DECLARATION OF ALBA MALTA NORTH AFRICA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF MALTA AND LYBIAN POPULAR NATIONAL MOUVEMENT ON THE US IMPERIALIST INTRUSION ON SOCIALIST BOLIVARIAN VENEZUELA

We, the participants in the protest against the US  intervention in Venezuela organized by ALBA Malta North Africa in front of  the court of justice in Valletta, Malta, deplore strongly attempts of  international imperialism to impose its hegemony on free working people, which reject the control of  international capitalism on  the their resources, announce the following: 

I- / We declare our unlimited solidarity with the people of Venezuela and their government under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro the legitimate President of Venezuela. 

II / We condemn the imperialist intervention in Venezuela's internal affairs under the leadership of the United States of America and its attempts to stand against the will of the working class and their free choice.

 III / We appeal to the progressive international community and its freedom loving powers to stand with President Maduro in support of the principles of democracy and people’s national sovereignty and self-determination.

SIGNATORIES

1-      ALBA MALTA NORTH AFRICA COORDINATION

2-      COMMUNIST PARTY OF MALTA

3-      LYBIAN POPULAR NATIONAL MOUVEMENT

26/01/2019

Statement of the Secretariat of the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties of Europe in solidarity with Venezuelan people and the CP of Venezuela

The Secretariat of the Initiative condemns the coup d'etat of the USA, their allied governments and of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the overthrow of the elected President Nicolas Maduro and for the support of the leader of the reactionary forces Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself president of the country with their support.

This coup d'etat is a continuation of the planned long-term campaign of destabilization of the country to promote the imperialist designs in the Latin America region and to overthrow governments that are not likable to the USA-NATO and the EU, with the latter intervening in the domestic affairs of Venezuela, supporting the reactionary forces and participating the scheme to overthrow the elected government.

Once again it is reaffirmed that the imperialist forces not only do not respect the rights and sovereignty of the peoples but also tread on every right, organize slanderous campaigns and all kinds of attacks in order to impose their wills, their interests.

We express our internationalist solidarity with the working class and the people of Venezuela and we stand by their side in their struggle against the imperialist plans in their country and in the region. We support with all our forces the CP of Venezuela and its struggle in favor of the rights and interests of the workers of the country, to abolish capitalist exploitation, for Socialism.

Secretariat of Initiative

January 25, 2019

Declaration of the “Initiative of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Europe” for the strengthening of the workers’ - peoples’ struggle, for the European Elections of May 2019.

For an effective struggle against capitalist exploitation – For a Europe of the peoples, of socialism!

“Workers, self-employed in the cities and the countryside women, youth, pensioners, people with disabilities,

We, the Communist and Workers’ Parties that undersign this Declaration, call upon you on the occasion of the European Elections of 2019.

The EU, that functions as a European imperialist center was and continues being a tool for the European big capital to raise its profits and guarantee its domination; It is not serving, neither can ever serve the needs of the working people.

The expectations that the EU can be reformed in a “pro-people” direction have been proved to be futile. The expectations cultivated regarding a change towards the interest of the peoples through its supposed “democratization” are unfounded.

The workers of Europe, the popular strata can overthrow with their struggle today’s negative correlation of forces and meet the preconditions to open up the road for a Europe of socialism, that will guarantee the right to work, social rights, social security and income, the future of the working people.

Our Parties defend the interests of the working class, of the peoples, the rights of the youth and of the women from the popular strata.

Daily we struggle against the anti-people measures imposed by the bourgeois governments and by the EU, against the cutback of salaries and pensions, against the abolition of working rights, of social rights and social security, against the recycling of poverty and unemployment, against the commercialization of the Health-Care as well as of the Education, against the destruction of the environment, against the abolition of democratic rights and liberties. We demand measures against unemployment. We struggle altogether against the EU, that manipulates the peoples for the profiteering of the capitalists. We condemn anticommunism, repression, the limitation of sovereign rights.

Our Parties stand for:

§    Essential raises in salaries and pensions.

§    Public and free of charge Health-Care, Education.

