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EDITORIAL: Happy birthday, Lenin! 

by: PWW/NM Editorial Board

The following is an editorial written in 2006 when this publication was a 20-page print weekly called People’s Weekly World and Nuestro Mundo. While the global movement for socialism continues to assess the incredible gains people won after the 1917 Russian Revolution, and, ultimately, the fatal weaknesses that ended socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the ideas of Vladimir Lenin still carry currency today. Happy birthday, Lenin!

More than 60 years ago, the great African American poet Langston Hughes wrote:

Lenin walks around the world.

Frontiers cannot bar him.

Neither barracks nor barricades impede.

Nor does barbed wire scar him.

Lenin walks around the world.

Black, brown, and white receive him.

Language is no barrier.

The strangest tongues believe him.

Lenin walks around the world.

The sun sets like a scar.

Between the darkness and the dawn

There rises a red star.

Hughes was writing about Vladimir Lenin, a leader of the Russian Revolution — the world’s first socialist revolution. April 22 is the anniversary of Lenin’s birth.

Lenin took up scientific socialism where its founders, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, left off. He analyzed imperialism, a phase of capitalism he said was characterized by huge monopolies, the dominance of big banks and the carving up of the world among the great capitalist powers.

The growth of the transnational corporations and the ruthlessness of many imperialist governments, with the U.S. at the fore, show that Lenin’s analysis was right. The war in Iraq is a prime example. It’s a war for U.S. corporate control of resources, especially oil.

But Lenin didn’t stop there. He underlined the need of workers in the imperialist countries to see their own self-interest in allying with the peoples of oppressed nations.

He noted that the exploiters of those countries were the same exploiters of workers in the oppressor nations. Seeing the need to end that shared exploitation, he called for changing the slogan “Workers of the world unite” to “Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite.”

That slogan still rings true today. For those of us in the U.S., it calls upon us to fight to bring our troops home, to demand no permanent bases in Iraq, and that reparations be paid to help the Iraqi people rebuild a secure and sovereign nation.

The contribution that Lenin made to the theory of imperialism was immense, as were his other contributions, like the need for a political party that represents the interests of the working class and allies, known in many countries, including this one, as the Communist Party.

Lenin still walks around the world — in the struggles for workers and oppressed people to be free from poverty, exploitation, war and racism — and to join together to build a better world.

http://www.solidnet.org/
http://inter.kke.gr/News/news2011/2011-03-21-joint-statement

The imperialist killers headed by the USA, France, Britain and NATO as a whole and with the approval of the UN started a new imperialist war. This time in Libya.

Their allegedly humanitarian pretexts are completely misleading! They throw dust into peoples’ eyes! Their real goals are the hydrocarbons in Libya.

We, the Communist and Workers’ parties condemn the military imperialist intervention. The people of Libya must determine their future on their own, without foreign imperialist interventions.

We call on the peoples to react and demand the immediate cessation of the bombings and of the imperialist intervention!

1. Algerian Party For Democracy And Socialism, PADS
2. Communist Party of Armenia
3. Communist Party of Azerbaijan
4. Communist Party of Bangladesh
5. Workers’ Party of Bangladesh
6. Communist Party of Belarus
7. Brazilian Communist Party
8. Communist Party of Brazil
9. New Communist Party of Britain
10. Party of the Bulgarian Communists
11. Communist Party of Canada
12. Socialist Worker`s Party of Croatia
13. Communist Party in Denmark
14. Communist Party of Finland
15. Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party
16. Communist Party of Greece
17. Communist Party of India
18. Communist Party of India [Marxist]
19. Communist Party of Ireland
20. Communist Party of Kazakhstan
21. Socialist Party of Latvia
22. Lebanese Communist Party
23. Communist Party of Luxembourg
24. Communist Party of Malta
25. Communist Party of Mexico
26. Popular Socialist Party of Mexico
27. New Communist Party of Netherlands
28. Communist Party of Norway
29. Communist Party of Poland
30. Portuguese Communist Party
31. Communist Party of Russian Federation
32. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia – Revolutionary Party of Communists
33. UCP- CPSU
34. Communist Party of Soviet Union
35. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
36. Party of the Communists of Serbia
37. Communist Party of Slovakia
38. Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
39. Syrian Communist Party
40. Communist Party of Sweden
41. Communist Party of Turkey
42. Communist Party of Ukraine
43. Communist Party of Venezuela

