Dimitrios Patelis | Revolutionary Unification (Greece)
Speech delivered at the Second International Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow, 23 April 2025. Session No. 1: “Fascism―A Product of Imperialism, a Weapon of Exploitation and Violence”
Dear comrades,
Let me begin by commemorating the birth anniversary of the brilliant leader of the international revolutionary movement, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. I also congratulate the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) for the highly productive initiative of organising this forum.
The topic of the relationship between imperialism and fascism is extremely relevant today. Without the specification and development of revolutionary theory, it is impossible to identify the nature of today’s imperialism and the fascism it produces in a concrete and dialectical historical way.
To briefly summarise, the role of Lenin’s brilliant political economy in the development of Marxism needs little emphasis here. Building on Marx’s creative achievements in Capital, Lenin showed that from the early 20th century onwards―during the monopoly stage of capitalism―the exploitation of the working class by the financial oligarchy of global imperialist capital takes place not only within individual nations, but on a worldwide scale.
Thus, Lenin did not arbitrarily identify the “rentier states” which serve as the headquarters of the major monopolies and of financial capital and, today, of the huge multi-branch transnational monopoly groups and corporations. These states, together with such corporations, extract monopoly super-profits from the whole world, on a regional and global scale.
With his discoveries, Lenin’s aim was not to reject the Marxist-Leninist theory of class struggle under imperialism, but rather to develop and concretise it, showing that the matter of the revolution is fundamentally linked to the study of this global dimension of exploitation. It is this, and the resulting uneven development that underpins his concept of the “weakest link” and clarifies the possibility and inevitability of the global revolutionary process―in contrast to the dogmatism and opportunism of the representatives of the Second International.
Lenin stressed the need to identify where the focal points of intertwined internal and external global contradictions arise, where it is easiest to break the weakest link of the global imperialist system. Thus, Lenin connects anti-imperialism with class struggle not superficially but essentially and internally.
Why do I mention this? Because by invoking a metaphysical notion of supposed “pure class struggle,” many today focus on individual nations while ignoring this primary, overarching dimension of class exploitation worldwide. Anti-imperialism is not a rejection of the class approach―it is the class approach of our time.
The imperialists collectively sought to destroy the first workers’ and peasants’ state, the Soviet Union. They and their proxies/accomplices―the Russian counterrevolutionaries―sought to destroy, dismember and completely colonise the young Soviet revolutionary state. Even Greece took part in this intervention, with its bourgeois government sending some 24,000 soldiers and officers under French command. Even after their crushing defeat, the imperialists never abandoned their anti-Soviet plans.
In World War II, the imperialist powers had the “luxury” of dividing into two camps due to the irreconcilable inter-imperialist contradictions. Thanks to the brilliant foreign policy of the Soviet Union however, a rift was driven between them. Of course, we know what kind of allies they were―even those who joined the anti-fascist coalition against the axis of the Anti-Comintern Pact…
World War III, dear comrades and friends is not a concern of the future. We have been witnessing it for a long time.
When more than 80 countries are involved in the Syrian theatre of war alone, and when more than 55 countries are officially involved in the Ukrainian conflict, can this be called a regional conflict?
And let us not harbour any illusions about the possibility of a ceasefire or a “backroom deal” or anything else that would supposedly restore peace and turn everything back to normal. This war will not end until the fundamental contradictions that caused it are resolved, one way or another.
These contradictions are linked to a seismic shift in the global balance of power, particularly since the late 20th century, following the counterrevolution and capitalist restoration in the USSR and other early socialist states in Europe.
Contrary to what the parrots of imperialist propaganda claim, socialism has by no means disappeared forever. On the contrary, there are socialist countries that are triumphantly developing and progressing.
This has led to a radical change in the global balance of power. Imperialism is no longer what it used to be. It is considerably weakened and has lost ground. Precisely because of this existential threat, the imperialist powers―despite acute internal contradictions―no longer have the “luxury” of dividing into two camps. The revolutionary movement must recognise this fact and make the most of it by reorganising its strategy and tactics accordingly.
As a result of this existential danger for imperialism, the present imperialist axis, led by the USA and including the G7, the European Union, NATO and other satellites, was created and is developing its aggressive activity. It is this axis of aggression that opposes the forces of socialism and anti-imperialism today.
If imperialism at the beginning of the 20th century was primarily defined by the export of capital―limited to the sphere of circulation and capital markets―today it has taken on a different form, content and scale. Capitalism now deploys productive technological processes on a planetary scale.
Transnational monopoly groups organise and carry out production in different countries, exploiting so-called comparative advantages (geography, natural resources, labour costs, transport routes, environmental regulations, supply chains, etc.) in global production. These groups maintain their headquarters and R&D departments in the imperialist metropolises, while relocating the most labour-intensive, energy-intensive and polluting processes to the global South and East.
Thus, since the last quarter of the 20th century, imperialism has entered a new stage, intensifying these tendencies―especially after the counterrevolution and capitalist restoration in the USSR and other early socialist states in Europe.
By harnessing the inherent potential of these trends within the framework of scientific, long-term socialist planning of developing its productive forces, China has triumphed in becoming the world’s largest economy and the leading socialist superpower of the 21st century.
I understand that many may disagree with me because this is a specific form of socialism―one shaped by the unique history of the Chinese people, their long struggle against colonial oppression, the Opium Wars and numerous destructive imperialist interventions involving all the imperialist powers, including Tsarist Russia.
In the context of World War III, the imperialist axis of aggression is resorting to specific forms of instrumentalising fascism.