§    The support of the struggle of the workers and of the unemployed for full-time and stable jobs.

§    Democratic rights in the workplaces, working- and social-rights, social-security.

§    The rights of the immigrant workers and the struggle against the causes that force peoples to abandon their countries.

§    Support of the small and medium-sized farmers.

§    The essential protection of the environment that is sacrificed for the profits of the big capital.

- We condemn the imperialist wars and interventions. We struggle in favor of peace, for the ousting of all US-NATO bases, against NATO, against the “Partnership for Peace” and the European army, against the PESCO and the participation in imperialist wars and interventions.

- We struggle against the frontal attack against the workers that is conducted either in conditions of capitalist crisis or in conditions of capitalist “development”.

- We align ourselves with the working-class and popular families that experience the dramatic consequences of the capitalist mode of production which is worsening profoundly the situation of the working class and of the popular strata.

We call upon the working class, the peoples:

§    To multiply their struggles against the European Union, against this union of capital, that hurts the peoples’ rights.

§    To strengthen their resistance to the capital’s attack, to the attacks of the parties that serve the capital’s interests, to strengthen their struggle for every popular problem.

§    To support with any suitable way the Communist and Workers’ Parties that condemn the EU in the battle of the European Elections, in May 2019, to weaken the parties that support the EU and its politics, that defend the “EU’s one-way road” of the capital and the supposed “democratization” of the EU.

This stance will strengthen the popular struggle in the whole Europe, the workers will struggle from better positions.

The EU does not serve the people, the EU serves the capitalist class, the interests of the monopolies, the concentration and centralization of capital. The EU enhances its features as an imperialist economic, political and military bloc contrary to the interests of the working class, of the popular strata.

The peoples have every interest to oppose to the operation of manipulation that the EU, its mechanisms, its governments and the parties that support this imperialist union are organizing.

They promise that the EU can guarantee for us the right to work, our working and social-security rights. They aim to convince the peoples that they can guarantee for them better living standards. It is a big lie.

Let us be reminded of the facts: in the EU there are 16.6 millions of unemployed; underemployment is continuously expanding reaching at 21% of the total or 43 million in numbers; those that live at or under the poverty line are more than 110 million; the future of the youth is undermined.

Fundamental rights of the working class and of the popular strata are being abolished. Mass lay-offs are fortified, the right to strike is getting limited, the age-limits for pensions are being raised and pensions are being cut down, private social-security is strengthened. The poor farmers are being destroyed with the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, the self-employed are being strangled by the competition of the big monopolies, inequality and discriminations at the expense of women are getting more intense. Migrants are persecuted while the politics that force them to abandon their home countries are strengthened.

Repression against the working-class and popular struggles is enhanced, new mechanisms of keeping tabs on are continuously created.

Political, financial and military cooperation with the Israeli state which is murdering the Palestinian people is upgraded.

The “Stability Pact”, the “Enhanced Economic Governance”, the “Banking Union” and other anti-peoples tools that are used have been incorporated in the anti-people toolbox of the EU, a new dramatic situation is being configured against the peoples.

The so-called “Global Strategy” of the EU, the “Common Security and Defense Policy” and PESCO constitute dangerous means for wars and interventions, serving imperialist aggressiveness.

The motor of capitalist unification is the interests of the European monopolies; the EU continuously develops towards a reactionary direction against the peoples.

Consequently, it is obvious that neither this inter-state capitalist union, neither the European Central Bank, nor the European Parliament can become pro-people, as the European parties that support the EU strategy are claiming.

Moreover, neither the EU can transform into a “formidable adversary” of NATO and the USA, as all kinds of supporters of the EU are arguing.

EU closely cooperates with NATO and the USA against the peoples, while the inter-imperialist competitions are manifested both inside the EU, both with the formation of groups of countries and with withdrawals, such as the Brexit.

The rivalries with the USA but also with Russia and China are intensified for the control of the markets.

