The “INITIATIVE of communist and workers' parties (Brussels, 1th Oct.2013), towards a united communist strategy for revolution in Europe?

In Brussels 30 September 2013, on initiative of the KKE an “European Communist Meeting” (ECM) was organised.

Out of the “joint statement” (italic-fat by me):

“Capitalism cannot provide solutions for the people’s problems, it has exhausted its historical limits, it is a rotten exploitative system that cannot be corrected. The struggle of the peoples will be effective to the extent that it is directed towards  the overthrow of this system.(...)
Our parties intensify their struggle against social-democracy and opportunism and are devoting their forces to the reinforcement of the people’s struggle, the development of working class solidarity, persisting in the organization of the working class, the construction of the social people’s alliance so that the struggle for the abolition of capitalist exploitation can become more effective, so that the workers can enjoy the wealth that they produce.”¹

After this ECM (on the 1th of October 2013, there was a founding meeting (also at the initiative of the KKE) of “the INITIATIVE of communist and workers' parties of Europe”:

“The decision to reinforce of their cooperation, on the basis of a specific founding declaration, which describes the principles of the INITIATIVE, was expressed by the following (see website) 30 communist and workers’ parties from EU countries and other European countries as well”(...)
Our INITIATIVE serves the unity of the communist movement in Europe and the strengthening of the struggle of the communist parties for the interests of the working class, the popular strata, the youth.(...)
Our INITIATIVE serves the need for the concentration of forces and the planned activity against the EU, the union of capital.(...)
Our INITIATIVE serves the joint struggle for the elections for the European Parliament and other forthcoming political battles.(....)
The plan of activity in the following period (...)
To prepare an intervention regarding the EU Summit Meeting in December which will examine important issues at the expense of the peoples including the revision of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy.
To immediately prepare an intervention for the release of the 4 Cuban militants who are imprisoned in the USA and to take a position against the EU common positionTo prepare in good time a statement on the EU parliamentary elections to be issued in January, following up in April with a short appeal.
To prepare an intervention against anticommunism, against the banning of Communist Parties and their symbols and to issue it in February 2014.
In February 2014 to take a position on the role of the EU parties, including the ELP.
To prepare a special position on the capitalist restructurings promoted by the EU for March 2014 and to highlight the consequences at the expense of the workers and particularly the youth.
By the beginning of April to prepare a position on the EU Common Foreign Security and Defence Policy of the EU and the participation in imperialist wars.
(...)also look at two issues:
First: submitting questions to the EU Parliament on the problems of the workers in various European countries utilizing the communist MEPs.
Second: the organization of joint meetings in various countries utilizing cadres from the CPs that participate in the Initiative in order to exchange experience and support the activities of our parties.(....)
“Founding Declaration of the INITIATIVE of Communist and Workers’ Parties to study and elaborate European issues and to coordinate their activity.
The following communist and workers' parties of the EU member states, associated related states, and other European countries, declare:
We support the principles of scientific socialism and 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.
It is our assessment that the European Union is the European imperialist centre, supports the aggressive plans against the peoples, and is aligned with the USA and NATO. It has militarism as a structural element.
We consider that there is another development path for the peoples. The perspective of another Europe, the prosperity of the peoples, social progress, democratic rights, equal cooperation, peace, and socialism are highlighted through the workers' struggles.
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.
We are not full members of the so-called "European Parties", which are formed by the EU and amongst them the so-called "European Left Party".
We decided through this founding declaration to establish the "INITIATIVE of communist and workers' parties in order to study and elaborate European issues and to coordinate their activity".
Every communist and workers' party from an EU member state or associated state, as well as from other European countries that accepts this Declaration and its conditions can participate in this INITIATIVE.
The goal of the INITIATIVE is to contribute to the research and study of issues concerning Europe, particularly concerning the EU, the political line which is drawn up in its framework and has an impact on the lives of the workers, as well as to assist the elaboration of joint positions of the parties and the coordination of their solidarity and their other activities.
The INITIATIVE, which is addressed primarily to the communist and workers' parties of EU countries, keeps the possibility open for a multi-facetted cooperation with communist and workers' parties of countries that are not EU member-states or are associated states.
Every year it shall carry out at least one meeting of its members and agrees on a corresponding Secretariat to coordinate the activity of the INITIATIVE. The meetings of the Secretariat shall be made known in advance and are also open to the other members of the INITIATIVE.
The INITIATIVE has a joint symbol: a worker who is breaking the chains of capital.
It has a website to promote its positions and the positions of the parties that comprise it. The Secretariat will manage this joint website, which will be agreed on by the parties that participate in the INITIATIVE.”²

There was this year also held an International Communist Seminar (ICS) in Brussels, on May 31 - June 2, 2013. The ICS was a initiative of the WPB in the nineties (when the WPB was still under leadership of Ludo Martens). The KKE always participated on every ICS each year. But the yearly meetings of the ICS can not anymore hide the political contradictions ( Here some links to analyses I made about ICS-meetings in different years)

Also on the meeting of the ECM of 1-2 Oktober 2012 (organised by the KKE) the contradictions between two political lines in strategy for communist parties were becoming sharp.

