The Plenum of the parties that take part in the "INITIATIVE of Communist and Workers' Parties to study and elaborate European issues and to coordinate their activity" was held in Brussels on the 3rd of October.

As is well-known 29 parties http://www.initiative-cwpe.org/en/participating-parties/ participate in this European Communist "Initiative" http://www.initiative-cwpe.org/.

Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, made the introductory speech to the Plenum of the European Communist "Initiative" and there followed a discussion that concluded in the formation of an action plan for the strengthening of the people's struggle against the anti-people measures, against the EU and NATO. It is a serious step forwards for the regroupment of the communist movement in Europe, which is a precondition for the strengthening of the people's struggle against capitalism and the imperialist wars, for the strengthening of the struggle for socialism in Europe.
Below you can find the text of G. Marinos' report, on behalf of the Secretariat of the "Initiative", while soon we will publish the closing remarks of the meeting.

A step forwards in the coordination of the struggle of the Communist Movement

The report of the member of the PB of the CC of the KKE on the activity of the "Initiative" of 29 Communist and Workers' parties.

Dear comrades,

The Secretariat of the “INITIATIVE of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Europe in order to study and elaborate European issues and coordinate their activity” would like to thank all the communist parties for their participation in today’s meeting in Brussels.

One year after the foundation of the “INITIATIVE” we can now evaluate our interventions and activities and elaborate our action plan for the next period.

Our effort is based on the Declaration we adopted in September 2013. According to the Declaration the INITIATIVE (which consists of 29 Communist and Workers’ Parties) is based on the principles of scientific socialism. We are united by the vision of a society without the exploitation of man by man, without poverty, social injustice and imperialist wars.

 We consider that the EU is capital's choice. It promotes measures in favour of the monopolies, the concentration and centralization of capital; it is strengthening its characteristics as an imperialist economic, political and military bloc opposed to the interests of the working class, the popular strata; it intensifies armaments, authoritarianism, state repression, limiting sovereign rights.

We assess that the European Union is the European imperialist centre, supports the aggressive plans against the peoples, and is aligned with the USA and NATO

We consider that there is another development path for the peoples. The workers' struggles highlight the perspective of another Europe, the prosperity of the peoples, social progress, democratic rights, equal cooperation, peace, and socialism.

We believe in the right of every people to choose its own sovereign path of development, including the right to disengage from the multi-level dependencies on the EU and NATO, as well as the right to choose socialism.

Based on the guidelines of the Declaration the “INITIATIVE” has carried out significant interventions on serious problems of the working class and the popular strata, in the framework of complex international developments.

We can mention the following inter alia:

1.  The “INTITIATIVE” assessed correctly that the exploitative system which is based on the power of the monopolies and the capitalist ownership over the means of production is characterized by the drive for profit, the anarchy in production, the sharpening of the main contradiction between capital and wage labour.  This was the basis on which the capitalist crisis broke out, a crisis of capital over-accumulation with painful consequences for the working class and the popular strata.

Based on this analysis the parties of the INITIATIVE opposed the full-scale attack of the bourgeois class and its political representatives, took a position against all policies that seek to manage the system and which have a clear class character and supported the workers’ and people’s struggles.

1.  the “INITIATIVE” revealed the imperialist character of the European Union and opposed the attack against the interests of the people which has been escalated with the recent decisions e.g. on the “Reinforced Economic Governance”, the “Banking Union”, the “Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020”, the policy of the liberalisation of energy sector and other important sectors of economy, the “Common Security and Defence Policy” that constitute instruments for the European monopolies’ anti-people strategy and the expansion of their activity in the context of their competition with other imperialist centres and powerful capitalist states.

The INITIATIVE took a position on the battle of the European elections with a specific intervention; it supported the communist parties that took part in the elections and came into conflict with the European predatory alliance, the bourgeois and opportunist parties that regard the EU as inevitable.

1. The INITIATIVE has opened a front against NATO and denounced it as the armed wing of imperialism that enables it to intervene all over the world , with flexible well-equipped forces against the peoples as revealed by the decisions of the recent summit in Wales.

We have informed the peoples about the intensification of the imperialist aggressiveness, the sharpening of the inter-imperialist contradictions and rivalries which are manifested with the interventions of the USA, NATO and EU in the Ukraine, in the framework of the competition with Russia over the control of the region, the natural resources and the natural gas and oil pipelines.

The “INITIATIVE” has shed light on the essence of the imperialist competition and the situation which is being created in Iraq, in the Middle East, North Africa, and in other regions of the world. It condemned the imperialist wars in the region, it revealed that the jihadists were organized and armed by the USA and its allies and that they are being used for the assault against Syria, for the reinforcement of the imperialist intervention in the region.

