Following we publish an English translation of a criticism of the Red Front Collective (Austria), which was originally published on the 6th of September 2019, and previously only available in an printed Circular. We welcome this criticism, because it serves the the important task of the struggle against opportunist positions. The criticism is manly on the question of the struggle against the imperialist EU-alliance, as well as on the question of active boycott of elections, which are both actual and important questions for the revolutionaries and communists, basically in Europe. In order to that we hope we can forward with this publication the discussion within the revolutionaries and we support the points of criticism of the Red Front Collective (Austria). Opportunism helps the imperialist EU-alliance and tries to cloud the revolutionary path of the proletariat! Since several years there can be observed in Europe an increase of various campaigns and activities, led by revolutionary forces, against the bourgeois and by imperialism enacted elections, as well as against parliamentary cretinism. Therefore also at the past elections to the parliament of European Union, which took place from 23rd until 26th of May. At these elections again revolutionary forces were vehemently opposing reaction and developed also here their policy firmly on the basis of the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and proletarian internationalism, like it is expressed for example in the two documents „Elections No, Revolution Yes!“ and „Down with the EU! Down with imperialism! Long live internationalism!“. With these declarations and the actions and campaigns developed from their basis, the revolutionaries and communists served the Proletarian World Revolution and the international proletariat, which realized due to drawing repeatedly from its endless great experiences, that the active boycott of elections has to be developed against the bourgeois and imperialist election. That the truly proletarian revolutionaries have to struggle against parliamentary cretinism to develop the proletarian revolution was profoundly presented under the leadership of Comrade Chairman Mao Zedong in the writing „Long live the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat!“ (1971). As well Comrade Charu Mazumdar raised up the alignment of the boycott of elections already in 1968 to be a demand of „international significance“. The glorious Communist Party of Peru under the leadership of Chairman Gonzalo started peoples war in 1979/80 through armed actions (and by that pushed forward the incorporation of the masses in the revolutionary war) as part of a campaign for the active boycott of national elections. Thus we see: The struggle method of active boycott of the elections of the ruling class is more and more deepening within the understanding of the revolutionary and communist forces of the whole world and is today an integral part of their politics. The marxist-leninist-maoist parties and organizations, who firmly close ranks with the revolutionary forces in the class struggle, thereby build upon the rich treasury of experiences, knowledge and systematizations, how they were put forth by the international communist movement, on a number of great practical and theoretical victories. That does not remain unnoticed within the camp of the enemies of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, which is why they start angry assaults. They do not only perform it through open attacks, but as well under a „revolutionary“ mask. How Comrade Lenin stated: „The dialectics of history were such that the theoretical victory of Marxism compelled its enemies to disguise themselves as Marxists. Liberalism, rotten within, tried to revive itself in the form of socialist opportunism.“ (The historical destiny of the doctrine of Karl Marx). With the increasing development of activities and campaigns for the active boycott of elections in various countries of the world, such currents apparently express in favor of boycott of elections more and more, but very obviously try to „revive itself in the form of socialist opportunism“. At the elections to EU-parliament that was expressed in particular in the declaration with the title „Joint statement on the EU-parliamentary elections. The elections don‘t belong to the peoples! They belong to the multinational companies and imperialists! No vote! Condemn the European Union!“ (further on: „Joint statement“; documented here in Appendix II) which was allegedly signed by seven different organizations. Opportunism wants to confuse the proletariat and the peoples in their struggles and tries to direct their rebellion and their revolutionary urge towards the path of bourgeois policy. It covers up the socialist and communist goal, which is constantly and persistently persued by the communist parties and whose path for achievement they show. But opportunism wants to cloud and disguise this path. That is why in the opportunist „Joint statement on the EU-parliamentary elections“ the current leadership of the EU by German imperialism is not mentioned at all, as well as the struggel for leadership of the EU between German and French imperialism isn‘t mentioned. Rather it is said, that the EU would be a „construct of capitalist-imperialist elites“, which is nothing more than a diversionary tactics from the fact, that one doesn‘t name clearly the enemy. It is completely obvious that this „Joint statement“ thereby serves the leading imperialists within the EU and thus finally also the hegemony of USA-imperialism. In this case it is open social-chauvinism, because precisely the role of German imperialism isn‘t mentioned at all, but at the same time a (meanwhile dissolved) German group signed that declaration. That wrong attitude is not least based on a very conservative and schematical consideration of the EU, without touching upon its inner