The Communist and Workers’ Parties that undersign this Declaration:

-Underscore that the capital’s offensive is unitary and has to do with all the member-states of the EU, as well as with the rest of the states that are situated in the European continent and on these grounds it is necessary to strengthen the common struggle of the CP’s and of the peoples, to develop solidarity with the struggle of the workers across the whole of Europe and worldwide.

-Stress that there is another way of development for the peoples. The alternative of a different Europe emerges out of the workers’ struggle; a Europe of the prosperity of the peoples, of social progress, of democratic rights, of equal cooperation, of peace, of socialism.

-Believe in the right of each people to sovereignly choose its way of development, including the right to disengage itself from the EU, NATO and every other imperialist organization; to struggle for the socialist path of development.

This is the real answer against the organized effort of misleading the peoples.

 The peoples of Europe have no interest to follow the forces of cosmopolitanism of capital that are fanatic supporters of Euro-Atlantic. Likewise, they have no interest in the forces of nationalism, that also serve other class interests and not those of the peoples, using the measures of protectionism and “Euroscepticism” as their “vehicle”. Moreover, the people have nothing in common with the nationalist, fascist – Nazi parties that aim at utilizing the peoples’ agonies and problems to strengthen their forces as the sword-point of the dictatorship of the monopolies.

The support of the Communist and Workers’ Parties is the only real pro-people response, both to cosmopolitanism and to the so-called Euroscepticism. It constitutes the appropriate response to anticommunism and to the reactionary, anti-historical identification of communism with fascism, that is flesh of the flesh of the capitalist system.

We call upon the working class, the peoples of Europe to respond positively to this appeal of the Communist and Workers’ Parties.

Εach party in its own country organizes the struggle of the workers. The Communist and Workers’ Parties fight against the EU, comprehensively against the imperialist unions. Their reinforcement in every political battle contributes to the development of the struggles of the peoples:

We call on the peoples to weaken the forces that support the EU, in any way, and cultivate illusions that the EU can be fixed.

-NO to the EU of the monopolies, of capital and wars!

-Onward for a Europe of the prosperity of the peoples, of peace, social justice and democratic rights, of socialism!”

Parties-Signatories:

Party of Labour of Austria

Belarusian Communist Party of Workers-Section of the CPSU

New Communist Party of Britain

Union of Communists in Bulgaria

Party of Bulgarian Communists

Socialist Workers’ Party of Croatia

Communist  Party in Denmark 

Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism (Finland)

Communist Revolutionary Party of France (PCRF)

Pole of Communist Revival in France

Communist Party of Macedonia

Unified Communist Party of Georgia

Communist Party of Greece

Hungarian Workers' Party

The Workers' Party of Ireland

Communist Party, Italy

Socialist Party of Latvia

Socialist Party, Lithuania

Communist Party of Malta

People’s Resistance Moldova

Communist Party of Norway

Communist Party of Poland

Communist Workers' Party of Russia

Communist Party of Soviet Union

New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

Communist Party of Slovakia

Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

Communist Party of Sweden

Communist Party of Turkey

Union of Communists of Ukraine

The Appeal is open for further endorsements.

 

Is Cuba a democracy or a dictatorship?

If I were to ask you this Question, some would surely say a dictatorship, I am sure.  This,  however, is the wrong answer, the trouble is, that is how the US controlled Western Media describe Cuba, This is very from the truth. In fact, Cuba has a more democratic system than ours here in Malta.

Democracy in Cuba is a participatory democracy, where political power is in the hands of the people and not in the hands of political parties, There are about 133 thousand grass root organizations in which the population participates. Each organization has its own assembly and each assembly elects a delegate to represent them in the National Assembly, with a mandate that this delegate will speak and support of what was decided in the assembly. Failing to do so he is recalled back and replaced

At present in Cuba a  new constitution is being discussed at this grassroots assemblies when agreements are reached, in each assembly, then each assembly contribution goes to the National Assembly. The Final agreements go back to the people. Who will accept or reject it in a referendum.

This is a far cry to what is happening here in Malta with regards to a new constitution that is being discussed now.

This in itself explains why there is no need for any other Political Party in Cuba, then the Party of the revolution which is the Communist Party of Cuba.