I must stress that today there is both the possibility and the necessity of global coordination in the war against fascism. Whereas the fascism of World War II was primarily a product of inter-imperialist rivalries between the great powers―and the imperialist stage at that time allowed these powers independent ambitions and military-industrial complexes (e.g. Germany)―today no such independence is allowed without US approval. Even major imperialist powers like Germany are subordinated to the USA on energy policy, forced to de-industrialise, etc.
Imperialism has a historical record of instrumentalising and deploying various forms of racism and fascism. A striking example is the Zionist entity, an artificial proxy state that serves as a military outpost for Anglo-Saxon imperialism in the region, notorious for its genocide and crimes against humanity. Thus, contemporary fascism is being modified to suit this new stage and is being wielded by imperialism primarily to turn entire protectorate states into battering rams against the enemy―nations and peoples who refuse total submission to imperialist diktat. Hence constructs such as the racist Baltic states, the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, Saakashvili’s regime in Georgia and so on.
These proxy states are designed to attack not only socialism and anti-imperialism, but even bourgeois regimes that do not fully submit to the US-led imperialist axis.
Why do I mention this? Because today there are various “fifth columns” operating in different countries, including in Russia itself.
And if for more than three decades, certain circles born out of the predatory privatisation have become accustomed to parasitising as a comprador bourgeoisie, selling off natural resources and the fruits of the Soviet people’s labour, reducing the country to a raw materials reservoir of imperialism, they have not disappeared. They remain ever ready for a “backroom deal.”
The bourgeoisie of any capitalist state is not homogeneous. In Russia today there is, on the one hand, a bourgeoisie oriented towards comprador services for global imperialism―especially in banking, finance and resource exports. On the other hand, there is a bourgeoisie linked to real production, industry and the military-industrial complex. The latter, by virtue of its social position, is predisposed to defend Russia’s independence and sovereignty to a certain extent.
Imperialism imposed this war. The Russian bourgeoisie entered it in a particular manner and pace only when it became clear that they were facing the fate of Saddam, Miloševi큓 and Gaddafi. Under existential threat, they de facto joined the pole of anti-imperialist and socialist forces.
It is against anti-imperialism and socialism that the axis of aggression deploys contemporary forms of fascism and fascisation. Naturally, the most consistent struggle against imperialism and the fascism it spawns―amid crisis and war―can only be waged by progressive forces led by communists. Of course, bourgeois states such as post-Soviet Russia may join the anti-imperialist coalition, but their commitment cannot be guaranteed. We know from historical experience of the way and consistency with which such governments as Churchill’s in Britain fought against the anti-Comintern axis.
Before the end of World War II, the British and their colonial troops landed as invaders in Athens, Greece, five months before the end of the war. They mobilised Nazi collaborators and turned them into collaborators of the British and then the Americans. They are the ones who still rule the country today.
In the World Anti-Imperialist Platform, we have three main objectives:
1. To coordinate anti-imperialist forces worldwide into a united front.
2. To combat disorienting ideologies and narratives that undermine the unity of this front.
3. To consolidate consistent communist forces capable of taking on the revolutionary tasks of the 21st century and the coming victorious revolutions.
This is not a distant future, as the preconditions for a new communist society are far more mature today than ever before.
Today, our front’s unity is being actively undermined by the bourgeois and by forces of the so-called “left”.
The bourgeois tendency manifests itself mainly in quasi-two-party systems, similar to that of the US. On the one side we have rabid neo-liberals rooted in post-modernist ideology, and on the other nationalism and “Trumpism” which seek to revive a Black International. It is no coincidence that Elon Musk collaborates with the AfD and other far-right fascists around the world, nor that he gives the Nazi salute. Trumpists and the Black International are reviving fascist traditions through the so-called “civilisational approach”, as comrade D.G. Novikov previously pointed out.
What is this? It is not an enrichment of science or historical materialism, but a replacement of Marxism with a reactionary, irrational ideology. The civilisational approach fragments humanity into isolated, self-contained “civilisations” that are deemed incompatible to each other―a fundamentally racist, imperialist ideology. This is the basis of the geopolitical and geostrategic concepts of Nazism and all fascism. Herein lies the tragicomic fusion of extreme neoliberalism and extreme fascism in figures like Argentina’s Milei. Why? Because they are essentially one and the same.
Those who think that the anti-globalists will somehow bludgeon the globalists into peaceful submission are, in the most charitable reading, nursing childish fantasies. This is often the work of agents sowing confusion.
On the other hand, we are witnessing the tragic degradation of the communist movement―the remnants of the Third International. At the forefront of this degradation is, sadly, the Communist Party of Greece, which is propagating the irrational nonsense of an “imperialist pyramid,” according to which all countries are imperialist! But if all are imperialists, then imperialism does not exist―because they equate imperialism with capitalism itself.
This is a gross revision of Lenin’s theory. They deliberately confuse the categories “imperialist stage” and “imperialist state”, using the similarity of the English words “stage” and “state” to manipulate the uneducated youth. They are systematically dividing the global movement by claiming that wherever monopolies operate, the state is imperialist. So, if you are anti-imperialist or anti-fascist, you are not communists―because the most important thing is to be anti-capitalist.
This left-wing rhetoric masks the real divisive and treacherous practices. They have gone so far as to call World War II an “imperialist war,” paving the for the denial of the socialist character of the Soviet Union. They even oppose Stalin for recognising the modified role of the law of value.
They now claim that the fascist junta perpetrated by the Greek colonels was merely an internal bourgeois dispute, absolving the USA and the CIA of responsibility―even though it was their agents who led the dictatorship.
Long live the international solidarity of the anti-imperialist forces led by the steadfast communists!
Thank you for your attention.