We have condemned the criminal policy and the military offensive of Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza as well as in West Bank. We have organized and supported mobilisations demanding the end of the offensive and the occupation. We have expressed our internationalist solidarity with the Palestinian people in a multifaceted way.

1. The Initiative denounced the policy of repression against the people’s struggles. It condemned anticommunism and expressed its internationalist solidarity with the Communist and Workers’ parties which have been outlawed and are targeted by the bourgeois governments in the Baltic countries and in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

It has strongly condemned the anticommunist decisions of the European Union and the dangerous anti-historical attempt to equate the fascist monster with communism and the struggle of the communist parties which were at the forefront of the people’s struggle for the defeat of fascism, for social progress. 

1. With its intervention on the occasion of May 1st and other interventions the Initiative highlighted the workers’ and people’s problems, the problems of the youth, and the immigrants. It gave support to significant demands of the people’s struggle and highlighted the importance of the development of class struggle for the overthrow of the capitalist barbarity.

The Secretariat contributed decisively to the coordination of the INITIATIVE’S activity.  It held … sessions in Brussels and its members have had a regular contact despite the difficulties.

The “INITIATIVE” has its own website from the very first moment of its foundation.

As a conclusion, the COMMUNIST INITIATIVE in Europe is a step forward for the coordination of the struggle of the communist movement, for the examination of complicated issues and the effort to adjust the strategy and the tactics to the complex needs of the class struggle.

It serves as a basis for the struggle against capitalist exploitation, imperialist wars and interventions, for the organization and the support of the workers’ and people’s struggles, for the fight against the opportunist current which is a vehicle for the assimilation to the aims and objectives of capital. The Party of the European Left is a characteristic example: it supports the EU and its strategy; it cooperates with bourgeois social-democratic forces that implement the anti-people political line.

The developments as a whole highlight the importance of the independent ideological, political struggle of the communist parties, the workers’ and people’s movement against the monopolies, the system and the imperialist unions. This struggle is necessary in order to liberate the workers and the peoples from the influence of the bourgeois ideology and policies, the opportunist illusions in the struggle for socialism. The intervention of the parties of the INITIATIVE can reinforce this element.

Today we can discuss on how to deal with the difficulties and overcome the weaknesses we had in this period.

The main issue is to insist on supporting the functioning and the activity if the “INITIATIVE” and its Secretariat, strengthening at the same time the struggle of each party in its country. That is to say, we can increase the responsibility of each party for the strengthening of our collective effort so that each party studies the developments, proposes interventions and contributes to their realization following the developments and needs of the ideological and political mass struggle.

The experience accumulated so far shows that we can make progress in preparing interventions in a timely fashion, that we can improve our communication, especially among the members of the Secretariat, gain time, and ensure that the observations take into account the axes of the declaration reinforcing the revolutionary characteristics of our interventions.

It is important to inform the communists, the friends of the Communist Parties, the working people in each country about the activities of the “INITIATIVE”.

Needless to say that the activities and the interventions of the “INITIATIVE” are hosted by the print media and the websites of each party, however, we can find more ways to inform the working people about the positions of the “INITIATIVE” and the struggle of the communist parties that participate in it. In that way, we can propagate its interventions, provide answers to questions concerning the situation that the communist and labour movement is facing, reinforce the confrontation with bourgeois parties and reveal the role of the mutated communist parties, the role of social democracy and opportunism.

We have to say that we had serious weaknesses in the organization of joint events in the period of the EU-parliamentary elections. In fact, it was a difficult effort but in any case but we have set this goal and we must persist more because it is important to organize discussions on the current political problems, even in small but essential events, appealing broadly to working people.

We have a lot to do in the next period:

We continue to inform the people and organize actions on the developments in the Ukraine, the Middle East and the wider region, against the imperialist interventions and the slaughter of the peoples. We reinforce our internationalist solidarity.

We prepare the following interventions and enrich our planning:

• October: on the Socialist revolution in Russia, on the achievements of socialism and the consequences of the counterrevolution.
• November: on the basic strategies of the EU e.g. on the Reinforced Economic Governance, the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Security and Defence Policy. We reveal the imperialist character of the EU.
• December: on the Palestinian problem, assessing the possibility of a visit to Palestine by a delegation of the Initiative.
• January: interventions on the youth, on the right to education.
• February: on the right to work and the protection of the unemployed.
• March: interventions regarding the problems of women.
• At the End of April and in May: joint statement on May 1^st , supporting the workers’ demonstration on May 1^st.
• May: intervention on the 70 year anniversary of the antifascist victory.

In addition we examine the possibility of:

• Organising an event in Balkans regarding the role of NATO, the military bases in the region.
• Organising an event (e.g. in Spain or in Greece) about the role of the EU and the struggle of the communists and the people for the disengagement from the EU.