15 January, 2011
STATEMENT BY THE COMMUNIST WORKERS PARTY OF TUNISIA
Filed under: Arab world, Tunisia — admin @ 3:53 pm
Tunisia has lived since December 17, 2010, the day when the current popular revolt against unemployment, exclusion, poverty, cost of living, the shameless exploitation, corruption, injustice and tyranny began. These popular protests started in the city of Sidi Bouzid and have since extended to all parts of the country. Poverty and tyranny, endured in the city, are a general phenomenon that affects all the Tunisian people. The rage and indignation is the same throughout the country. The police and dictatorial regime of President Ben Ali attempted to crush the people’s uprising using misinformation, deception, lies and the brutal repression of the police who fired on the people, killing unarmed demonstrators. This was done with the intention of suppressing the protests quickly and preventing their spread to the rest of the country. These methods failed. Instead they have fueled protests that have extended their range, and drove the demonstrators to turn what began as simple social demands to political demands on the issue of freedom and power. Even when Ben Ali delivered his speech on the twelfth day of the revolt to promise that he would allow elections, nobody believed him and the masses responded that the protests would continue.The placards and slogans put forward by the masses in revolt, from south to north, are clear evidence of the long process of political awareness which has taken place in the minds of Tunisians over the last twenty years of the reign of Ben Ali.
Slogans such as: “Work is a right, band of thieves,” “Hands off the country corrupt band,” Work, freedom, dignity, ” Liberty, freedom and non-life presidency “,” Down with the party of thieves, down with the torturers of the people “,” Ben Ali loose, the people do not let it go “… Finally, the masses have realized that they are being ruled but not represented and that the system represents “a band of thieves”, a handful of families who have plundered the resources of the country, sold its resources and its people to foreign capital, which deprives people of their liberty and their rights, using the brute force of the state apparatus, which has been transformed into a “state of families,” to humiliate, subdue and intimidate the people and discourage them from fighting . Tunisia has been turned into a national prison in which torture and repression was used to terrorise the people. The people demand change in the belief that the aspirations to freedom, democracy and social justice can not be achieved under Ben Ali. The masses involved in the struggle, in the intifada, no longer want dictatorship, and have embarked on a new process in Tunisia.Tunisia needs a new democratic government which represents the national and popular will of the people and represents its own interests. And a system of this type cannot emerge from the current system and its institutions or its constitution and its laws, but only on its ruins by a constituent assembly elected by the people in conditions of freedom and transparency, after ending the tyranny.
The task of a People’s Council is to draft a new constitution that lays the foundations of democratic republic, with its institutions and its laws. The popular protests are still ongoing. No one can predict either their duration or their development. Tunisia has entered a new phase in its history characterized by the rise of its people and their desire to recover their freedom, rights and dignity.This raises the responsibilities of the opposition, especially its most radical wing, to find new policy solutions that place as an immediate priority the requirements of the Tunisian people for a program providing a plan for overall change in Tunisia.The opposition, consisting of all the forces involved in the intifada, has been invited to close ranks for Democratic Change and to form an alternative to tyranny and dictatorship.

The Workers’ Communist Party renews its invitation to convene a national assembly of the Tunisian opposition in order to confront the issue as quickly as possible.Also renewed has been an invitation to come together to coordinate at national and local level support for the popular movements, and to work towards a set of concrete demands so that the movement does not run out of steam. Among these demands the most immediate are: 1. An immediate end to the dictatorship’s campaign of repression against the people.

2. The release of all prisoners.

3. The arrest and prosecution of all those responsible for repression, the plunder of property, and murder.

4. The repeal of all restrictions on civil liberties, free expression, organization and assembly.The adoption of immediate economic measures to alleviate unemployment and poverty. We demand income security, health care and the immediate recognition of trade unions.
The Workers’ Communist Party will remain, as it has always been, on the side of the workers, the poor and all those at the forefront of a new order in Tunisia. For freedom, democracy and social justice.

End Statement.

————————————————-
From: Communist Party of Greece, Monday, 15 November 2010
http://inter.kke.gr , mailto:cpg@int.kke.gr
==================================================

Second round of the regional and local elections

An expression of anger at the policies of the government (PASOK-ND) and the EU

On the 14/11 the second round of the regional and local elections took place. The anger of the Greek workers over the measures of the social democratic PASOK government, which are imposed with the support of the EU and IMF, was made very clear.

We should bear in mind that in the 1st round of the elections the KKE, which was represented by the lists of “People’s Rally”, was the only party which increased its percentage (+3.3 % compared to the parliamentary elections of 2009), reaching 11% and receiving almost 600,000 votes (592,977), about 80,000 more than in last year’s parliamentary elections. This result is particularly important for us, when we take into account the increase in abstention (turnout was 61%).

The KKE had 41 regional councilors elected and over 500 municipal councilors.

