Regional conference of parties and organizations of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations (ICMLPO) – www.cipoml.info
The recovery of the global capitalist economy is not on the agenda. The recovery is constantly being announced for tomorrow, but for the vast majority of countries, there is stagnation or recession. The so-called emerging countries are in turn caught up in the crisis.
Within the European Union, the governments of the right, social-democrats or coalition governments are imposing brutal austerity policies and the European Commission is charged with controlling their strict implementation. In the Euro zone, it exerts even a priori control of the budgets of the various governments, ensuring that they meet the neoliberal criteria of reduction of the budgets and the indebtedness of states.
This neoliberal dogma of reduction of state debts up to 3% of GDP has become the “rule of steel” especially written into the Merkel-Sarkozy Treaty (the “fiscal pact”), a real war machine against the social gains, social welfare and public services.
The offensive of the bosses, the governments and the European Commission focuses on the drastic lowering of wages and increased productivity, which combined make for increased profits of the monopolies. The crisis is a formidable pretext to generalize flexibility and oppose the rights and gains of the working class and the toiling masses. The policy of mega-austerity imposed by the “troika” (European Central Bank, European Union and IMF) on Greece, implemented by the coalition government of the right and social-democracy, is causing immense social harm, an unprecedented decline in the standard of living, a decrease in life expectancy and the health of the population, not to mention the exodus of young people and skilled workers, who have left their country in the hope of finding work in other countries. The same thing is taking place in Spain, Italy and Portugal, where unemployment has skyrocketed, especially among the young workers, and where millions of families live below the “official” poverty line.
Europe is synonymous with the policy of austerity, social regression, etc.
For the workers and peoples, the youth and women of the popular strata, the EU stands for the policy of austerity, social regression, the competition of all against all, social dumping, mass unemployment and misery. In all the EU countries, the working class and the toiling masses are in a chorus of protest against this policy: a massive protest, with strikes, demonstrations and mobilizations that put millions of people in the streets, of urban and rural workers, the retired, etc., in short of all the victims of this policy. The media controlled by the monopolies pass over this in silence, because the financial oligarchy, the governments at its service and the European Commission are its instrument, fearing above all that those fights against the same policies will reinforce each other, and that the working class and the toiling masses will become conscious of their strength and their common interests and they will lead all strata that are victims of these austerity policies in their fight.
To impose these policies of austerity and competitiveness, the financial oligarchy, the monopolies and banks do not hesitate to put in place unelected governments, governmental alliances including parties of the extreme right, and to impose European norms and directives that have the force of law, which are binding on the governments, parliaments and national institutions. Thus also in Italy, the troika began by imposing the first non-elected government and gave its support to a third government, also unelected, led by a reformist liberal leader who wants to speed up imposing anti-worker measures and an authoritarian presidential system. Austerity goes along with more reaction, more repression against all those who oppose it and further criminalization of social protest.
This only emphasizes the anti-social and anti-democratic character of the EU. The real power is in the hands of the heads of states and governments and the unelected European Commission, which decides and develops directives that are imposed on states, under pressure from representatives of lobbies of the monopolies. The superabundant European Parliament discusses these constantly, but its decisions have little effect. It serves as a “democratic” pretext to an EU that is not democratic.
No to fortress Europe, no to militarist Europe
This is a EU that takes refuge behind an arsenal of laws, of military ships, of walls, in order to hunt down potential migrants crammed into boats, of whom thousands have capsized in the Mediterranean. With “Frontex” [the EU agency that controls external borders – translator’s note], detention camps such as that of Lempedusa, the walls of barbed wire, this “fortress Europe” wants to “defend” the men and women who are fleeing poverty and wars for which it is itself responsible .
Indeed, it is the EU which today is intervening militarily in the Central African Republic, an intervention decided and implemented on the ground in the first place by French imperialism, which called on its EU allies for help. Some governments have sent troops, other logistical support, but none have condemned the intervention, which is turning into a quagmire, like all imperialist military interventions in Africa. Their principal objective is the maintenance of neo-colonial domination and the control of sources of raw materials, particularly uranium deposits. The most aggressive and belligerent imperialist powers in the EU, particularly French imperialism, British imperialism, and more and more German imperialism, are playing a particularly dangerous and reactionary role in order to push the EU to acquire military means to defend “their” interests, particularly in Africa, which it considers its “exclusive hunting ground.” This policy is carried out in close collaboration with U.S. imperialism, which gobbles up billions and is pushing militarization in all the EU countries. It is openly directed against the struggles of the peoples of Africa, who are fighting to get rid of imperialist domination and the reactionary cliques in power in these countries, which are its instruments.
