On Sunday 16 February the European Communist Action (ECA) held a teleconference under the theme "On the three years of imperialist war in Ukraine. The struggle of the communists against the EU, its war economy and the involvement of the bourgeois governments in imperialist wars".

On behalf of the KKE, Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC of the KKE and head of the International Relations Section of the CC, Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC of the KKE and MEP, and Aris Evangelidis, member of the International Relations Section of the CC, took part in the teleconference.

In his introductory speech, G. Marinos stressed the following:

Dear comrades,

The relentless competition of the monopolies and the capitalist states to promote their strategic aspirations is developing in every region of the world. The barbaric nature of the exploitative system is revealed by the imperialist wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the 50 or more hotbeds of wararound the world, the intensity of the offensive against the working class and the peoples, the millions of uprooted, refugees and migrants. Capitalism has gone beyond its historical limits and is becoming more and more dangerous.

The working class and the peoples are faced with great tasks. The anger and indignation must be directed to eliminate the source of the evil, to intensify the struggle to overthrow the power of the monopolies, to open the way for the new, socialist–communist society, for the toiling people to live in peace, without exploitation, as owners of the wealth they produce to satisfytheir needs.

The crucial issue is the leading ideological, political and mass struggle of the communists, in constant conflict with the bourgeoisie in every country, the imperialist alliances, the parties of capital, opportunism and all kinds of apologists for capitalism.

Dear comrades,

Three years into the war in Ukraine andthe bloodshed continues, with hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded, and enormous material destruction. The counter-revolution and capitalist restoration have had tragic consequences. Two peoples who lived together in the Soviet Union for seven decades, built the new socialist society, achieved great conquests, overcame imperialist subversive actions, confronted the attack of the fascist monster on the Soviet territories, and defeated German Nazism and its allies, are killing each other.

The war between the US–NATO–EU, on the side of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, and capitalist Russia and its allies, is part of the imperialist competition for the control of Ukraine and the wider region, the markets and natural resources, andthetransport routes for energy and commodities. The war is being waged by the bourgeois classes at the expense of the peoples, it is imperialist on both sides and this cannot be overshadowed by the pretexts of the NATO camp, which presents the war as the result of a confrontation between “democratic” and “authoritarian” forces, or the pretexts of the Russian leadership of an “anti-fascist war”, trying to hide its responsibility and the aims of the Russian bourgeoisie.

The forces that rehash the myth of “anti-fascism”, such as the so-called “World Anti-Imperialist Platform” and others, hide the nature of the imperialist war and try to justify the Russian invasion in Ukraine and the violation of its territorial integrity. They hide the fact that the struggle against fascism is waged by the peoples and is linked to the struggle to overthrow capitalism, which gives rise to it and feeds it. It cannot therefore become a pretext for supporting bourgeois governments in the name of so-called “anti-fascist” fronts. Such forces distort the class content of powerful capitalist countries such as China and Russia, which together with the so-called “progressive governments”in Latin America and the BRICS are presented to the peoples as supposedly “anti-imperialist forces” seeking to “heal” and “sanitize” international transnational relations. Everyone understands how “anti-imperialist”all kinds of governments of capital or the kings and princes of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates can be. However, such positions, which provide immunity to capitalism and skitter along the border of absurdity, are dangerous because they aim to lure the peoples into choosing an imperialist alliance and the plans of the Eurasian camp that is being formed.

The European Communist Action, based on a class criterion, opposes the imperialist war and stands on the right side of history, defends the interests of the peoples and expresses its internationalist solidarity. The initiative of the Communist Party of Greece, the Communist Party of Mexico, the Communist Party of the Workers ofSpain and the Communist Party of Turkey to issue a joint statement immediately after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, on 24 February 2022, is an important contribution, which was supported by 40 or more Communist and Workers’ Parties and Communist Youth Organizations. It highlighted the real causes of the war and its imperialist character and laid the foundations for the development of the ideological–political struggle.

The international economic, technological and military competition between the USA and China for supremacy in the capitalist system and the confrontation between the Euro-Atlantic alliance, led by the USA, NATO and the EU, and the Eurasian alliance under formation, led by China, which is gaining ground in the economic field, and capitalist Russia, which is the second military power in the world, are expressed in every existing and potential hotbed of war.

Linked to this fierce competition are the ongoing trade wars, tariffs and protectionist measures, the threatsby the Trump administration to Greenland, the plundering of natural resources and the transport route through the Arctic Circle, or the control of the Panama Canal, the strategic shipping route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

The search for and exploitation of energy deposits, transport routes and rare earths, as well as the race for supremacy in artificial intelligence and modern technology in general, are fuelling the confrontation and preparing the ground for new hotspots alongside the ones we already know, e.g. in the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus, the Balkans, the South and East China Seas, Africa and other regions.

The contradictions run through both alliances and sections of the bourgeoisie in each state, because the issue at stake is capitalist profit and the strengthening of the monopolies. This is reflected in the contradictions in the relations between the USA and the EU, between EU and NATO member states, but also in the Eurasian alliance, for example between China and India.

The peoples are witnessing a re-division of the world, which can never be done peacefully, despite the social-democratic and opportunist inventions of a “multi-polar” peaceful world or the praise of temporary and fragile compromises, which are highly misleading. All kinds of negotiations in the context of imperialist peace with a gun to the people’s heads are aprelude to new antagonisms, tensions and wars. This has been demonstrated on all war fronts such as in the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine and other regions. In Palestine, in addition to the massacre, the genocide in the Gaza Strip and the recent fragile ceasefire agreement, the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their land is being planned by the US and Israel for the exploitation of the region by the US and Israeli monopolies. We continue to stand firmly in solidarity and demand freedom for Palestine.

