As history of victory shows: the people of the world will surely triumph under the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-fascism

Stephen Cho | Coordinator of the Korean International Forum 

Fascism is one of the class domination methods of monopoly capital. In developed capitalist countries, monopoly capital uses social democracy and fascism as its two main methods of dominating the working class and other working people. 

Some advanced monopoly capitalist countries, which have taken the lead in capitalist development and colonial domination, favor the methods of populist politics and social democracy, using the surplus profits extracted from their colonies to reform the middle class within their own countries, thereby deceiving the people with a left-and-right two-party system that masks the contradiction of polarization between the upper and lower classes. Other monopolistic capitalist countries that lagged behind in capitalist development and colonial domination prefer fascism to social democracy due to the weak material foundation for reforming. Right before World War 2, Britain and France were typical examples of the former, while Germany and Italy were typical examples of the latter.

As is well known from the historical fact that the Nazi Party in Germany shifted from social democracy to fascism and triggered World War 2, the difference between social democracy and fascism lies solely in their methods of class domination; their root and essence are identical, and this is no longer a secret. 

The method of class domination of monopoly capital within a country takes the form of social democracy and fascism, while the method of domination of the people of other countries takes the form of imperialism. The domestic monopoly capital system is expressed internationally as the imperialist system. Monopoly capital dominates the working class domestically through fascism and dominates the people of colonies internationally through imperialism.

World War 2 began as an inter-imperialist war, with imperialist powers such as Germany and Italy fighting against other imperialist powers like Britain and France. However, its nature changed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. During World War 2, the socialist Soviet Union formed the world anti-fascist front with imperialist USA and Britain; thereby, the nature of World War 2 came to be defined as an anti-fascist war in essence.

Although both sides―Germany, Italy, Japan on one side and the USA, Britain on the other―were all imperialist countries, they differed in their systems of domestic rule: fascism or social democracy. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the Comintern did not overlook this difference and actively used it to propose the line of the world anti-fascist front as a tactical measure to expand the anti-fascist camp and isolate the fascist camp by maximizing contradictions within the imperialist camp, which led to victory in World War 2. 

In the course of this struggle, the CPSU and the Comintern had to wage an ideological struggle against the “leftist” opportunism and narrow-minded close-door policy―particularly the worker’s united front line of the Trotskyist forces, typical opportunist forces within the international communist movement. At the same time, they had to overcome repeated conspiracies, vacillations, and betrayals of the USA and Britain within the world anti-fascist camp.

The reactionary nature of the US-British imperialist forces was revealed in the “Cold War” tactics that began out of fear and vigilance against the formation of socialist camp and national liberation camp on a global scale as soon as World War 2 ended. The US military, which entered the southern part of Korea as an occupying force, established the “Republic of Korea (ROK)” government in the colony and turned it into an anti-communist outpost and a bridgehead for continental aggression, eventually realizing its “Cold War” policy through the 1950-53 Korean War.

The military fascist system that was established in the society of the “ROK” in the 1960s and 70s was a thoroughly imperialist-transplanted colonial system. The fascist system established in some developed capitalist-imperialist countries and the fascist system established in colonies are essentially distinct like this. It is no coincidence that fascism in colonial “ROK” is not only anti-people but also anti-national, as it has become the puppet of imperialism, which is its master.

As proven by the history of world revolutions, revolutionary movements in the colonies prioritize the struggle against national discrimination over the struggle against class discrimination, and it is law-governed that the national liberation revolution precedes the class liberation revolution.

Through science and practice, it has been revealed that the nature of the “ROK” society is that of a semi-capitalist colony, and the character of the revolution in the “ROK” is a national liberation democratic revolution. This means that the basic contradiction lies in the combination of national and class contradictions, and within them, the national contradiction is the principal contradiction and the main link that must be addressed first.

Furthermore, it implies that the main target of the revolution in the “ROK” is US imperialism, and the fascist forces serving as its agents are secondary targets. Of course, as the fascist forces are serving as the tools of imperialism that directly suppress the people, the significance of the anti-fascist struggle cannot be limited to a tactical level. 

Especially when the DPRK declared at the Supreme People’s Assembly in January 2024 that the “ROK” is the target to be subjugated and stated its intention to resolve the national question through an anti-fascist war, it reaffirmed that the victory of the anti-fascist struggle could decisively drive the victory of the anti-imperialist struggle.

The anti-fascist struggle today holds universal significance not only in the “ROK” but worldwide. Specifically, the authorities in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the Netanyahu regime in Israel are acting as the vanguard of imperialism, serving as the cutting-edge fascist tools of imperialism, attacking Russia—a country with a socialist legacy—and a pro-socialist anti-imperialist nation, Iran, along with “axis of resistance.”

