Table of Contents
- A New Path For the Communist Youth
- Imperialism
- Palestine
- Conclusion
The counter-revolution in the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism in the former socialist countries has brought with it a deep ideological crisis in the international communist movement. A multifaceted attack was launched on the principles of Marxism-Leninism and the construction of socialism in the 20th century. The replacement of socialism as the strategic goal with the strategy of “stages”, the mislabelling of socialism in the USSR as “social imperialism” or “state capitalism” and the questioning of the economic basis of Lenin’s conception of imperialism in favour of assessing countries purely on their military capabilities which is associated solely with the powerful European countries and North America were all part of this attack. These opportunist trends are continued today by those who, because they possess a false understanding of imperialism, choose to act as defenders of the emerging Eurasian Bloc (Russia, China, Iran) – all countries where capitalist relations of production prevail and therefore cannot act in a “objectively anti-imperialist” way, as it is so often claimed.
This ideological confusion has not gone unanswered. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has acted as a spearhead in the defence of Marxism-Leninism and internationalism against opportunism and have initiated the process of revolutionary regroupment of the CPs through European Communist Action. The ideological confrontation is an important priority of the communist movement. The workers and working youth need a serious communist party which defends their interests against all forms of capitalist exploitation, which does not take the side of one capitalist over another, which prioritises the struggle for workers power and socialism and a party which does not see socialism a far-off goal, but instead as timely and necessary to put an end to the misery and impoverishment which is a fundamental part of the capitalist system.
It is with this goal in mind that the Workers Party Youth has been re-established, to give working youth an alternative to the false strategies of opportunists and who seek a serious organisation for the youth, based on the principles of scientific-communism and internationalism. Here we outline some of the ideological positions of the Workers Party Youth with respect to topics of principle importance for communists. This is only the beginning in a process as we work to build a communist youth organisation, a fundamental part of which will be engagement in the workers movement. We wish to outline a firm ideological foundation with which we can grow our organisation but this of course can be no replacement for participation in the class struggle.
Imperialism
Today, capitalist relations of production prevail all over the world and the concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands has resulted in the creation of monopolies in much of the world. Imperialism in its essence is capitalism in its monopolistic stage. This monopolistic stage of capitalism is not a stage of development that is limited to the powerful countries of Western Europe and North America. Instead it is to be understood as a world system in which all countries participate, to a greater or lesser extent, based on their level of development. The opportunist position, which fails to analyse a given country’s position scientifically according to the features which Lenin considers to be characteristic of imperialism. They see the imperialist world system as a static and unchanging world order and instead of applying Lenin’s method to the world as it exists today, simply mechanically transfer his analysis onto contemporary conditions.
The process of decolonisation which was largely completed after the second world war, with the multifaceted support of the Soviet Union, has resulted in the consolidation of power of a native monopoly bourgeoisie in many formerly colonised countries. Countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico in Latin America, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt in Africa, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and India, China and South Korea in Asia which were all either colonies or weak capitalist countries at the start of the 20th century, have all become regional powers. This integration cannot be characterised as a one-sided dependency on the larger capitalist countries, but instead it must be recognised that these countries have developed monopoly capitalism and that the export of capital has become part of the profit strategies of their respective capitalists.
The integration of nearly all countries into the world imperialist system has also resulted in the creation of an increasing number of capitalist alliances. NATO and the EU, which were first formed shortly after the second world war have been met by other regional and global capitalist unions and alliances. ALBA, BRICS, OPEC, Shanghai Cooperative Association and other capitalist unions all serve as the answer of the bourgeoisie of smaller capitalist countries to the imperialist unions of NATO and the EU. The creation of such alliances between various capitalist countries signals the increasing competition between different imperialist centers which some classify as the so-called “multi-polar” world order which some mistakenly see as challenging the USA and Western Europe’s dominance at the top of the imperialist world system as a “progressive” struggle. In reality these alliances are between the capitalists of countries which are lower in the imperialist world system and are seeking, through the creation of temporary agreements, to upgrade their position in the world imperialist system.