Jo Cottenier of the WPB:

(W)e have to ask ourselves the question of which strategy for the communist parties. The communist parties are at the vanguard of the mobilization to defend the social achievements, the collective services and the purchasing power of the workers, those receiving social allowances and their families. Everywhere we put our finger on the deeper source of this crisis, the capitalist system, and we explain that the only way out of this barbarity is socialism. (....)

Our party has been waging, for several years already, a campaign against austerity and budget cuts by propagating as a direct alternative a tax on fortunes (...) (W)hy not launch such a campaign in the whole of Europe? You can count for yourself how much 2% of the GDP, now amassed in the coffers of the wealthy, could do to greatly diminish the suffering of the popular masses. Until now, there is even nothing in the Lisbon Treaty, the European constitution, that goes against imposing such a measure at a national level. But our party wants to go beyond that. Why not counterpose such a measure at a European level to the memoranda, the budgetary dictates, the privatization orders and the attacks on the pensions?³”

Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE is answering the WPB with:

”The KKE is struggling on a daily basis for goals of struggle which correspond to the people’s interests. It struggles for the increase in the taxation of capital, at the same time it is struggling for the increase of salaries and pensions, for free social services, for the reduction in the taxation of families from the popular strata.

The combining of the goals of struggle is necessary, but what is central is the direction in which this struggle is incorporated. What is central is that the struggle for one or the other problem is incorporated into the efforts for the improvement of the organization of the working class, the change of the correlation of forces, it must be incorporated in the struggle for the overthrow of the system, for the abolition of the regime of the exploitation of man by man.

The violation of this line of struggle, the substitution of strategy by current initiatives regarding one or the other problem leads the communist parties onto pathways for the management of the system.

Even if the goal for the increase in the taxation of capital is achieved, it does not negate the basic tendency of capital which is connected to the political line of the bourgeois state for the reinforcement of business activity, for the strengthening of the competitiveness of capital, the funding of businesses from the state budget.

The struggle for socialism cannot simply be a statement, a proclamation. It is the basic direction which determines the daily activity of the communists in every field. In this direction the class struggle can be strengthened and the communists should play the leading role in order to create strong bases in the factories, in the workplaces, to strengthen the class unity of the working class, to defeat the forces of class collaboration in the trade union movement, to defeat opportunism and every management policy.⁴

Comparing the lists of participants to the INITIATIVE, the ECM and the ICS

It is interesting to compare the lists of participants to the INITIATIVE, the ECM and the ICS, but only selecting the parties and organisations of Europe or/and within the EU-member-states, and then specific those parties and organisations out of the region where I am living (I am living in Belgium).

Where the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN), the Workers Party of Belgium (WPB,PVDA/PTB), the German Communist Party (DKP), the Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL) are participating within the ICS (as is the KKE), the DKP is not participating in the ECM (which was organised on initiative of the KKE) and all the four parties do not participate in the Initiative. (which was also an initiative of the KKE)

The four self-declared-to-be-COMMUNIST parties are on a regular basis giving joint declarations, are all four at least “contaminated” with similar opportunism, while of one of them, namely the WPB (which I know very well – I was member for many years) is totally deteriorated into a reformist party (a consequence of a conscious development of revisionism)

Examples of joint declarations (of WPB,NCPN, DKP and KPL) proving a mutual covering of each others opportunism.

One example...:

In Remich fand am 9. und 10. April 2011 die seit 2006 sechste gemeinsame Konferenz der kom­munistischen Parteien Belgiens (PTB/PvdA), Deutschlands (DKP), Luxemburgs (KPL) und der Niederlande (NCPN) statt. Neben diesen seit 2006 jährlich stattfindenden Beratungen tauschen sich die vier Parteien seitdem verstärkt über die politische Aktualität in ihren Ländern, aber auch über länderübergreifende Entwicklungen, etwa in der Stahl- oder Automobilindustrie, aus, geben gemeinsame Stellungnahmen ab und führen gemeinsame Aktionen zum Beispiel gegen das »Flexicurity«-Konzept oder die Lissabon-Strategie der EU durch.

