Contribution of Communist Front (Italy)

Dear comrades,

First of all, on behalf of the Communist Front (Italy), we would like to thank the Communist Party of Turkey for hosting this meeting and greet the sister parties that participate in it.

It is difficult to draw complete and definitive conclusions about a conflict that is still ongoing and shows no signs of ending. However some general assessments are possible, in order to define the attitude and the actions of the communists towards this war.

Rejecting the dichotomy between attacker and attacked in favor of a class approach in evaluating the nature of the conflict, we have correctly identified it as an imperialist war, as it is fought on both fronts by capitalist states in the interests of the respective bourgeoisie. We have identified the causes of this war in the sharpening of the general crisis of capitalism and its intrinsic contradictions, in the consequent intensification of inter-imperialist competition after the disappearance of the world socialist system determined by the temporary victory of the counter-revolution.

We also reject the storytelling that considers February 24, 2022 as the start date of the war, as if it were “the starting point of history”. In fact, albeit in a latent form, the conflict started in 1991, immediately after the disappearance of the Soviet Union, with the beginning of the expansion of the EU and NATO towards the East and the simultaneous unleashing of an intense struggle between the American and European bourgeoisie, allied with sectors of the Ukrainian capitalists, on the one hand, and the Russian bourgeoisie, in turn allied with other sectors of the Ukrainian capitalists, on the other hand, for the control over the Ukrainian outlet market, the industrial potential and agricultural resources of the country, and the natural gas transportation infrastructure located there. The conflict has worsened over time due both to the continuous expansion of NATO and the EU, which has reached the borders of the former Soviet Union and is perceived by Russia as a serious threat to its security, and the aggressive policy of interference of the US-EU-NATO bloc in the internal affairs of Ukraine. Euro-atlantic support, first for the "orange revolution" of 2004 and then for the coup of 2014, brought to power a puppet junta which is the expression of the most pro-Western, ultra-nationalist and openly Nazi-fascist component of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie. This junta is guilty of serious crimes against communists, trade union activists, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and of the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Russian population of Donbass, subjected for eight years to ferocious bombings by the Kiev fascist regime in guilty silence of both the political West and capitalist Russia. Denouncing the prevailing responsibility of the US-EU-NATO imperialist bloc for the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine does not mean denying the imperialist nature of this war or the serious faults of the Russian bourgeois government for having hindered the anti-fascist movement of Donbass, entangling it in the trap of Minsk agreements, overturning its proletarian, socialist and pro-Soviet nature, to the point of substantially making it a nationalist movement, aligned and functional to the interests of the Russian financial oligarchy. The communists and anti-fascists of Donbass were equally hated both by the Ukrainian fascists and the Russian bourgeoisie, who worked from opposite sides but jointly to suffocate the anti-fascist movement and its original spirit.

This war has a significance that goes well beyond the local dimension, but affects global structures and balances. Its goal is not only the grabbing of Ukraine's economic potential and the strategic-military control over the country, which Russia considers of vital importance for its own security. Actually, this war is the first, after the disappearance of the USSR and the socialist camp, full-blown manifestation of the epochal clash between imperialist powers for the preservation or the dissolution of a world "balance" based on the political, economic and military dominance of the USA and, in a subordinate, uneven way, of their allies, such as the EU and the G7 states. This world order is seriously being questioned by emerging capitalist powers, primarily China, but also Russia, India and the other BRICS states, which have more lively development dynamics compared to the US-led bloc which is in evident economic decline. Under the slogan of "multipolarity", the emerging imperialist powers demand a new division of the world and a new global order that insures them a position corresponding to their actual economic, political and military weight within the world capitalist system. We must dispel the illusions and false expectations generated by the slogan of "multipolarity" by clearly explaining that: 1) "multipolarity" is not a goal to be achieved, as we are already living in a multipolar world, where multiple imperialist poles clash for a new division of the planet and its resources, as confirmed by the number of ongoing conflicts; 2) the new world order that could result from such a clash would be just as imperialist as the current one, since it would preserve the capitalist relations of production. Therefore, we can say that the war in Ukraine as well as the other armed conflicts currently underway fit into the more general framework of the struggle between imperialist powers, in particular between the USA and China, for global supremacy within the capitalist system in its highest stage.