Thus far we have placed particular emphasis on the incorrect interpretations of imperialism namely, because these have important strategic ramifications, which we will discuss later. But the question remains: What is the correct understanding of imperialism today? First, it is important to understand that monopoly capitalism is a world system which encompasses all countries. These countries have varying levels of development which influences what role they are able to play in the world imperialist system. This is the law of uneven development, which is inherent in the capitalist system.
Secondly, the categorisation of countries as “dependent” fails to account for the multilayered and ever changing relations between the bourgeoisies of different countries. This line of thinking serves to absolutise relations between the capitalists of different countries and paints them as the relations between the countries themselves. This completely obfuscates the internal class dynamic of a nation, instead serving to lump the bourgeoisie and working class of a given country together as “dependent” on another capitalist centre. It paints relations between different capitalists as static and unchanging, which can never be the case. The capitalist of a given country is always looking to maximise their profits and as a result, to upgrade their position in the world imperialist system.
Therefore, relations between the bourgeoisie of different capitalist countries should be viewed as a web of interdependencies, in which weaker capitalists enter into agreements with more powerful capitalist through asymmetric but mutually beneficial agreements. Of course these agreements usually favour the stronger capitalist, but that does not mean the weaker capitalist has nothing to gain or that he is being “oppressed”. This is how countries that were colonies or dependent countries in the time of Lenin have become regional capitalist powers, or even capitalist centers in of themselves.
The KKE have coined the “imperialist pyramid” as a metaphor to help illustrate this point. The top of the “pyramid” is occupied by relatively few of the strongest capitalist countries and the majority of countries occupy an intermediate position. The KKE writes in their programme that “Capitalism in Greece is in the imperialist stage of its development, in an intermediate position in the international imperialist system, with strong uneven dependencies on the USA and the EU.” This position is representative of the facts as monopolies such as “Helleniq Energy” in Greece have a market capitalisation of €2.29 billion are responsible for capital export to the Balkans. While not in a leading position in the world imperialist system this does not discount that Greece has developed monopolies and seeks to upgrade its position in the world imperialist system through its temporary alliance with the imperialists of the USA and the EU.
It is one thing to accept the above as true, but an entirely different thing to apply it ourselves. So what are we dealing with in Ireland? It is clear that monopoly capitalism has also developed in Ireland. Monopolies such as Cement Roadstone Holdings, Smurfit Kappa, Kingspan, DDC and Ryanair and others are some of the biggest companies in their respective fields and had a combined revenue of over €70 Billion in 2023. Around 11 Irish companies are listed in the Fortune 500 Europe list (There are 21 listed as Irish in total, but some of these are redomiciled American Monopolies). These companies also export significant amounts of capital. CRH alone controls 50% of the cement factories in Ukraine as well as having operations in every continent. While other monopolies listed above have production facilities in Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Chile, Mexico etc. There is also close co-operation with the bourgeoisie of the USA and strong dependencies on American capital, but this does not discount the existence of monopolies, as it is representative of the general nature of interdependence of world imperialism. Simplistic arguments about FDI flows from the USA to Ireland are not representative of a “dependent” or “neo-colonial” relationship, but these factors also need to be considered. This is only the preliminary results of our investigation into Irish monopoly capitalism and much more investigation needs to be done but the presence of such companies is undeniable.
Possessing a false understanding of imperialism leads to mistakes which have important strategic consequences. The opportunist interpretations of imperialism fail to see that the objective conditions for socialism have developed in much of the world (as the era of imperialism is also the era of the transition from capitalism to socialism). Instead they are married to the strategy of “stages”. These take many different names, national liberation/anti-monopoly transition/etc, but are all the same in essence. They propose a “transition” to socialism in which the workers movement is expected to enter into alliance with some section of the so-called “anti-monopoly” or “progressive” bourgeoisie as a step towards socialism. Other sections of opportunism propose that the USA as leading imperialist power, although this has been challenged by China in recent years, is the main enemy of the workers movement. They take an approach which involves supporting other imperialist centers (Russia, China, etc) against NATO and the USA. Such is the justification of those who refuse to recognise the inter-imperialist character of the war in Ukraine.