Pünktlich zur Tagung im Bildungszentrum der Salariatskammer erschien die dreisprachige Broschüre »Vier kommunistische Parteien gegen Liberalisierung, Privatisierung und Sozialabbau bei der Post«. Darin zeigen Betroffene die Folgen des von der EU dekretierten und von den jeweiligen Regierungen umgesetzten Umbaus von einst staatlichen Postunternehmen für alle in Privatkonzerne im Dienste der Aktionäre auf, schlagen Alternativen im Interesse der Mitarbeiter und Kleinkunden vor, und berichten vom wachsenden Widerstand gegen Liberalisierung, Lohndumping und prekäre Arbeitsbedingungen.(...)

Die gegenwärtige Entwicklung der kapitalistischen Krise und ihre Folgen für die EU stand am ersten Konferenztag auf der Agenda. Der Finanzjournalist Lucas Zeise (DKP) und der Ökonom Henri Houben (PTB) stimmten darin überein, daß die globale Überproduktionskrise, die zugleich eine weltweite Strukturkrise sei, beileibe noch nicht ausgestanden ist.

(...) Ein zweiter Kollaps des Finanzsektors werde nicht mehr lange auf sich warten lassen, (...) sehen infolge der Krise eine erhöhte Kriegsgefahr, wobei Zeise das jüngste Säbelrasseln gegen Nordkorea einen »Vorkrieg gegen China« nannte und Houben erklärte, wenn die Schwellenländer weiterhin mit hohem Tempo wachsen, würden die USA »alle Mittel einsetzen, sie zu bremsen – auch militärische«.

Die Einheitswährung Euro diene vor allem dem deutschen und dem französischen Imperialismus, wobei Berlin gestärkt werde, »wenn es ihm gelingt, die unter französischem Einfluß stehenden Mittelmeerländer aus dem Euro-Raum zu werfen«, so Houben, der mit der Bemerkung schloß, nun hätten Kommunisten »nicht nur soziale, sondern auch ökonomische Argumente gegen den Kapitalismus«.

Nach der Diskussion der beiden Referate berichteten Herwig Lerouge (PTB), Wil van der Klift (NCPN), Gilbert Simonelli (KPL) und Heinz Stehr (DKP) über die Auswirkungen der Krise in ihren Ländern und den Widerstand gegen den Versuch, die Kosten der Krise auf die Arbeiterklasse, die Jugend, die Rentner und die Arbeitslosen abzuwälzen.(...)

Am zweiten Konferenztag tauschten die vier Parteien Erfahrungen in der Kommunalpolitik aus. Gerd Schulmeyer berichtete, wie die DKP/Linke Liste unter anderem mit der Forderung nach einem Nachtflugverbot am Flughafen Frankfurt/Main, Aktionen gegen die Bundeswehr an Schulen und der Aufarbeitung der faschistischen Vergangenheit örtlicher Konzerne bei den hessischen Kommunalwahlen im März in Mörfelden-Walldorf 8,7 Prozent der Stimmen und vier Sitze im Stadtparlament erreichte.

Zum Thema »Parteiaufbau während der Wahlkampagne« sprachen Jan Hasaers und Lisette Vanhees. (...)Im Wahlkampf, so Vanhees, müsse die Partei »wie ein Akkordeon auseinandergezogen werden«. So habe man die ehemalige Kaderpartei nach 25 Jahren in eine Partei mit dreistufiger Mitgliedschaft umgebaut, wobei nicht stimmberechtigte »beratende Mitglieder« nur in Wahlkampfzeiten zum Einsatz kommen. Den bisher größten Erfolg hat die PvdA mit 21,7 Prozent der Stimmen und sechs Mandaten in der 12.000-Einwohner-Gemeinde Zelzate in Ostflandern erreicht.

Rinze Visser, NCPN-Ratsmitglied in Lemsterland, berichtete, wie in den 90er Jahren mit Manipulationen versucht wurde, die rote Hochburg zu schleifen. Als die 1992 gegründete Neue Kommunistische Partei der Niederlande 1994 das erste Mal in der 13.000-Einwohner Gemeinde in der Provinz Friesland antrat, erhielt sie fast die Hälfte der Stimmen. 2010 schaffte sie noch 15,8 Prozent und zwei Sitze. In der 22.000-Einwohner-Gemeinde Heiloo in der Provinz Nordholland erreichte die NCPN im vergangenen Jahr 7,1 Prozent, was für ein Mandat reichte.