contradictions. That is why the opportunist „Joint statement“ spreads trivial Trotzkyism, when it states: „We stand for a socialist perspective of the peoples and the working class“. Why is it Trotzkyism? Because it doesn‘t touch in no way the unevenness of capitalist development in Europe and the EU, therefore as well not the unevenness of the proletarian revolution in Europe. It is preaching the spirit of trotzkyist standpoints, which were smashed by Lenin. We see: Opportunism is not showing a path, it covers it up. A „socialist perspective“ is merely empty words, if it is not propagated how to reach it. We want to state that alleged „communist“ parties and organizations signed that declaration, so it would be absolutely appropriate within the „Joint statement“ to say a few words on such questions. The deep confusion of the document about the question of socialism and proletarian revolution is expressed already in the beginning of the document, which title says: „The European elections doesn‘t belong to the peoples! It belongs to the multinational corporations and the imperialists!“ Firstly we want to state, that it were not „European elections“, but elections within the EU. Europe and EU are not the same. Only a petty bourgeois, influenced by some kind of EU-chauvinism, could claim something different. Secondly its about a question much more important: how clear is the attitude for boycott of elections in this „Joint statement“ at all? Because on the one hand it is claimed, that the EU-elections have to be boycotted, because they „don‘t belong to the peoples“. At the other hand for example the Communist Party of Greece (marxist-leninist), a signatory, is participating regularly in national elections, within a joint alliance with the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece. Let‘s hope the comrades of the KKE(m-l) don‘t believe, that the Greek parliament belongs to the Greek people. But why do they tirelessly call up for participation in election there, but not in the case of EU-parliament (if their criterion is that the elections „belong to the people“)? Today the parliaments nowhere belong to the people. To cover up or confuse that fact for the purpose of day-to-day politics is not only opportunistic, but conjuring the spirit of Togliatti, even more when the declaration, maybe to seem more „popular“, fuels illusion towards economical companies of the bourgeois state. To speak with Lenin: „To determine its conduct from case to case, to adapt itself to the events of the day and to the chopping and changing of petty politics, to forget the primary interests of the proletariat and the basic features of the whole capitalist system, of all capitalist evolution, to sacrifice these primary interests for the real or assumed advantages of the moment – such is the policy of revisionism.“ (Marxism and Revisionism) If a organization or party doesn‘t struggle decisively against such currents, it will end up in the sump of revisionism. In the name of the boycott of elections, the line of the boycott of elections is attacked, confused and being turned upside down in the „Joint statement“, trying to liquidate its revolutionary content. The confusion spread with the „Joint statement“ gets documented the clearest with the Austrian signatory, the „Initiative for the Construction of a Revolutionary-Communist Party“ (IA-RKP). In the „Joint statement“ the position is taken, that the Parties, Groups and Organisations which signed are „struggling for an exit/pullback of its countries of the EU“, which contradicts fundamentally with the Position of the IA-RKP in this question up to now. Later there was made obviously the try to cover this embarrassingly lack of principles, by adding a note, that they would see that differently. But just afterwords and without any self-criticism or explanation how it came to „forget“ the own „position“. It correlates perfectly to the usual politics of this group, which is obviously fully incompetently, to develop an own policy on the basis of proletarian principles and once again append there and takes up those questions, where they hope to get „advantages of the moment“. So far it is ridiculous opportunism and eclecticism which is expressed in how they deal with its own signature of the „Joint Statement” and with their own position. But it gets to be a open fraud and a poor sleight of hand, if we watch how it get dealed with the International Communist Movement. Originally also the Comrades of the Committee for the Construction of the Maoist Communist Party of Galicia (Spanish State) supposingly signalised the willingness to sign the „Joint Statement“. But as they got aware of all those which also would sign it, they rejected their willingness and already published at the 10th of May a clear and explicit self-criticism (what we document in the Appendix I), in which they distant themselves from this statement. This self-criticism the Galician comrades addressed to the „Communists, Sister Organisations and Masses“ is well known among the actual revolutionary Organisations in Europe. The group IA-RKP is hiding this and still cites the Galician comrades (documented in the beginning of August) as an signer of the „Joint Statement“ on their Blog. Although all other signers of this blog post are linked, ironically a link to that online media is missing, which published the self-criticism of the Galician comrades. Of course this is no coincidence, but the group IA-RKP tries to maintain the fraud, that the Galician comrades would have signed the „Joint Statement“. They do that for showing also signatory, which come out of the rows of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoists. With this fraud manoeuvres they try to cover and suppress, that this „Joint Statement“ is a declaration of a few utmost right opportunists in Europe, a declaration which opens widely its doors for illusions, petty-bourgeois