Communist Party of Popular Unity (Italy)
Dear Comrades,
As the Communist Party of Popular Unity, Italy, we are particularly glad, even if remotely, to contribute to the developments of this important 11th International Anti-imperialist Conference in Istanbul, which represents a fundamental step in the consolidation of the World Anti-imperialist Platform. We enthusiastically welcome the developments of the World Anti-imperialist Youth Platform, the holding of the second conference of the World Anti-imperialist Women’s Platform, and the establishment of the World Anti-imperialist Workers’ Platform.
We consider these successes of the utmost importance. In Italy, as throughout the world, it is increasingly clear that social and democratic struggle, on the one hand, and the struggle against imperialism and war, on the other, are two sides of the same coin, two aspects of the same struggle. These are not sectoral initiatives, but a common movement of struggle that finds its fundamental motivation in the aggressive and oppressive path of imperialism, which is the capitalism of our time, dominated by the financial capital, the dominant role of monopolies, the race for the ever-increasing accumulation of profits and concentration of power, and the ever-more shameless exploitation of workers.
If, by its intrinsic characteristics, “capitalism brings war like clouds bring storms”, it is even more true that today, in the age of its structural and systemic crisis and its loss of centrality and hegemony at global level, imperialism resorts to the war to address its crisis, to find new opportunities for accumulation and new markets to colonize, and to impose, through war, new forms of “domination without hegemony” but with military force. Capital needs war to counter its own crisis since war allows the destruction of fixed capital (structures and infrastructure, machines and production apparatus) and variable capital (the proletariat and productive subjects) and therefore permits reconstruction, the regeneration of productive capital, the replacement of old with new capital, and the capitalistic command over new productive subjects.
The crisis of imperialism and the oligarchy agenda of global domination and control unleash war and put peoples against each other. They seek to conceal the class nature of the crisis and rely on war to impose a new configuration of the world. The crisis of capitalism is at the same time an economic, social, and even moral, spiritual, and civilization crisis, and risks bringing with it the collapse of human civilization and the abyss of morality (in terms of loss of values, social disintegration, genocide, as the genocide of the Palestinian people tragically demonstrates).
In this scenario, the present-time technological applications and the most recent developments in artificial intelligence, along with the concentration of productive factors under capitalism, do not advance democracy, but rather, the concentration of property, the capitalistic accumulation, and the power of imperialism and war. In the capitalistic West, technological innovation is increasingly subservient to the accumulation and concentration of wealth, the interests of oligarchies and monopolies, increasing social hierarchies and serving as a tool to strengthen imperialism’s war machine.
This undermines the foundations of democracy itself, destroys the possibility of a welfare state, and fuels war as a technological and military system, as the aggression against Russia in Ukraine and in alliance with Israel against Iran have demonstrated. This requires a struggle for a non-capitalist appropriation and management of the products and outcomes of technological innovation, with the aim of placing technological development at the service of people’s lives.
The “external front” (the war unleashed by imperialism against the freedom and sovereignty of peoples) and the “internal front” (the anti-popular measures, censorship and closures, and repression against the struggles of workers and popular masses) are therefore more and more intrinsically linked. In this mad rush to hoard resources, maximize profits, and concentrate wealth, imperialism exacerbates social divisions, production exploitation, and social hierarchies, and increasingly threatens formal, liberal democracy itself, which it increasingly sees as an obstacle to its goals.
Workers’ living conditions are increasingly unbearable: in Italy, 6 million people (10% of the entire population) live in absolute poverty; more than 10% of workers are in poverty; Italy is the only so-called “advanced” economy where, for over thirty years, real wages have remained stagnant; at the same time, overall military spending is estimated at around 45 billion €, equal to 2% of GDP, and Italy has signed the pact with the EU and NATO to increase military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, which means an additional 80 billion € per year.
As a direct consequence of imperialist aggression against Russia and Iran, the cost of living for workers has become unbearable: price increases in the eurozone amounted to 3.6%; energy costs increased by 11%; in Italy more than 70 industrial crises and failures are underway. The entire system is undergoing de-industrialization and production dismantling, accelerated by the effects of the war and the consequent energy cost rise.
At the same time, social spending has declined in real terms and is facing continuous reductions not only in social welfare, but also in education and healthcare. From both an economic and democratic perspective, the role of the EU and NATO, and Italy’s continued membership in NATO and the EU, represent a “cage” that prevents the country from developing its own policies consistent with its true interests. It affects workers, dismantles the productive system, destroys the welfare state, makes the cost of living unsustainable, and places a heavy burden on democracy.
Faced with their own crisis and with Italy and the EU fully involved in imperialist wars (particularly the war against Russia in Ukraine), war propaganda and narratives become increasingly relentless, and the manipulation of history becomes one of the tools of hybrid warfare, as well as a tool to delegitimize the social and democratic achievements of the labour movement.
A clear indicator of the European Union’s standing is the approval of the 2019 Resolution on “The Importance of European Remembrance for the Future of Europe”, which shamefully equates, in terms of historical responsibility, oppressors and liberators, the Nazi tyranny and the great liberation movement embodied by Soviet socialism. Once again, fascism, in times of war, confirms itself as an instrument of power to pursue its own goals of domination.
The European Union defines itself, in its documents, as «complementary and interoperable» with NATO. In Europe, therefore, the fight against NATO cannot be conducted fully and effectively unless being a fight against the European Union, which is responsible, with its budgetary rules, for the reduction of wages, salaries, and pensions, for the systematic cuts to welfare, and for the continued war expenditures.
On the Ukrainian front alone, the European Union has spent over 200 billion € of European citizens’ money and has already launched over 20 packages of anti-Russia unilateral coercive measures, another front in EU aggressive and counterproductive economic war. And we cannot ignore, with regard to NATO, the impact of the presence in Italy of over 120 US and NATO military bases and installations, with over 12,000 US troops on the ground―an occupation army.
We are convinced, comrades, that, in a global context marked by a Third World War fought on the most diverse theatres in the world, the anti-imperialist struggle of workers and the popular masses is a decisive and promising factor in defending social rights and social justice, defending democracy, overthrowing imperialism, and building peace with effective democracy and social justice.
Long live the World Anti-Imperialist Platform!
Long live the workers’ and peoples’ movement!
Long live the 21st-century Socialism!