The war in Ukraine is escalating and the risks of generalization are increasing, even with the use of nuclear weapons, which both sides possess. Russia continues to have the upper hand on the war front, holding and expanding the territories it has occupied. The Euro-Atlantic bloc is supplying Ukraine with advanced weapons that are already strikingdeep into Russian territory, andis training Ukrainian forces. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is warning of a “long-lasting war” and provocatively calling on the people to make great sacrifices, such as cuts in salaries, pensions, health and education, while an increase in NATO war spending is imminent, with each state contributing from 2% of GDP to 3% or even 5%, asthe US leadership has proposed.

Under these conditions, where each imperialist camp intensifies its war preparations according to its objectives, the opening of negotiations between the USA and Russia for a ceasefire on the Ukrainian front is being planned and the question is being explored whether there can be a compromise that includes the "legitimization" of the results of the war, the dismemberment of Ukraine, the so-called “security guarantees” and the presence of foreign military forces on the Ukrainian territory.

Once again the conclusion is confirmed that as long as the causes of the imperialist confrontation remain, any kind of negotiation will be dangerousfor the peoples.

The KKE struggles on the basis of the interests of the Greek and other peoples;it condemns the imperialist war and Greece’s involvement in it;it clashes with the New Democracy government, the social-democratic parties PASOK and SYRIZA, and the extreme right-wing formations, which as a whole, despite their individual differences, defend the interests of the bourgeoisie, NATO and the Euro-Atlantic plans. It leads the struggle for the closure of the US bases in Greece, which has been turned into a launching pad for war, for the return of the Greek armed forces from imperialist operations abroad, for the disengagement from NATO and the EU.  The communists, together with the workers, the people and the youth,take action in the ports and on the railway network and prevent the transfer of military material to the Ukrainian front or in support of Israel, as it was donein Thessaloniki, Alexandroupolis, Tyrnavos and the port of Piraeus by the dock workers. Our party voted in parliament against the state budget and military spending for NATO needs.  In the general strike on 20 November, and in many other workers’demonstrations, the main slogan was “Give money for wages, health and education. Greece out of the slaughterhouses of war”, which reflects the direction of the struggle. The struggle will continue with a new general strike on 28 February, the second anniversary of the crime that was bound to happen in Tempethat caused the death of 57 people, in order to hold accountable those responsible, to denounce the system and the policies that are responsible for the suffering of the people, to shout louder the slogan “their profits or our lives”.

The wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and other regions, the recession in Germany and the Eurozone, the expected capitalist crisis and the needs of the monopolies in this environment have led to the strategy of the war economy, which is promoted in all EU countries and sets the framework of economic developments.

The war economy is an option for the EU to adapt to the increased energy, trade and technological competition, to prepare for a generalized imperialist war and to find an outlet for the over-accumulated capital, which remains stagnant despite the investments made in the so-called green and digital economy in recent years and the billions earned by the financial groups.

Military spending by EU member states exceeded €326 billion, with an increase of more than 30% in the period 2021–2024. €118 billion have been spent on the war in Ukraine over two years, while wages and pensions are being kept low in conditions of intolerable povertyand spending on health, education, social services and infrastructure is being cut.

New war packages involving huge sums of money are being prepared. The infamousDraghi report envisages more than €500 billion over the next decade, while billions of euros have already been allocated to the “European Defence Fund” (EDF), the “European Defence Industrial Development Programme” (EDIDP) and the bogus “European Peace Facility” (EPF). All these mechanisms serve the EU’s goal of “securing Europe’s sovereignty and position as an international player in the new strategic, geopolitical and multipolar context” at the expense of the peoples.

The aims of the war economy are not limited to increasing military spending on modern weapons systems and large investments in military industry, but extend to and determine the course of strategic industries, such as telecommunications, information technology, transport, food and supply chain, and are linked to capitalist planning in all sectors, such as health and education.

Under the conditions of the escalation of the imperialist war and the intensification of the imperialist competition, new demands for the preparation and action of the communist, workers’ and people’s movement in every country are emerging. We need to be showreadiness and struggle against complacency in order to organize resistance on a higher level against the strategy of capital and the EU, the anti-people policies of the governments and their consequences.

The firm stand of the communists can prevent the bourgeoisie’s efforts to secure the consent of the workers and toco-opt them for the aims of the war preparations. It can contribute to the multifaceted development of demands in workplaces, sectors and working-classneighbourhoods, in a line of counter-attack and conflict with capital and its power.

The bourgeois classes, the governments and parties of capital play and will play the card of “national unity” and “national interests” to manipulate and subjugate the exploited to the aspirations and interests of the local exploiters and their international alliances. Repression, authoritarianism and anti-communism are and will be on the rise. The Niinistö report, which is promoted by the EU, links “civil protection” and the crisis response mechanisms in general with war preparation. As a result, the parties of European Communist Action must prepare themselves properlyand in a multifaceted way to strengthen their ties with the working class, the popular strata and the youth,and to be at the forefront of the struggle for the development of the class struggle under all conditions.

Through action and persistent ideological–political work, the vanguard role of the communists will be even more widely recognized and the dominant policies in each country will be condemned.

We must militantly and persistently explain to the people why they cannot trust the bourgeois classes, their governments and parties, linking the struggle for the disengagement of our countries from the Euro-Atlantic plans with the real way out of the imperialist war, fighting for the overthrow of capitalism, for socialism, for the socialization of the means of production, for scientific central planning, for the people to live the way they deserve.