The epochal importance of what is at stake in the war in Ukraine explains the warmongering doggedness of the US-EU-NATO bloc in refusing any peace negotiations, although internal contradictions between the bloc's countries and signs of attrition are beginning to appear regarding the support for the Ukrainian fascist regime. The hypothetical disengagement of the USA, aimed at dumping onto the European allies the costs associated with the continuation of the war, seems to be more a tool of the electoral battle between Republicans and Democrats for the next presidential elections than a real political intent. A retreat would make the USA and its allies pay a high price in geostrategic, economic and international credibility terms. We believe, therefore, that it is reasonable to expect a continuation of the conflict until the final collapse of the Ukrainian regime. Furthermore, the defeat of the Ukrainian fascist regime on the battlefield seems to be looming with ever greater probability following the failure of the counter-offensive and the very serious losses in men, armaments and crucial infrastructure. It would mean the defeat of an entire strategy of the US-EU-NATO bloc, which would place the imperialist ruling groups faced with the difficult problem of justifying in front of their voters the enormous quantity of billions burned in a lost war. We are talking of approximately 170 billion dollars, considering only the top five supporting countries (USA, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, in order of spending range): an unprecedented sum, of which 64% in weapons and 33% in financial support for the corrupt and bankrupted Ukrainian fascist regime, while only 3% in humanitarian aid to the population. Also from this point of view, therefore, the Euro-Atlantic imperialist circles will do the utmost to prolong the conflict, possibly freezing it in a war of position and attrition.

Under strong pressure from the USA, the EU has approved 13 sanctions bundles against Russia, in addition to the unilateral ones from the United States, Great Britain and other individual countries. A sanctioning effort, in an attempt to collapse the Russian economy down, which has no precedent in history and which not only missed its target, but proved to be highly self-defeating and penalizing, at least for the European economy. In fact, while Russia's GDP is growing at a higher percentage than that of the USA, EU countries are entering a recession accompanied by inflation. This scenario is mainly due to voluntary political choices of the EU leadership, such as rejecting Russian gas and purchasing American shale gas at overall costs up to 10 times higher than the Russian natural gas' ones, with a devastating impact on prices of energy, transport and, in turn, all other products. By contrast, the USA have withdrawn enormous benefits from this situation. Thanks to the war in Ukraine, to the terrorist attack on the North Stream gas pipelines and to the sanctions, the USA have finally achieved their longtime goal of selling their gas and oil in the EU market after the banishment of Russian energy products.

The alignment of the EU with the policies of the USA and NATO to the point of applying anti-Russian measures which are evidently damaging the economy of the EU itself, is not only the result of the now well-known ineptitude of the current EU leadership, almost entirely educated in the University of Stanford, California and therefore closely linked to the USA, but is above all due to precise evaluations by European big capital. A few figures are enough to understand this. The volume of exports of EU goods to the USA in 2022 amounted to 527 billion dollars (22% of total exports), while EU exports to Russia in the same year amounted to 57.7 billion dollars (2.4 %), almost 10 times less. If we take into consideration FDI from the USA into the EU, in 2022 they amounted to 4,026.8 billion dollars, and FDI from the EU into the USA amounted to 3,396.5 billion dollars, while FDI from the EU into Russia were worth 311.4 billion euros and FDI from Russia into the EU amounted to 136 billion euros. Even without considering the financial relationships with the very powerful US banking system and the weight of a stock exchange like Wall Street, it is completely clear that European capital is mainly linked to the US market by a relationship of close interdependence and only to a minor extent to the Russian market. These data and the consideration that their own position would be strongly compromised by an upheaval of the existing world order, explain why the majority and dominant sectors of European capital push for a rigorous alignment with US policies.

