For revolutionary renewal of the russian communist movementT
Statement of former members of the UCP (the United Communist Party) and the RCWP (Russian Communist Workers Party)
We, former members of the UCP and RCWP, representatives of the Red Turn group, the organization of Perm Communists, Open Communist Platform of Internationalists, the Communist Initiative, who signed the Coalition of the Communists-Internationalists Manifesto in November 2022, call to make the next step to the unity of the revolutionary wing of the Russian Communist Movement,and in this regard state the following.
I
Capitalism in the imperialist stage of its development has turned into a destructive and mortal disaster. It not only destroy the productive forces of the whole humanity and drain natural resources of our planet – today capitalism is threatening to plunge humanity into the third world war. Contemporary capitalism generates progressing fall of production as well as growth of exploitation and concentration of capital. However with all its reactionary features capitalism will never fall itself if not dropped.
The elimination of capitalism was, is and will be first of all a cause of the contemporary proletariat as a social class, who objectively confronts bourgeoisie. As a social class proletariat is the main productive force of contemporary society, and for this they are not only objectively interested, but also are only capable to carry out the socialist revolution with its allies. In conditions of the bourgeois dictatorship proletariat inevitably falls under the influence of bourgeois ideology. This dominance of the bourgeois ideology can be overcome only by means of a revolutionary marxist party, that is to develop the class proletarian consciousnessto the comprehension of its root class interests – its revolutionary mission.
Since the end of the XXth century the Russian capitalism, comprador and dependent, has grown into imperialism, and the Russian Federation itself has turned into an imperialist predator. The Russian imperialism’s claim on its share of global dominance have also grown, i.e. its capacity to seek for its imperialist ends under false slogans of new manypolar World and more fair relations. Syria and the Central Africa, Latin America and the post-Soviet space became the seats of this confrontation, in which the Russian imperialism has developed its military might while NATO imperialists were seeking for encirclement and isolation of the Russian Federation by their military and political expansion.
Today the whole internal and external policy in the Russian Federation is subordinate to the dominant state monopolies. This dominance resulted in growth of reaction and fascisation (growing fascism) of the Russian state. Many pseudo-communists persistently reject both imperialism in the contemporary Russia and growth of fascism there, noticing fascism only in other states. It is a new form of an opportunistic transference to the viewpoint of the national bourgeoisie under the cover of false antifascism. Such an apology of the national bourgeoisie under the pretext of struggle against fascism in a neighboring country is a betrayal of the working class’ cause. Under contemporary imperialism any struggle with fascism is inseparable from that against capitalism, and who agrees to the class peace with his semifascists under the pretext of struggle against somebody else’s fascists, he only mesleads and demoralizes the working people.
At the same time there happened a quantitative and, the main thing, qualitative decay of the Russian Communist Movement. This tendency appeared in the growth of opportunism first of all, which increased in conditions of relatively peaceful strip during last decades as well as decay of the workers’ movement. As the result the Russian Communist Movement as a whole as well as that in other CIS countries including the Ukraine gradually got farther and farther from the strategy of revolutionary struggle and turned into an impasse channel of bourgeois parliamentarianism. With all that there was always was a revolutionary and internationalists tendency, but its representatives were dispersed among various Communist parties and organizations and overwhelmed by creeping reformism. So the Movement suffered from a slowly growing opportunistic abscess, that has been disclosed as the result of the so-called Special Military Operation.
Military actions, raging in the front of about 1300 kilometers long, are followed by an unprecedented economic war of sanctions and countersanctions, which directly or indirectly deteriorates lives of all nations and countries.
The Russian imperialists justify their Special military operation by the liberation of Donbass as well as by demilitarization and denacification of the Ukraine. Indeed it is just a pretext. Both Donbass and the Crimea are not liberated. The Crimea yet in 2014 transferred from the zone of Ukrainian oligarchs’ dominance to the zone of the Russian imperialism, and in as far as Donbass is concerned, such a transference has been completed in 2022. As to the Ukraine, the Special Military Operation has led to such an explosion of nationalist anti-Russian histiria, and the military and economic aid of NATO states resulted in such a militarization, of which Stephan Bandera’s nationalist followers as well as imperialists on the other coast of the Atlantic could hardly dream.