Palestine
The attack on October 7, 2023 represented an almost inevitable response to a prolonged process of extermination of Palestinian people by the murderous state of Israel. The participation of Hamas in the Palestinian resistance does not discredit the Palestinian resistance as a whole, nor does it mean that a position of equidistance should be taken between the Palestinian resistance and Israel. This is the position which is popularised by the bourgeois media in the Euro-Atlantic bloc, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel in the genocidal war on the people of Gaza. It seeks to legitimise the actions of the Israeli government in their goal of forcing Palestinians off their land so that they can lay claim over the entire territory of Palestine.
The people of Palestine face a war of annihilation in which the only options are to resist or perish. This process did not begin on October 7 but has significantly escalated in pace and scale since then. Israel has taken the inevitable and just resistance of the Palestinian people as a “blank cheque” to accelerate the takeover of Gaza, and push the remaining Palestinian population into Egypt and Jordan. This is being done to solidify Israel’s claim over the Gaza strip with the desired outcome of making any two-state solution impossible and facilitate access to the Gaza EEZ, which is rich in unexplored hydrocarbon deposits. The need for this is greatly affected by the issues facing the Israeli bourgeoisie and the slump in their economic performance which is a direct consequence of the genocide.
The Middle-East and the genocide in Palestine has become a renewed battleground for the geopolitical games of the capitalist of the Euro-Altantic bloc on one hand and the capitalist class of Iran, China and Russia on the other. Iran’s support for the Palestinian resistance does not come from a place of genuine sympathy for the Palestinian people. Instead they seek to weaken the position of Israel in the Middle East and upgrade the position of their own capitalists by allying themselves with the Palestinian Resistance and associated organisations (Hezbollah, Houthis, etc). While we do not condemn the Palestinian resistance for taking such support in their struggle for liberation, support for the Palestinian resistance should not be conflated with support for the capitalist regime of Iran.
Turkey has taken a contradictory position towards the genocide, paying lip service to the Palestinian resistance while continuing to allow shipments of oil to flow though Turkish territory to Israel while at the same time attempting to play a leading role in the Middle-East through its policy of “Neo-Ottomanism” which seeks to use Islam as a unifying cause in the Middle-East. This is part of the reason the Turkish bourgeoisie gave their support to Jihadists in their overthrow of the secular Assad government. This comes at a time when Turkey now seeks rapprochement with the PKK who at one time were their sworn enemies in Syria and Eastern Turkey. The Turkish bourgeoisie’s flexible attitude only illuminates that it is willing to backtrack on past decisions in exchange for what now aligns with their interests, which is to become the dominant power in the Middle-East.
The Euro-Atlantic Bloc which is led by the capitalists of the USA and Germany have been staunch supporters of Israel and parrot the arguments of “self-defence”. The supposed self-defence of the murderous state of Israel realises itself in the isolation of Gaza, the blocking of humanitarian aid into the territory and the collective punishment of hundreds of Palestinian civilians. This is not a new development and similar arguments have been used to justify Israel indiscriminate targeting of civilians in the past, such as the so-called operation “Cast Lead”. Which resulted in the murder of 1400 Palestinians and around 300 children.
Conclusion
Areas of further investigation need to focus on the achievements of socialism in the former USSR and Eastern Europe. In the course of convincing young people of the achievements of the socialist system it is important to be able to provide a comprehensive analysis of life in the former socialist states. The elevated position of women under socialism, the de-commodification of basic necessities such as housing and essential goods and the elimination of capitalist crisis through centralised economic planning are only a handful of such achievements. As well as this, an analysis of the policies which eventually led to the counter-revolution in the USSR and the restoration of capitalism in the former socialist states is also an essential area of investigation.
The analysis of monopolies which have emerged in Ireland and their strategy for upgrading their position in the world imperialist system also needs to be an area of focus. Questions of the level of dependency on other imperialist centres and the strategic orientation of Irish capital need to be answered in the course of the clarification process. The investment of Irish firms in Ukraine since the beginning of the war should also be seen as significant and requires investigation.