How could there be a dictatorship in Cuba? :

When after the revolution illiteracy was completely eradicated, over 10 Million persons were taught how to read and write.

Where the health system is the best and advanced even US citizens go there for cure

Where during his tenure as President of Cuba Fidel Castro, one could have met him on the streets mingling with people.

One must understand to achieve this popular democracy one must completely do away with the class society that exists in a liberal bourgeois democracy.  Unless the Bourgeoisie are completely silenced there can never be an egalitarian society.

 If we want Privileges, classes, to disappear, free markets must be done away with.

 This is not undemocratic, you are liberating the masses from exploitation, and from the dictatorship of the Capital. The Capitalist system must be eliminated, and so must the bourgeois class that lives from this system.

Finally that what being a socialist really means  

 This Short address was delivered at a commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Cuban  Revolution organized by ALBA Malta-North Africa in Conjunction with the Communist Party of Malta on Sutarday 12th January 2019. 

Victor Degiovanni.

Joint Appeal for the 2019 elections to the European Parliament For a Europe of the workers and the peoples

The elections for the European Parliament find the workers and the peoples of the European Union (EU) member states facing enormous difficulties and deadlocks. Working people are confronted with job precariousness and social insecurity, inequalities, poverty and with the attack on wages, pensions and on their rights. The peoples and particularly the youth are experiencing unemployment, enforced economic migration, dwindling access to education, health and housing. A reality that is an expression of the EU's intensified exploitation and impoverishment policies.

The asymmetries and inequalities of development between EU Member States are deepened. The EU itself remains in crisis and facing severe turmoil.

The EU, the ruling classes and the forces representing them can no longer conceal the growing social discontent that their policies are provoking: neoliberalism in the economy, the undemocratic and centralized structure of its functioning, militarism and interventionism in international relations. Today, there are many more who admit that the declarations and promises of the EU and of the forces that are leading it have been refuted. The reality that the peoples of our countries are confronted is very different.

- Instead of "prosperity", the peoples in EU are counting the unemployed, homeless and poor by the millions, at the same time as billions of Euros are being channeled to bail out banks. The public services and the public enterprises are being privatized. Social goods commercialized. Bank losses are being turned into public debt on to working people’s backs.

- Instead of "democracy and freedom," new mechanisms for filing citizens and to control the internet control are being implemented. Democratic freedoms, including trade union rights, are under attack. The ultra-right and neo-fascism, that had been defeated by the struggle of the peoples in the 20th century, are appearing again in Europe, while anti-communism and the falsification of European history is taking on an institutional character. In certain member states, the ultra-right forces are participating in government, while the system allows them to spread the poison of racist hatred, xenophobia, chauvinism, sexism, and homophobia, questioning the idea of equality.

- Instead of "peace", the EU is constantly militarizing and deepening its organic link with NATO. Now, with the creation of a structured cooperation in the military field (PESCO), a new phase of militarism has been signaled which, among other things, means more military expenditure and an "investment shift" towards the arms industry and arms trade. At the same time the EU is involved in an escalation of interventions and aggressions against States and peoples, exemplified by its complicity with Israel in the face of the drama lived by the Palestinian people.

- Instead of defending the environment, the EU subordinates it environmental policies to the laws of the market. The scandals of multinational industries which violate legislation on the environment and the failure to take the necessary decisions for combating climate change and the dramatic consequences of the environmental problems for the peoples testify to the gap between declarations and actions.

- Instead of solidarity and facing the causes that lead millions of people to leave their countries, the EU pursues policies that escalate and deteriorate the situation. Its involvement in imperialist interventions in the Middle East and Norther Africa has multiplied the numbers of the refugees. The burdens of the colonial past in combination with the neocolonial policies of exploitation of the countries of Africa and Asia, have created a vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment that leads their peoples to seek a better life in Europe. At the same time, the big capital ιn European countries is facing the refugees and migrants as cheap labour force which it wishes to exploit in order to undermine labour relations. No one doubts that migration and the refugee crisis is a complex and multidimensional issue. However, militarism, racism and xenophobia can never be the response. The progressive forces are called upon to struggle in each EU member-state in order to give responses in accordance to international law and for the principles of solidarity, internationalism and class unity of the working people to prevail.