Imperialists of the NATO states justify their involvement in the war by the necessity to help to the sovereign Ukraine, suffering from the Russian aggression, while it is this western imperialism, that deprived the Ukraine first of its neutrality, and then of its actual sovereignty. They did their best to provoke Putin’s regime by the expansion of NATO and escalation of anti-Russian hysteria.
Thus, both NATO imperialists (and the US ones first of all), and the Russian imperialism carry equal responsibility for this war of conquest, fratricidal and criminal from both sides.
II
The special military operation resulted in a crash of the so-called Russian Communist Movement. All famous communist parties failed to denounce this war as an imperialist war of conquest. In a crucial historic moment all these pseudo-communist parties directly or indirectly took the viewpoint of their national bourgeoisie, and thus betrayed proletarian internationalism and revolutionary marksism. This crash resulted in two opportunistic tendencies. On one side obvious social-chovinists (CPRF – the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; The CP CR – the Communist Party “Communists of Russia”; , RPw and others), who openly stood on the point of the Russian imperialism. On the other side – “centrists” (UCP – the United Communist Party; the RCWP – the Russian Communist Workers Party and other lovers of orthodox marxist phrases, they contradictory combine the recognition of the war as imperialist with the support of their government under the pretext of liberation of Donbass.
However, in all these pseudo-communist parties there have been forces, who denied this proimperialist treason and stood on the road of not only ideological, but also organizational split with opportunists. Our first step to coordination and unification of internationalists was the conference held on the fifth of November 2022, which adopted the Manifesto of the communists-internationalists Coalition.
The situation in Russia is not the same. All reactionary tendencies of the Russian state go on to grow. So now the time has come to make the next step – to form a new Communist party, standing on the positions of Marxism-Leninism and capable to raise the banner of proletarian internationalism and revolutionary Marxism. The main purpose of such a party should be not the adjustment to capitalism, but a decisive preparation for revolutionary storming and overthrow of the bourgeois society.
The goal of the new party is a radical transformation of the bourgeois state, that should be replaced by a proletarian state, in which the bourgeois parliamentarianism is changed by a new democracy of the Soviet type. Such a party is to prepare proletariat for all known forms of class struggle. Unlike followers of parliamentary cretinism and any limitation on revolution we are convinced, that the overthrow of the bourgeois dictatorship is impossible in a purely parliamentary way without revolutionary violence, for instance, without an all-Russian political strike. And we do not rule out the utilization of any bourgeois elections for agitation purposes.
Just as the struggle for socialism is inseparable from that for democracy, the struggle for the proletarian dictatorship today is inseparable from that for revolutionary-democratic renewal of Russia, that is to put an end to the power of millionaires (imperialists) and to set up that of millions. We consider, that the main task of such a power should be not the immediate imposition of socialism, but the steps of transition to a new socialist society, that are already ripe and has become a necessity today.
In respect of the Special Military Operation we are decisively standing against senseless imperialist war “until the last gun is fired”. We consider, that the main precondition of a stable piece is a decisive breakaway with the interests of imperialists and profound revolutionary-democratic renewal in both Russia and the Ukraine, in which the politicians, who unleashed this war, should be deprived of any power and brought to trial as military criminals.
- Elimination of any secret diplomacy, total transparency of the negotiation process.
- A guarantee of the right to self-determination for all residents of the disputed territories by referendums provided complete demilitarization and multilateral control are secured.
- Postwar restoration of the National economy and humanitarian sphere at the expense of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs and military criminals.
We long to attach a conscious order to the spontaneous approximation and unification process of scattered revolutionary and internationalist elements. We invite for cooperation and for unification all those, to whom our principles are close. With this purpose we set up organizational committee of the new party and invite comrades to take part in its activity, ranging from working out programmatic and constitutional principles to coordination of our practical activity.
We, communists of the Russian Federation, bear international responsibility. People in the whole world are looking at us, and we are the hope of the progressive humanity. In conditions like this we are obliged to do our best to take our revolutionary challenge against opportunists and to show the only right way leading to piece and social progress. We held the honour of the Russian Communist Movement. In 1914 bolsheviks saved this honour and paved the way to the October Revolution.