In the second round the KKE was represented in only 2 municipalities, Petroupolis (a working class area of Athens) and Ikaria. In the rest of the municipalities, where the forces of the 2 big bourgeois parties (PASOK-ND), the various “independents” and the representatives of parties which support the EU, the KKE called on the people to cast white or spoiled ballots.

The results show that in the 2nd round participation was even lower than in the first round (about 45%) while there was also increase in spoiled and white ballots.

In the municipality of Petroupolis, the candidate of the KKE received 21.6% and in the second round won with 55%.

In the municipality of Ikaria, where the KKE traditionally has good results (in last year’s parliamentary elections it received 35% of the vote), the representative of the KKE received in the 1st round 43.9%. Nevertheless his opponent, who was supported by all the country’s other political forces (social democratic PASOK), conservative ND, opportunist SYN/SYRIZA, nationalist LAOS), was victorious. The final vote which the communist candidate received was 48%.

The KKE will continue the struggle immediately after the end of the election fight without taking any time to rest. It is organizing massive demonstrations on Monday the 15 of November, in Athens, Thessalonica and other cities, on the occasion of the visit to Greece of the representatives of the troika (EU, IMF, European Central Bank).

Statement of the GS of the CC of the KKE Aleka Papariga concerning the results of the local elections.

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Aleka Papariga, made the following statement late on Sunday night, concerning the results of the 2nd round:

“The second round of the local elections for the local government bodies made the message sent in the first round of the elections even stronger, which expressed chiefly the anger of the people concerning the policies of the government and also the policies of ND. And when we talk about anger and discontent we are not talking about the manner in which they handle and manage governmental power, but that it reflects the discontent of the people concerning the worsening of its position, the loss of whatever gains had remained in recent years due to the memorandum and its utilization as a pretext.

The discussion concerning abstention is something that concerns us as well. As you know we are against abstention, we are in favour of active participation and we learn with a sense of satisfaction that a large section of those who voted for People’s Rally on the first Sunday went and spoiled their ballot papers in the second round. The question is this: Those who shed tears over the abstention are hypocrites. Who demobilized the people? Who mocked the struggles, organized participation, in popular assemblies in the neighbourhoods and workplaces? Who scoffed at the strikes? Of course, when a large part of the people is found outside of the organized workers’ and people’s trade union activity, it is natural that at election time when they are discontented they choose to stay at home. Who has fostered the notion amongst the people that there is nothing beyond the one-way street of the EU and the monopolies?

We are of the opinion that the current of anger and discontent will get stronger. We can see positive processes in the consciousness of the people despite the fact that this process is incomplete. We are ready to meet with those who voted against ND and PASOK, with those who abstained for political reasons despite the fact that we do not agree with this form of protest. We are ready to meet with them in order to build an all-people’s current of organization and struggle above all in the workplaces and also in the neighbourhoods.

If you like, the demonstration which we are organizing tomorrow is not an end in itself but a starting point. The systematic counterattack must be organized against the new harsh measures which are on the way and will be implacable, difficult for the human mind to fully comprehend. We are, nevertheless, in a position to understand where things are going, and now there exist the possibilities and they must be utilized not through abstention, but through active participation so that we can prevent some of the measures and if you like for there to be some gains. There is a way out.

Nothing has ever been inevitable in the history of this country, or in the history of the world for that matter.

The crisis will deepen, in Greece and in the EU. The signs are clear. And so the people through struggles over urgent issues like unemployment and social security must schedule a radical overthrow of the balance of forces above all in the trade union movement. In the bodies where the trade union labour aristocracy is dominant, compromised people, who wish to assimilate the people and not liberate it. There is no other solution, other than the change in the balance of forces from below, so that it is changed at the top. An element of the crisis which will intensify is the discussions, concerning scenarios of cooperation, deliberations, conferences etc. We have made our position clear: no consent with any party which supports the policies of the EU, the memorandum, and of the monopolies. No consent with parties and forces which submit in the name of realism and try to dampen down and obstruct radicalism. We are open to common action with the criterion that this common action must be based on the interests of the working class, the small businessmen, of the small and poor farmers. Above all we need a clearly defined social alliance and it is there that a change in the balance of forces will be created.

The discussion concerning these various scenarios is not accidental. We may well see some developments. Today there are some parties and politicians who are ready to legitimize the policies of the government or to help ND recover. We want to form a people’s social front form below. This is the path which guarantees everything.

Only when the people become the protagonist, will we discern a real hope for a way out. Everything else they talk about aims to keep the people in their houses and to wait on their sofas for parties ( washed-up in terms of their stance in relation to the people), to solve the problems or for the appearance of “new” faces on the political scene. The old and the new should exist only in the confrontation between the dominant political power and the people.”