Gilbert Simonelli erläuterte, wie die KPL die Kommunalwahlen vorbereitet, und Ali Ruckert machte einige grundsätzliche Bemerkungen zum Rahmenprogramm für den Urnengang am 9. Oktober, bei dem die KPL gute Chancen hat, im Süden Luxemburgs Kommunalmandate zurückzugewinnen.

Franz Hertel, seit Jahrzehnten DKP-Stadtrat im saarländischen Püttlingen, berichtete, wie der »Oskar-Effekt« der Partei Die Linke im Juni 2009 10,6 Prozent und vier Sitze bescherte, während die DKP in der 20.000-Einwohner-Stadt an der französischen Grenze auf 7,1 Prozent zurückfiel und drei von sechs Sitzen einbüßte. Obwohl sie bei den rheinland-pfälzischen Kommunalwahlen auf Platz vier der Liste der Partei Die Linke in Idar-Oberstein stand, erhielt Karin Gottlieb in der 30.000-Einwohner-Stadt die meisten Personenstimmen, so daß sie ihr Stadtratsmandat behalten konnte. Gottlieb bedauerte, »daß gute Wahlergebnisse nicht automatisch zu mehr Mitgliedern führen«.“⁵

Another example...:

Le Parti du Travail de Belgique (PVDA), le Parti communiste allemand (DKP), le Parti communiste du Luxembourg (KPL) et le Nouveau Parti communiste des Pays Bas (NCPN) soutiennent les actions et les revendications des travailleurs et de leurs organisations syndicales contre les économies et le recul social. Ils participent activement à cette manifestation syndicale internationale du 29 septembre 2010 à Bruxelles.

Les multinationales cotées en bourse accumulent à nouveau des milliards de bénéfices. En même temps on demande aux travailleurs de porter les conséquences négatives de la crise capitaliste: chômage, boulots à temps partiel, diminution du pouvoir d'achat et pauvreté croissante.

On nous demande de travailler plus longtemps, on coupe dans les dépenses publiques et dans les emplois publics, on bloque les salaires et on réduit les allocations. Les gouvernements de l'Union européenne sont des Robins des Bois à l'envers. Ils prennent aux pauvres pour donner aux riches.

Nous disons : allez chercher l'argent où il est : chez les quelques centaines de milliers de millonnaires en euros. Taxez leurs fortunes et vous serez en mesure d'augmenter les retraites, de créer des emplois dans les services publics et le secteur social. Vous pourrez offrir un meilleur enseignement aux jeunes.
Cette manifestation est une étape importante vers une réponse européenne à cette agression anti-sociale sans précédent. Mais il est également urgent de débattre des moyens de prévenir des crises capitalistes dans le futur. Il serait souhaitable d'imposer des réformes qui mettent un terme au pouvoir du grand capital et du monde financier, qui permettent aux travailleurs de disposer des richesses qu'ils ont eux-mêmes créées. Ainsi, nous créerons les conditions de la mise en place d'une société de justice sociale, de démocratie et de paix, une société socialiste.

Dans tous les pays européens les travailleurs descendent dans les rues par millions contre la dégradation de leur niveau de vie. Cette lutte continuera. Il n'y a pas d'alternative au socialisme.

Dites non à l'austérité et à la régression sociale

Ensemble contre l'exploitation et le capitalisme, pour la justice sociale et le socialisme!⁶

In fact the ideology and political line of the WPB,,the KPL, the NCPN and the DKP is far away of that of the « joint statement » of the ECM:

“Capitalism cannot provide solutions for the people’s problems, it has exhausted its historical limits, it is a rotten exploitative system that cannot be corrected. The struggle of the peoples will be effective to the extent that it is directed towards  the overthrow of this system.(...)

Our parties intensify their struggle against social-democracy and opportunism and are devoting their forces to the reinforcement of the people’s struggle, the development of working class solidarity, persisting in the organization of the working class, the construction of the social people’s alliance so that the struggle for the abolition of capitalist exploitation can become more effective, so that the workers can enjoy the wealth that they produce.”⁷,

At my opinion: the political line of the joint declarations of the WPB,KPL,DKP and NCPN is what Lenin described as “economism” as I have explained in the article about the WPB-contribution on the ECM (to read here) whereby nowhere is explained what socialism is in fact nor how you will get there.(and by none of the websites of the respective parties you will not find any concrete strategy)

I have done a lot of analysing the development of revisionism in the WPB, a development of revisionism that was made possible by « using » existing ideological and political weakness by the majority of the members, so that that majority of the members were almost unaware of the development of the communist organisation WPB into a reformist party and whereby the majority of the members ( a majority certainly created by the lowering of conditions of membership on the second session of the 7^th congress in 2001) accepted the definitive transformation of the WPB into a social-democratic (type Second International) party. The WPB is still presenting herself in the international scene as a communist party, loyal to Marxist ideology.