The size of the US market and the fear of being excluded from it give US pressure, i.e. their threats and blackmail, a strong power of persuasion and coercion also towards some other third countries, including China, intimidated by the threat of parallel sanctions, especially in the banking sphere, from the closure of correspondent accounts open at US banks up to the freezing and confiscation of assets deposited at them. This kind of gangster-like behavior, together with an invasive policy of fake "cooperation" that hides relations of exploitation and dependence, explains why a growing number of emerging and developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia are distancing themselves from the USA and the EU and passing to a closer cooperation with the BRICS, in particular with Russia and China.

The war in Ukraine has also caused a further split within the international communist movement regarding the attitude towards the war itself, deepening its crisis and adding this issue to long-standing disagreements between parties on other ideological and strategic issues, as well as on the concept of socialism itself. The simultaneous membership in the same Solidnet of communist parties that openly support one or the other belligerent side (for example, the Spanish Communist Party, which is part of a government coalition in a NATO country and supports Ukraine, on the one hand, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, on the other hand, which instead supports the bourgeois government of Russia) raises doubts as to whether we can still speak of an international communist movement, since the term "movement" implies the sharing of general goals at least. The lack of common goals has been revealed precisely by the imperialist war. The equal and opposite positions taken by some parties in favor of one or the other of the opposing imperialist camps, in actual fact call the proletariat to line up under the flags of its exploiters, an attitude that recalls the one of the opportunists which was the tombstone of the Second International and marked the definitive split of the revolutionary Marxists from social-democracy.

To those in Italy who claim to teach us that in the face of war we must choose who to side with, we reply that in the face of a war between capitalists the communists should not take a position in favor of one or the other belligerent bourgeoisie, but resolutely stand alongside the Russian and Ukrainian proletarians, forced to massacre each other in a fratricidal war for the interests of their exploiters and the imperialists of both sides. We have endorsed the appeal of the 2nd Resolution of the 22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, which calls the Ukrainian and Russian proletarians to turn weapons against their own governments, implementing Lenin's indication to transform the imperialist war into a revolutionary civil war for socialism. Unfortunately, it is a difficult line to implement, since the communist organizations in those countries either are too weak, or are openly aligned with the policies of the Russian bourgeois government.

Despite the censorship and the insistent war propaganda, based on the usual falsification of facts always used as a pretext for attacks on sovereign states, seasoned with the trite and nauseating rhetoric on the "values of the West", on the "defense of freedom" against " the empire of evil", despite the lynching in the media and the persecution of anyone who expresses even the slightest critical position, polls show that in Italy, in other EU and NATO countries and even in the USA, a growing majority of the people is against sending weapons to Ukraine and supporting that fascist regime.

Italy is heavily involved in Euro-Atlantic imperialist plans, in Ukraine, in the Middle East and in Africa. Our main enemy is in our country, in the EU and in NATO; it is the imperialist bourgeoisie that every true communist party is fighting against in its own country. Against it, a movement of opinion is not enough, even the necessary street demonstrations are not enough. It is necessary to effectively act for the defeat of our own bourgeoisie by applying the Leninist tactics of revolutionary defeatism, by blocking the shipments and transport of weapons not only for the Ukrainian fascists, but also for the Zionist criminals engaged in the genocide of the Palestinian people and for the war missions in Yemen, the Red Sea, and Africa. Since war is intrinsic to capitalism, the anti-imperialist movement for peace must be anti-capitalist oriented, must have at its center the working class and its vanguard, the communist party, and must forcefully claim the slogans that the situation demands with reference to the war in Ukraine and all imperialist wars:

• stop sending weapons and financial support for the fascist Ukrainian government;
• immediate lifting of anti-Russian sanctions;
• no to Italy's involvement in imperialist plans and missions abroad;
• limitation of expenditure on armaments only to the defense needs of the country;
• Italy's exit from the EU and NATO accompanied by a revolutionary change of the class in power.

With reference to the imperialist war in Ukraine, this is the line that our Party, the Communist Front, carries out in Italy as an essential part of its struggle for socialism-communism, within the limits of its own strength, but relying on the increasingly close and coordinated internationalist relationship with sister parties.