The monopolies and their power give rise to the imperialist war

Meeting on the 29/11/2012 at Panteion University about the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the positions of the KKE

A report from yesterday’s meeting

Elisseos Vagenas, member of the CC and Responsible for the International Section of the CC of the KKE, spoke at a meeting of KNE at Panteion University (and to students of the International Relations and International Law departments) on the issue of the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean , the wider region and the positions of the KKE. He mentioned the significance of the developments in this region, something which was signalled by the fact that in the last 4 years 3 International Meetings of CPs have been held in the region: The extraordinary one on Palestine (Damascus 2009), the 13^th International Meeting (Athens, 2011) and this year’s 14^th Meeting which was held a few days ago in Beirut, Lebanon.

E. Vagenas referred to the region’s importance, due its energy resources, and also its position as a “crossing point” for raw materials and commodities from Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the Middle East, both to the West, and also to the major Asian economies which are rapidly rising.

He commented on the various pretexts which the imperialists are using to promote the wars and concentrated on the role of NATO and the EU, as well as aspects of the intervention in Syria, adding that “In reality the developments in the South East Mediterranean are deep, explosive and are creating a very dangerous situation, with enormous consequences for the lives of the workers, these developments continually and even more persistently pose the relationship capitalism-crisis-war.” He substantiated this position by referring to the causes of the capitalist crisis, the role of the capitalists states, as mechanisms for the defence of the bourgeois interests, as well as to the sharpening of the competition, which as he said “are being carried out by diplomatic means, political extortion, trade wars, espionage mechanisms up to and including the use of military means, as war is the continuation of politics by other violent means.”

He referred to the impact of the law of uneven capitalist development, which creates changes in the imperialist pyramid, in which every country is assimilated based on its economic, political and military strength and underlined that “today in the conditions of the crisis we see changes in the economic and consequently political and military strength of the capitalist states, something which leads to the competition for the redistribution of the markets. So this is what causes the aggressiveness of the USA, NATO, the European Union, as well as the stance of the other imperialist powers.”

The member of the CC of the KKE mentioned in the introduction, as well as in the rich discussion which followed, the role of the UN and international law today, which is becoming more and more reactionary, because as he stressed “ It is formed only of capitalist states and not as a balance of forces between capitalist and socialist states, today it cannot be anything but worse for the peoples, for the working class. Today we must take into consideration these changes and not be trapped in demands for the democratization of the UN or international law, which are chiefly being used by bourgeois forces, in order to consolidate the upgrading of their position. At the same time, such views consciously deceive the popular forces that allegedly they can guarantee a peaceful world without affecting the foundations of capitalist society.”

Some questions were posed about the so-called ”multi-polar world”, the “strengthening of the EU”, which are being presented by the opportunist forces as an alleged “solution” to the US “empire”. E. Vagenas focussed on the Leninist view of imperialism, at the core of which is the capitalist monopoly and stressed that “the EU, like other emerging capitalist economies today, and other regional inter-state unions which are being formed e.g. on the territory of the former USSR or in Latin America, from the moment when they have the capitalist monopoly in their DNA cannot play an essentially positive role in global affairs in favour of the working class and the popular strata. The so-called “multi-polar” world, of the so-called “new architecture of international relations” is not a world of peace and security for the peoples, but the world of sharpening inter-imperialist contradictions.”

He also noted that “it would be a serious mistake for the popular movement to base its hopes on the so-called emerging powers, or to choose them as a “camp”. This is because, as Lenin warned, such a thing would lead to the mistaken assessment that “the monopolies in the economy can coexist with a non-monopoly, non-violent, non-predatory modus operandi in politics.”

The discussion also included questions about the so-called “Arab Spring”, the relations between Israel-Turkey-Egypt, the issues of the Greece-Israel cooperation, the continental shelf and EEZ, the preparations for new wars. The cadre of the KKE concluded: “The wars, which are the continuation of politics by other violent means, ate inevitable, as long as society is divided into classes, as long as there is the exploitation of man by man, as long is imperialism prevails. The replacement of war by peace in favour of the peoples cannot be achieved without the replacement of capitalism by socialism, because even the imperialist peace prepares new wars. Nevertheless, this formulation of ours does not mean that we take no action! Quite the opposite! We address ourselves to the working class of the country, the peoples in our region and stress that their interests are identified with the common anti-imperialist- anti-monopoly struggle, for the disengagement from the imperialist organizations, the removal of foreign military bases and nuclear weapons, the return home of all military forces from the imperialist missions, the expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people, which is experiencing the Israeli barbarity, as well as with all the peoples which are struggling and aiming to chart their own path of development. So that our country is disentangled from the imperialist plans and wars. For the slogan to become a reality: “ No land and water for the murderers of the peoples!” this is a daily struggle. A struggle with specific goals, which we are waging in a unified way and not detached from the struggle for power.”