Secret negotiations on the “Great Transatlantic Market”
For months the European Commission has been negotiating in secret the terms of a trans-Atlantic agreement with representatives of the governments, the Ministries of Commerce and the big U.S. companies. It is a neoliberal “free trade” treaty that seeks to break the norms of protection of food quality and the environment and to expand the opening of all markets, in particular public markets, to the appetites of the monopolies. These agreements would allow the monopolies to bring the States before a private court that could sentence them for obstructing “free” competition. This treaty was presented by Obama as a “NATO” in commercial matters, aimed at combating the economic power of China and other competitors of the US-EU alliance, according to the formula: Unite against the rest of the world and set off together in the economic war for the conquest of markets and the control of raw materials and sources of energy. This agreement is a war machine against the workers and peoples of the whole world, through the competition of all against all. The only beneficiaries of the “free and undisturbed competition” are the most powerful monopolies. It is urgent that a large movement be developed in all EU countries to demand an end to these negotiations.
The dangerous situation in Ukraine
This policy has led to the current dangerous situation in Ukraine and throughout the region, which threatens to escalate into a large-scale military confrontation.
First, there are the inter-imperialist contradictions, the policy of eastward expansion of the EU, under the impetus of German imperialism, which is seeking to strengthen its leadership in the EU and thus carry more weight in the competition among the imperialist powers on a world scale.
Ukraine is a large country with very important resources and occupies a geostrategic position that is essential for Russia. To swallow up Ukraine into the sphere of influence of the EU would be a great blow to Russia and the ambitions of its leaders to make their country a major imperialist power. No one should ignore this. But this is exactly what made the EU leaders not hesitate to support the reactionary forces, including openly fascist forces, who took power through a coup. Putin’s reaction was immediate. U.S. imperialism openly came into action to take control of the management of this crisis and to place itself at the head of its European allies, who for years have built economic ties with Russia. French imperialism sells it weapons, German imperialism depends in part on its gas supplies, British imperialism needs billions from the Russian financial oligarchy, and a large portion of the gas consumed by EU countries runs through Ukrainian pipelines. Taking advantage of this crisis, NATO is expanding to the East, still closer to the borders of Russia, which only fuels the tension.
The big imperialist powers are directly involved and are adversaries. If today none of them wants a direct military confrontation, an unstable situation has taken hold in the region amid a revival of militarism. The EU appears more and more clearly as an imperialist bloc whose ambitions threaten peace. While there is not complete unity within it, this is the course that the dominant imperialist powers within it are imposing and are developing on its behalf.
The identity of views between the social-democratic parties and the conservative parties should be noted here. They all supported the Allied response to the extreme right in Ukraine and they all welcome the return of NATO to the stage. The way the appointment of Stoltenberg, a leader of Norwegian social-democracy, as Secretary General of NATO was hailed by all of these forces is an example.
The workers and peoples reject this Europe
This whole policy is now the object of a profound rejection by the workers and peoples. This protest continues to grow everywhere. The progressive, revolutionary and anti-imperialist forces, the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations, have an urgent duty to stand at the head of this vast protest that affects all strata of the people, starting with the working class. To stand at the head of this protest means to fight relentlessly against the austerity policies that the governments and the EU are imposing. It is to support the aspirations and struggles of the workers and peoples against the anti-democratic character of the EU, against the imperialist nature of its policy and against the denial of the right of the peoples to decide their own future.
The reactionary and extreme right forces, the openly fascist groups and parties want to take advantage of this protest to lead it on the dangerous path of nationalism, division and xenophobia. For them, the enemy is not the capitalist system, but the other peoples or the “foreigners.” These forces want to utilize the European elections to strengthen themselves, to elect deputies and receive funding from the EU to extend their work.
The position of the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations in the European elections
We Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations, the signatories of this declaration, will develop our analysis of the nature of the EU and its policies and make known our positions on the occasion of these elections. These elections are a reflection of European construction; this is a caricature of democracy.
In countries where there are forces that are taking part in these elections on positions of the fight against the EU of austerity, reaction and war, we call for a vote for these lists. In countries where this is not the case, or where the choice is between forces supporting the EU and forces that criticize it in certain aspects, without questioning its foundations or its objectives, and develop illusions about possibility of reforming it, we do not endorse any of these lists and develop an active policy in favor of abstention.
In the countries where the progressive forces are fighting for the withdrawal of their country from the EU, or where they have popular support or they are engaged in broad fronts that are taking part in lists on this basis, we call for a vote for them. We will popularize these lists on an international level, in the name of the right of the peoples to decide their own fate. We denounce any blackmail, any attempt to conceal their fight or to distort its meaning and range.
In all cases, we put forward the following main lines:
Down with the imperialist EU!
Stop the austerity policies of the EU!
No to the EU of austerity and reaction No to the Europe of criminalization of social protest
No to the war policy of the EU No to the Transatlantic Treaty No to the project of the United States of Europe
No to imperialist Europe For the right of the peoples to withdraw from the EU
Yes to the solidarity of the workers and peoples.
Regional conference of member parties and organizations of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations
Germany, April 2014
Denmark: Workers’ Communist Party of Denmark – APK; France: Communist
Party of the Workers of France – PCOF; Germany: Organization for the
construction of a Communist Workers Party (Arbeit Zukunft); Italy:
Communist Platform of Italy; Norway: Marxist Leninist Group Revolution;
Spain: Communist Party of Spain Marxist-Leninist – PCE-ml; Turkey:
Party of Labor – EMEP