The peoples want and need another Europe – Another Europe is possible!

In addition to the framework of Treaties, Common Policies and the Stability Pact, the EU has in recent years created a draconian mechanism to exercise suffocating control over the budgets and fiscal policies of member-states through the Fiscal Treaty, the 'Economic Governance' and 'European Semester". The Economic and Monetary Union is deepening, economic-political relations of dependence are being institutionalized, the sovereignty for exercising a different policy at a national level is being nullified, the democracy and the people's right to socio-economic development undermined. The "Banking Union" is pushing for a gigantic concentration of capital and the control of the financial systems of states. Free trade agreements with the powerful centres of the world (such as CETA with Canada), in combination through the neo-colonial trade policy with the developing peripheries of the world, constitute the external aspect of a profoundly unjust and exploitative economic model.

Democracy, State and people’s sovereignty are called into question by the imposition of relations of political and economic domination dictated by the great powers directory and determined by the interests of economic and financial groups. Elected governments are coming under blatant threats and are the subject of blackmails. Referendums are ignored or repeated until the people vote how the EU wishes them to.

The warnings issued by the forces of progress about the character, policies and course of the EU – as defined by its Treaties and have deepened with the policies that the right-wing and social democracy of Europe has implemented – have been shown to be true. However, not only does the EU not listen to the voices of the peoples, but it is intensifying the attack on our people’s standard of living and rights. With the slogan "More Europe", the leaders of the EU are not discussing about a different path or a different Europe, but about the speed with which the EU of the monopolies, militarization and directorates will continue to be strengthened. On the other hand, not only is the ultra-right’s nationalism and racism not an alternative, but represents the most reactionary face of capitalism, reminiscent of Europe's darkest eras.

The crisis in the EU – a result of capitalism and its contradictions – has brought to the fore in a dramatic way all the problems and has shown that the EU construction is not reformable in its essence, as its treaties define a neoliberal and militaristic structure and process. A path of effective cooperation in Europe will necessarily have to be based on the principles of sovereignty, freedom, democracy, social progress and peace.

Another Europe is possible, necessary and timelier than ever. Another Europe – a Europe that will serve the workers and peoples and their needs – can be born through a radical change in the foundations on which the EU was built. A radical change conceived and decided by the workers and the peoples of Europe.

The History of the European continent is full of militant and revolutionary legacies. It proves that the peoples – with the working people and the youth as the pioneering force – can, with their struggles, stop the current attacks and barbaric measures; to once again block the road to ultra-right and fascism; to pave the way for major social transformations of an anti-imperialist and anti-monopoly character: to provide an alternative to capitalism and its dead ends; to once more project the vision of building new societies, for progress, peace and social justice.

We unite forces

We strengthen struggles

The Communist, progressive, anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal, left and ecological forces that co-sign this Appeal consider that the upcoming elections to the European Parliament next May represent a significant opportunity so that our struggle for the present and future of our countries and continent is expressed.

We know that the danger of the ultra-right today represents a major threat to our continent and its peoples, which is also encouraged by the Trump Administration in the United States. The ruling forces and interests of EU cannot curb this threat because it is their policies that cultivate the ground generating it, while some even openly collaborate with the ultra-right. Only the forces of progress, the forces that are fighting for labour and social rights, as well as for the sovereignty of the peoples, can be the bastion of resistance to the ultra-right and fascism. That is why their strengthening is the option for every democrat and progressive citizen of each of our countries.