views, chauvinism and reformism. Hence the self-criticism and the clear stand of the Committees for the Construction of the Maoist Communist Party of Galicia was saluted from many revolutionary and proletarian forces and furthermore it can serve as a positive example for all those, who may did not immediately realized the confusion and the fog spread by the „Joint Statement“. We do not think, that the furthermore signature of the comrades from Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Ireland actually stand on the ground of the „Joint Statement“, because the revolutionary forces in Europe and in other countries of the world have followed with great enthusiasm, that these comrades recently developed activities to defend the live and the health of chairman Gonzalo, the greatest living Marxist-Leninist-Maoist on earth. In this context it gets fully obvious, that the Chairman Gonzalo, who defined, initiated and greatly led the campaign of active boycott of elections in Peru 1979/80 as part of the first phase of peoples war, gets quite attacked and slandered from those who signed this „Joint Statement“. Also beside it is hard to imagine that organisations which sympathize with the mighty peoples wars in Peru or India, can identify themselves with such right-opportunist and principle-less positions, like they are presented in this „Joint Statement“. This is also the case with the deceptive methods of the group IA-RKP, which obviously have to be rejected by all communists and revolutionaries forcefully. Strongly based on proletarian Internationalism we criticize the „Joint Statement“ as an opportunist deception, which should confuse and distract the proletariat and the peoples in class struggle. We confirm and defend both documents „Elections No, Revolution Yes!“ and „Down with the EU! Down with imperialism! Long live internationalism!“ and point out, that we will continue to wage out the struggle against opportunism with our whole strength and strongly based on proletarian internationalism. Long live the active boycott of elections as a strong weapon in the struggle of the proletariat and the people against imperialism and the bourgeoisie! Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! Long live proletarian Internationalism! Down with the European Union, Death to Opportunism and Revisionism! In: Circular of the Red Front Collective, P. 4-6, August 2019. Appendix I (Autocritica) [source: https://dazibaorojo08.blogspot.com/2019/05/galiza-nota-de-prensa-ccpcm-galiza.html] AUTOCRITICA.
Comrades: In connection with the publication of a joint statement rejecting the European elections, promoted by the comrades of the KKE (ml) released these past days and we have signed, we want to make public our rejection of the fact that it was also signed by opportunistic organizations from Italy, Germany or Austria, with which we do not maintain any type of contact and much less, coincidence of ideas.We were unaware that the Greek comrades invited these organizations from such a different line, totally opposed to the Maoist organizations, that we work for the reconstruction of the MCI in a new unified conference. Conference that has to serve to draw a clear line of demarcation with the opportunists and revisionists, giving a new impetus to the tasks of the World Proletarian Revolution.We have acted hastily, creating confusion and this is why we present this self-criticism, to communists, to sister organizations and to the masses.
Galiza, May 10, 2019
Construction Committee of the Maoist Communist Party of Galiza.
Appendix II („Joint Statement“)
[source: https://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/search?q=EU+elections]
Joint statement on the European Parliamentary Election and call for Europe wide boycott May 2019 The European elections do not belong to the peoples! They belong to the multinationals and the imperialists! Abstention and denunciation of the European Union! The European Parliament election in May will be held at a time when the reactionary nature and role of the European Union (EU) are fully exposed. The EU operates under the law of the mighty; the powerful imperialist states and monopolies rule and impose their policies and interests. Throughout the years of the capitalist crisis, the EU reinforced barbaric policies against the working class and the peoples, aiming at retaining and increasing the profits of multinationals, capitalists, bankers, and monopoly groups. They promoted a storm of anti-labor measures, drastically reduced labor wages, attacked trade unions and the right to strike, set back by decades the rights and the living standards of the working class and the peoples. This was the case in all EU member-states. Unemployment, marginalization and poverty, not only in the south but also in the north of Europe, hit millions of toilers and young people. Social benefits were reduced or abolished, public enterprises were taken over by capitalists, and parts of the middle classes drowned financially. The EU and the capitalists that rule over it have transformed societies into jungles of exploitation, competition, and historical regression. The long and fierce struggle of the French people and toilers against Macron’s austerity measures and murderous repression is strong proof of this. The immediate payment of the repairs in Notre Dame is one more proof of the outrageous hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie who’s overflowed with wealth and at the same time forces austerity measures against the working class and the masses of France. Due to these anti-social policies, the reactionary, racist, nationalist, and fascist forces have been reinforced in all EU member-states. These forces are not opposing the capitalists and imperialists, albeit they so present themselves. They are propagandists and supporters of extreme anti-labor policies and the push of public life towards fascism.
