning these subjects. We hope that every communist
power in every country can contribute with their ideas and
alternatives.

The space for such cooperation is needy. If we accept the
reality of European Union which is not reversible in a
short future, we have to consider the productive struggle
under the conditions of EU. The idea of European Left and
any next cooperation in practical and theoretical way is
welcomed. We have to fight against the neoliberal Europe,
concretely against neoliberal Constitutional Treaty,
against unsocial Lisbon strategy, against Barrosso
conservative goals in EC and so on.

So, concerning the economical imperialism we should provide
the conferences and seminars about economical and political
partial subjects to solve the problems. We should change
the experiences of the left struggle against neoliberalism
and its policy. We should cooperate in mobilizing the
population, in convening the European strikes and in the
spreading the European refusal. We should cooperate with
the wide movement of alter-globalism. In addition, I think,
that the necessity is also to know the enemy and to analyse
the strategy, philosophy and policy of neoliberalism. We
cannot defeat the neoliberal imperialism without well
knowing it.

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MILITARY IMPERIALISM

Before the Iraq war the communist parties showed themselves
as the uncompromising fighters against the imperialistic
war. This campaign should continue though sometimes it
seems like the adventures of Don Quijot. The parliaments in
EU are mastered by the servile opportunists and aggressive
fascist, so the initiatives against the war in the
parliaments are unsuccessful. CPS has had a lot of
experiences with it in Slovak parliament. However, people
see the communist actions and these actions have to
continue. The street actions are necessary, too. Just Greek
KKE recently showed us how to fight in the street, when
also thanks to their activity American criminal Colin
Powell have not smeared the Greek land by his attendance.

Such fight should continue. The aim should be clear the
peace. The fight for peace must be uncompromising.

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

The struggle against cultural imperialism should not be the
manner of propaganda. The counterstroke against the
neoliberal dogmas could work also in a form of intellectual
refresh of Marxism, in a form of the mental alliance with
the progressive movement of alter-globalists and
anti-capitalists, in a form of the edifying activities
between the people and so on. Such activities don't mean
the intellectual elitarism. We should understand the
ordinary people and we should hear the voice of the
workers. We cannot be something like the moral leaders.
However, we have to promote the vision of socialism and the
alternative views for the social problems. I think this is
the task of the future. Otherwise we cannot defeat the
cultural imperialism.

This all is only the fragment of the modes of the
resistance against the imperialism. I think the most
hopeful mode is to evolve the international discussions
about alternatives and to find the concrete solutions in
the economical, political, philosophical and other
subjects. This is the reason why I so much appreciate the
conferences like this one and on the end of my speech I
would like to once more thank to the Greek comrades who
organise this meeting.

Thank you for your attention.