We call on the working people, youth, women and, in general, the peoples of the member-states of the EU to express their demands, aspirations, struggles and visions with their vote in the elections for the European Parliament, strengthening the forces that – like us the parties signing this Appeal – are at the forefront of labour and social struggles and pledge themselves to continue the struggle:

For a Europe of social rights

That serves those who produce the wealth and drive the economy, namely the working people; that ensures permanent, stable, full and dignified jobs for all; that restores and promote social achievements and rights; that defends and promotes public services; that guarantees the right to education and work for the young generation and a dignified standard of living for the elderly and vulnerable social groups; that rebuilds and expands social infrastructures providing support to families, children, people with disabilities;

For a Europe of economic, social and ecologically sustainable progress

For a path of social and economic development for our continent that promotes real and ever-increasing convergence between the different countries; that should be based on public investments programs for social policies, the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment; that take radical measures against climate change, while assuring social justice; that promotes the productive potential of each country, respecting the right to development and a model of sustainable development; that ensures food sovereignty and security; that defends the public character of the strategic sectors of each country and supports small and medium-sized enterprises; that puts an end to tax havens, free and deregulated movements of capital and that combats and taxes the speculative activities of capital.

For a Europe of peace and cooperation with all the peoples of the world

A Europe that respects the Charter of the United Nations and international law, including the principles of the self-determination of the peoples and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states; that rejects the arms race and the militarization of international relations; that acts for the end of the external aggressive interferences and the external aggressions; that puts an end to aggressive military alliances such as NATO and the existence of foreign bases and strive for disarmament, including the removal of all nuclear weapons from the territory of the member states and the total abolition of nuclear weapons. For a Europe that promotes the cooperation and friendship between the peoples from all over the world, equal and mutually beneficial - political, economic, social, cultural cooperation

For a Europe of democracy, of cooperation among sovereign States with equal rights

For a Europe that respects democracy and democratic participation, the sovereignty and equal rights of its states, the cultural diversity and identity of every people, the rights of minorities; a Europe that will not be governed by directorates, lobbies and more powerful states, but by the peoples.

For a Europe of freedom, rights and solidarity

For a Europe that defends democratic freedoms, as trade union rights, civil and social rights – including citizen’s digital rights, privacy, personal data protection and the neutrality of the internet; that rejects repressive, filing and surveillance mechanisms; that guarantees in practice the equality of all people regardless of gender, ethnicity, colour, religion, disability and sexual identity; to combat all forms of discrimination against women and to consolidate women's rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights.

We work together and strengthen the Group of the Left in the European Parliament

To this end, we will further develop our cooperation and we pledge to continue the work of the Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament on the basis of equality and the mutual respect for our differences, paths, experiences and peculiarities; to continue our joint action through GUE/NGL as an arena of cooperation that focuses on the many things that unite us in the struggle for another Europe.

We reaffirm the character and identity of this Parliamentary Group as a confederal space of cooperation between communist, workers, progressive, left and ecological forces whose common aim is to give a voice inside the European Parliament to the struggles of working people and the peoples; to assert, to propose and defend progressive and distinctly different policies from those that the right-wing and social democracy have pursued and continue to pursue; to give expression and content to the struggle for another path for Europe.

By signing this Appeal, we commit ourselves to defending these goals and guidelines. The bigger strength we have, the stronger will the struggles for a Europe of cooperation, social progress and peace.

Parties signing the Joint Appeal for the 2019 election to the European Parliament

1.    AKEL, Cyprus

2.    Austrian Communist Party, KPOE

        3.   Workers’ Party, PTB-PVDA, Belgium

4.    Communist Party Bohemia Moravia, Czech Republic

5.    Communist Party of Denmark

6.    Communist Party in Denmark

7.    Communist Party of Finland

8.    French Communist Party, PCF

9.    German Communist Party, DKP

10. Die Linke, Germany

11. Italian Communist Party, PCI

12. Partito della Rifondazione Comunista - Sinistra Europea, Italy

13. Communist Party of Luxemburg

14. Communist Party of Malta

15. Portuguese Communist Party, PCP

16. Communist Party of Spain, PCE

17. Izquierda Unida, Spain

18. Communists of Catalunya

19. Esquerra Unida i Alternativa

20. Anova Irmandade Nacionalista

      21. Communist Party of Brittain

This Joint Appeal is open for signatures

10 January 2019