(July 13-17, 2009)
During this week the 13th International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, was held in Quito, Ecuador, in which delegations from 14 countries of our continent and Europe took part.
On this occasion, the seminar discussed the topic ‘The response of the workers and peoples faced with the crisis of the capitalist system’. At the end of the event, the participants approved a final Declaration that we reproduce below, as well as various agreements in solidarity with the struggle of the workers and peoples of several countries. We emphasise one on the rejection of the coup d’état in Honduras, solidarity with Cuba and the five political prisoners, in solidarity with the peoples of Bolivia and the government of Evo Morales.
A great mass movement is arising against the crisis of imperialist capitalism
Panic has caught up the circles of imperialist financial capital and the ruling classes of the whole world: this is a new cyclic crisis of capitalism, and neither the imperialist powers nor the dependent countries can escape it.
Despite the fact that the initial manifestations of this crisis showed up in the sphere of finance and real estate, its origin is in the economic base, because it is a new crisis of relative overproduction of consumer goods which clashes with the low purchasing power of the masses. Its cause is in the contradiction existing between the social nature of production and the private appropriation of the goods and riches produced, which is presented as the fundamental contradiction of the prevailing capitalist-imperialist system.
This is not just one more crisis. It is the deepest in the history of capitalism, only comparable to the one of 1929 which led to the Second World War, and that war led to revolutions that liberated one-third of humanity from capitalist exploitation, although later this process was reversed. Its scope is enormous, it covers all spheres of the current economy, it has enormous environmental impact, it is shaking all the bourgeois institutions, it is sharpening inter-imperialist competition and the discontent of the workers and peoples of the whole world.
The monopolies and financial groups are giving several explanations for this event, which vary between monetarist formulations, those related to the sphere of circulation and consumption. The measures they are trying to confront it seek to place its negative effects and consequences on the shoulders of the workers, peasants, youth, women and peoples of the whole world and on the dependent and oppressed countries, making all of them into its main victims.
The current crisis is sharpening the contradictions between the workers and bosses, between the peoples and imperialism, among the monopolies and imperialist countries themselves; it shows that the march undertaken by the workers and peoples for their liberation is advancing, it is achieving important victories all over the world; in particular in Latin America it is also shown in the existence of a tendency for change, of some nationalist and democratic governments that put forward projects for alternative integration such as ALBA [Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean – translator’s note]; but it also shows the determination of imperialism to repress these processes, resorting to military coups, as the events in Honduras testify.
The crisis of capitalism, a system that is historically on its death-bed, can only be resolved in favour of the workers and peoples by overcoming this system of exploitation and building socialism. The monopolies and governments are trying to get out of the crisis while guaranteeing the permanence of the system, as they have done on other occasions, although ultimately their models of accumulation (welfare state, neoliberalism) led to new crises.
We, the peoples of the world express our repudiation of the crisis and the means that the international monopolies and capitalist powers are using to protect their interests. The mobilisations of the workers and peoples are covering various parts of the planet demanding that the rich pay for the crisis that they caused, raising proposals that do not attempt to save the system but to protect the interests of the working masses and peoples.
We know the intensity, depth and magnitude of this crisis; however we are also conscious of the fact that the capitalist-imperialist system will not fall by itself, we have to bring it down with the struggle of the workers, peasants, youth, first peoples and nations, women... of all the exploited and oppressed classes and sectors.
We, the popular and revolutionary organisations, are working to build a great movement against the domination of imperialist capital and the local ruling classes, in which all the sectors willing to defend the interests of workers and peoples, who are fighting for democratic, progressive and revolutionary changes, will take part. A great front of the masses, which should take place in each of our countries, is a vital necessity; even more the workers and peoples must understand the need to raise their organisation to the political level and the struggle for power.
We take on this crisis as an opportunity that the revolutionary forces have to denounce and demonstrate the anti-worker and exploitative character of capitalism, to advance in the organisation of the workers and peoples under the banners of change, of the social and national revolution; it is an opportunity for the working class and peoples to develop their anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist consciousness.
We who have signed this Declaration unfurl the banners of liberty, equality, independence and the progress of the peoples; we are fighting in each of our countries to lead the revolution to victory and to build socialism, we understand that in this way we are contributing to the victory of the world revolution. We are directing our efforts to developing the cooperation and joint action among the popular and political organisations to new levels in order to confront the international rule of capital.
This is our voice and thoughts which we state to the peoples of the Americas and the world from Quito, host city of the 13th International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, in which we have debated in a framework of positive respect and effort some of the tasks that history has imposed on us today.
We are confronting the aggression of imperialism and its allies against the peoples of the world
July 17, 2009
Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina,
Marxist Leninist Maoist Communist Party (Bolivia),
Revolutionary Communist Party (Brazil),
Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action),
Popular Constituent Movement – Democratic Pole (Colombia),
Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist),
Revolutionary Party of the Workers of Colombia,
National Network Against Hunger and Poverty (Colombia),
Cycle Expedition for South America (Colombia),
Solidarity and Brotherhood Foundation of the Pacific (Colombia),
Minga Sur Palmira – PDA [Alternative Democratic Pole – translator’s note] (Colombia),
Communist Party of Cuba,
Communist Party of Labour (Dominican Republic),
Movement for Independence, Unity and Change (Dominican Republic),
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador,
Democratic Popular Movement (Ecuador),
Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador,
Ecuadorian Confederation of Women for Change,
Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany,
National Liberation Movement of Mexico,
Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist),
Revolutionary Popular Front (Mexico),
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Panama,
Marxist-Leninist Party of Peru,
Proletarian Party of Peru ,
Revolutionary Organization of Labour (USA),
Socialist Assembly (Venezuela),
Gayones Movement (Venezuela),
Ana Soto Women’s Movement (Venezuela),
Federation of Telecommunications Workers (Venezuela),
Socialist Revolutionary University Front (Venezuela),
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela.
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