A see it (you can read here) is there an ANTAGONIST CONTRADICTION between the strategy developed by the KKE and that developed by the WPB. Different analyses I made in which I give my concrete arguments and reasons of this resulting ANTAGONIST CONTRADICTION you can find here.

About one example of the way how revisionist so Marxist-sounding phrases are used to mislead as well their own members as other communist parties in the international communist movement, is the contribution of the WPB to the ECM of September 30 in Brussels. In my argumentation I am using the formation I had long ago of the same cadres of the WPB (which I know personally) who are now spreading revisionism: in fact the formation on the book of Lenin « What is to be done ». It is in fact the article (you can read here) I mentioned above.

Although respecting the attempt of the KKE to have in all member-states of the EU communist parties joining the INITIATIVE, I think that there will be a problem where existing self-declaring-to-be-communist parties will JUST BECAUSE their opportunism or even revisionism not join this initiative.... Perhaps it would be made possible to form a group in the respective countries (or a group out of people of those countries (so the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium) to become « the representatives ...” or “the delegation of the INITIATIVE” IN those countries?.

Although the Initiative, as well the ECM and even the ICS is very critical to the European Left Party (ELP), but there is – I think – an underestimation of existing opportunism ( in own ranks (as for example, but not exclusively by the Dutch NCPN, the German DKP, the Luxembourgois KPL) and a (perhaps?) unawareness to revisionism ( and so in resulting REFORMISM – of which is accused the ELP) in own ranks. (as by for example the Belgian WPB)

I have made my own explanation of this (Here what is concerning the ICS). I made my own analysis about the way (new) revisionism could enter communist organisations just founded (in the seventies) in the struggle AGAINST revisionism (occurring in years after the death of Stalin in in a lot of parties once participating the III international), as was the WPB. (Read/download here,and here, and here and here for example)

1EUROPEAN COMMUNIST MEETING 2013: “JOINT STATEMENT OF COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES OF EUROPE”,http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/JOINT-STATEMENT-OF-COMMUNIST-AND-WORKERS-PARTIES-OF-EUROPE/

2http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/The-INITIATIVE-of-Communist-and-Workers-Parties-of-Europe-was-founded/, “The INITIATIVE of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Europe was founded”

3http://inter.kke.gr/IntAct/int-meet/ecm2012/ecm2012-belgiumwp-enhttp://inter.kke.gr/IntAct/int-meet/ecm2012/ecm2012-belgiumwp-en,ECM 2012, “Contribution of the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) on the European Conference of Communist Parties, by Jo Cottenier, member of the Party Bureau of the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), Brussels, 1-2 October 2012http://inter.kke.gr/IntAct/int-meet/ecm2012/ecm2012-belgiumwp-en,http://inter.kke.gr/IntAct/int-meet/ecm2012/ecm2012-belgiumwp-en

4http://inter.kke.gr/News/news2012/2012-10-03-ecm-kleisimo/, The closing speech of Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, at the European Communist Meeting

5http://www.solidnet.org/luxembourg-communist-party-of-luxembourg/cp-of-luxembourg-6th-common-conference-between-the-kpl-the-ptb-the-ncpn-and-dkp-de, „CP of Luxembourg, 6th common conference between the KPL, the PTB, the NCPN and DKP. [De.]“, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:46 Communist Party of Luxembourg, http://www.kp-l.org , mailto: kpl@zlv.lu: „Kapitalistische Krise und kommunistische Kommunalpolitik - Kommunisten aus Belgien, Deutschland, Luxemburg und den Niederlanden berieten in Remich“

6http://www.solidnet.org/luxembourg-communist-party-of-luxembourg/cp-of-luxembourg-joint-declaration-of-dkp-ptb-ncpn-and-kpl-fr-ge, „CP of Luxembourg, Joint Declaration of DKP, PTB, NCPN and KPL [Fr., Ge.]“, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 09:28 Communist Party of Luxembourg, , http://www.kp-l.org , mailto: kpl@zlv.lu , « Non à la régression sociale, à l'exploitation et au capitalisme, -pour la justice sociale et le socialisme ! »

7EUROPEAN COMMUNIST MEETING 2013: “JOINT STATEMENT OF COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES OF EUROPE”,http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/JOINT-STATEMENT-OF-COMMUNIST-AND-WORKERS-PARTIES-OF-EUROPE/