The war in Ukraine, which began with the imperialist-orchestrated Maidan coup-fascist coup in 2014, intensified with Russia’s special military operation in 2022. And following the four wars in West Asia (the Middle East) initiated and driven by imperialism and Zionism, the fifth war in West Asia is now underway, intensified with the war in Palestine in 2023.

The storm of World War 3 caused by imperialism is blowing from Eastern Europe through West Asia to East Asia and the Western Pacific. 

The fierce local war provocations against the DPRK from September to November 2024, and the pro-US military coup—the first in 45 years—carried out in December by the pro-US fascist forces in the “ROK” are decisive signs and evidence that a war in the “ROK” is imminent.

Faced with their greatest crisis after the failure of the fascist coup, the only way out for the insurrection group is a civil war. When local warfare is added to this civil war, it becomes the war in the “ROK”. The history of the 1948 civil war, the 1949 local war, and the 1950 Korean War is being repeated today by the imperialist warmongers and their fascist puppets. 

The war in the “ROK” is the ultimate scheme for the imperialist warmongering forces desperate to ignite World War 3 and a war in East Asia, and their most expedient card to suppress the imperialist non-warmongering forces.

As expressed by DPRK, “that time is not set by us”; but the Korean Peninsula is in a state of “countdown.” The revolutionary forces and patriotic people in the “ROK” do not desire war, but if war is triggered by imperialism and its fascist lackeys, they will respond with an all-people resistance war and turn it into an opportunity for revolution. In this sense, the eve of war on the Korean Peninsula is the eve of revolution in the “ROK.”

Imperialist forces are openly pursuing their plan to make East Asia—where socialist states like the DPRK and China, along with Russia, a country with a socialist legacy, are all neighboring—the main battlefield of World War 3. The imperialist camp is conspiring to label the DPRK, China, Russia, Iran, and others as the “new axis of aggressors” and is desperately attempting to establish a “New Cold War” system to avoid an unprecedented political and economic crisis.

While the division within the imperialist camp may not compare to the strategic significance of the unity of the anti-imperialist front, it nevertheless carries certain tactical importance. We acknowledge that tactical measures to further intensify the conflict between the “war-mongering forces” and the “non-war-mongering forces” within the imperialist camp, which has been escalating since the Trump administration took office, are necessary, as historical experience clearly demonstrates.

World War 1 was an inter-imperialist war, World War 2 was an anti-fascist war, and World War 3 is essentially an anti-imperialist war. As a result of World War 1, the Russian Revolution triumphed, giving rise to the first socialist state in history. As a result of World War 2, the anti-fascist forces emerged victorious, leading to the formation of the socialist camp and the national liberation camp on a global scale. If the anti-imperialist camp triumphs in World War 3, a new era of revolutionary upsurge surpassing the period immediately after World War 2 will begin. On a global scale, imperialism and fascism will suffer decisive blows, and anti-imperialist and communist forces will be greatly strengthened.

Amid the situation of World War 3, in October 2022, world anti-imperialist forces, including communist parties around the world, gathered in Paris to hold the first international anti-imperialist conference and launched the World Anti-imperialist Platform (hereafter the Platform).

The Platform has continuously held a total of seven international anti-imperialist conferences in Belgrade, Serbia, in December 2022; in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 2023; in Gwangju and Seoul, the “ROK”, in May 2023; in Athens, Greece, in November 2023; in Washington, USA, in July 2024; and in Dakar, Senegal, in October 2024. Each time, it has also carried out vigorous world anti-imperialist joint struggles. 

The practical activities, theoretical and propaganda work, and occasional protests and daily activities of the Platform, which brings together nearly 80 parties and organizations, consistently aim at three major goals of the world anti-imperialist mass struggle, the ideological struggle against opportunism, and the strengthening of the international communist movement. 

The Platform particularly condemns the Communist Party of Greece’s “Imperialist Pyramid” theory, which is essentially identical to Karl Kautsky’s “Ultra-Imperialism” theory from the eve of World War 1, and the absurd argument that all countries on Earth are imperialist, as well as the thoroughly erroneous claim that the war in Ukraine is an inter-imperialist war based on this argument.

Holding high the two slogans of “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!” the Platform regards establishing a revolutionary strategy based on scientific analysis of the situation as its lifeline. 

As proven by the victorious history of World War 2 and the present reality approaching the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, the triumph of the world anti-imperialist camp is certain. The final victory of the world’s people struggling under the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-fascism is a matter of science.