They express the most extreme forces of capitalism, exploitation, and social, ethnic, religious, cultural, and gender discrimination. They are the forces that pave the way to war and the slaughter of toilers and peoples of Europe. The EU is a reactionary construction of the capitalist-imperialist elites, which is historically doomed to fail. It is a reactionary alliance with internal contradictions and deadlocks. The developments around Brexit confirm this assumption. The EU resembles a laboratory aiming to design policies against the toilers and the peoples and plundering of the wealth that the toilers and peoples of the dependent and neo-colonial countries are producing. It is a new "sacred alliance" against the working class, the social resistance movements, the migration flows, and peoples' struggles for national and social liberation. The EU has a leading role, together with, but at the same time discretely from, the US and other imperialist countries, in defending the global power of the capital and the multinationals. It supports imperialist economic and military interventions and loots the semi-colonial and dependent countries of their natural and human wealth. Only in the recent years they directly and actively -or indirectly- supported military interventions in Libya, Mali and Central African Republic. They stirred up the civil war in Syria and led the escalation of the internal crisis, bloodshed, and the risks of separation in Ukraine. They support the imperialist campaign against the people of Venezuela, they participate in the illegal economic sanctions and reinforce the anti-constitutional initiatives of the opposition.They actively support the so-called anti-terrorist campaign by collaborating with the US imperialists against the liberating and revolutionary peoples’ movements. They adopt tough anti-immigration policies, they build legislative and practical barriers and walls against desperate migrants and refugees and they are responsible for thousands of deaths at the borders. They promote anticommunist hysteria and, with their policies, they reinforce the revival of racism, fascism and Nazi gangs. They push for the adoption of tough measures to suppress and reduce democratic rights. The European Parliament -and the direct general election in the EU member-states- is a well-planned project to build a democratic facade for this reactionary alliance of European bourgeoisie. It is a tool of disorientation of people and workers’ resistance movements. It is an institution of ratification of the reactionary policies of the European Commission, the European Council and the Council of the EU. It legitimizes policies against the movements of social and ethnic liberation and promotes anti- communism. It is an institution that has been devastated since the very beginning of its existence in the eyes of the European peoples and that is why it faces complete deprecation through the high abstention rates in the European elections. The so–called European Parliament is a construct of the powerful and not a fulfilled demand of the struggles and movements of the peoples of Europe. All these years of barbarism it has been identified with the policies of the capitalists and imperialists. It is not just an “elephant cemetery”, some silent, highly paid MPs who only know how to applaud and subscribe; but a body of supporters and propagandists of the rotten capitalist European idea, which has nothing to do with the long–standing demand and need for fraternity and common struggle of the toilers and peoples of Europe. This is a need that can only be served in the struggles to overthrow this barbaric and reactionary alliance of capitalists and imperialists.
Against all of them, against the EU and the governments of the member-states, against the capitalist barbarity and imperialism, the power of the struggling working class and the peoples’ movements must rise again. We fight to strengthen internationalist solidarity and common struggles, we defend the right of the peoples to choose their own path of development and social organization. We support the resistance against the EU policies. We strongly oppose the revival of fascism, racism and neo-Nazism. We stand in favor of the socialist prospect of the peoples and the working class We who sign this common public announcement, left and communist organizations and parties from European countries, address the toilers, the unemployed, the youth, the immigrants and all the progressive and struggling people and the movements of resistance against capitalist barbarism and imperialism. We call on them to actively resist the policies of the EU, with the ultimate goal of crushing this imperialist reactionary alliance. We are struggling for the secession-withdrawal of our countries from the EU. We call for mass boycottage to the farce of the European elections and we are struggling to turn passive action to a massive and militant movement against the EU. NO TO THE EUROPEAN UNION OF CAPITALISTS AND IMPERIALISTS! ABSTENTION FROM THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS! AGAINST THE ANTILABOR POLICIES OF AUSTERITY AND OF SOCIAL BARBARISM! INTERNATIONALIST, ANTI-IMPERIALIST, CLASS FRONT OF EUROPEAN TOILERS AND PEOPLES AGAINST WAR, RACISM AND FASCISM!
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