Buenos Aires, April 2^nd and 3^rd, 2018



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The workers, socialist and revolutionary organizations gathered at the International Conference convened by the Partido Obrero (Workers’ Party) of Argentina, the Partido de los Trabajadores (Workers’ Party) of Uruguay, the EEK of Greece and the DIP of Turkey, which took place in Buenos Aires City during April 2^nd and 3^rd, release the following declaration, as we face a world scale scenario of economic and political crises, wars and popular rebellions.

The expansion of international wars and phenomena such as Trump and Brexit, demonstrate that the world crisis cannot be solved by purely economic means. The tendencies towards international rivalries, fiscal and trade wars are being reinforced, breaking the internal balance in nations and altering the particular and episodic relations between classes. Capitalist restoration, in turn, cannot be resolved peacefully. We are witnessing one of the most contradictory and violent historical transitions in history.

War and capitalist restoration

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, humanity has entered a new cycle of imperialist wars, basically led by US imperialism.

The wars that have burst in the Middle East and North Africa, in the ex-Yugoslav and Soviet areas, and in Afghanistan and Africa since the 1990s, are the expression of the fundamental tendencies of the period of capitalist restoration, of the new great depression – in place since 2007/8 – and the consequent economic war that has taken root.

So-called 'local' or 'proxy' wars, that is, via arming 'native' agents, have an international common thread, that is, they are part of the attempt to confront the crisis by means of a recolonization of the planet, especially the area of the former 'socialist states'. In a way, the cycle of imperialist wars enters a new stage; direct conflicts with Russia and China emerge in the South Sea of ​​China, North Korea, and Ukraine (Donbass region).

The increasing tensions and antagonisms between the ruling classes and governments in Greece and Turkey are fully exploited by the imperialists of the United States and the European Union, and threaten to extend the imperialist war in the Aegean and Balkan region. We call on the workers and the oppressed in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus to unite and fight against the common enemy: imperialism and capitalism. War against imperialist and capitalist wars. For the unification of the struggle of all peoples in a Socialist Federation.

The capitalist crisis

These imperialist wars are closely related to the capitalist crisis, which began in the early 1970s and has taken on a colossal dimension with the bankruptcy of 2007/8. Capitalist bankruptcy is but the explosive expression following a long period of exhaustion of the development of the productive forces, and of the historical decline of the regime. A quarter of a century after the dissolution of the USSR and the restorationist process in China, it becomes clear that the historical impasse of capitalism cannot be solved through economic and political means. The integration of the former nationalized economies into the world capitalist economy cannot proceed by 'peaceful' means.

The perspective of a dissolution of the EU is forcefully patent, not only in the collapse of Greece, but also in Brexit and in the rise of right-wing forces, especially in Germany and Italy, under the demagogic banner of 'recovering national sovereignties'. An example of the centrifugal forces of the EU crisis is evident in the Spanish state, where the struggle of millions of pensioners in the streets against the weakening of the state retirement system is seen throughout the state and reveals the centrality of the working class in defense of its conquests. In this context, we defend the right to self-determination of the peoples of the Spanish State including their independence, and we struggle for a socialist federation of the Iberian peoples.

The threat of national dissolution in Russia motivates the creation of a KGB government led by Putin, and leads to the emergence of authoritarian and Bonapartist regimes, of a restorationist nature, in almost all the states of the former 'socialist bloc', and in China. The 2014 financial explosion in China, and the increasing threat of generalized bankruptcy, explains the demand for exceptional powers by Xi Jing-pin’s clique.

Capitalist bankruptcy has led to national withdrawals, understood as an instrument of commercial, fiscal and financial wars – and, in short, war itself. Bankruptcy has reminded the imperialist states that their main obligation is to rescue capital in their own countries from bankruptcy. This is primarily manifested in the United States, and in a breakdown of international relations as a whole that exacerbates the contradictions of imperialism. Trump has taken up the challenge of this crisis with the slogan "America First", that is to say, the war on all levels, international and national. The rise of Trump poses a crisis for the American political regime and links imperialist wars to the annihilation of democratic rights in the United States.

The economic depression that followed the financial crisis of 2007/8 has, on the one hand, been the breeding ground for fascist vermin, and on the other, of sudden turns of the masses to the left and popular rebellions. This depression is no more than the concrete expression of the historical decline of the capitalist mode of production. The socialization and internationalization of the productive forces requires, on a growing scale, that the world economy be planned on the basis of public property, under the direction of the working class. Against any expression of fascist violence we call for a united front of the working class in defense of workers' organizations. We denounce the sponsorship and complicity of institutions and governments of capitalist democracies in the development of fascist movements and we vindicate the defense of workers with respect to the bourgeoisie, which is the method to defeat fascist attacks and take this fight to victory.

The Conference resolves the organization of a political campaign against organized xenophobia and fascism, against all forms of discrimination and oppression, and calls for the mobilization of the working class against this barbarism.

China and Russia

The 'silk route' and the founding of international banks represent an attempt by China to skirt the consequences of the world capitalist crisis. In no way a solution. It will end up in a fiscal burden for the state, given the absence of a national bourgeoisie. A great number of undertakings under this plan have already fell into paralysis. An imperialist capital has not been created in Russia or China, and the likelihood of an exclusively state-based imperialism is a flimsy hypothesis. These regimes of transition to capitalism face, on the one hand, imperialist colonization (and wars) and, on the other, proletarian revolution. Given a hypothesis of imperialist war against Russia and / or China, to carry out a capitalist restoration of a colonial nature, revolutionary socialists will fight for the complete defeat of imperialism and will take advantage of this struggle to promote the resurgence of the soviets, as the independent political power of the working class; to expropriate the oligarchy and the bureaucracy and develop a socialist revolution, defending the free self-determination of the peoples, in the perspective of the reconstruction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [inspired] in the revolutionary and internationalist origin of the October revolution.

In Ukraine, we defend the resistance against imperialist colonization by NATO and the IMF; we support the Donbass resistance and the expropriation of the local oligarchy protected by Putin’s regime; for an independent and socialist Ukraine.

Middle East

In its eagerness to surround and isolate Russia and China, imperialism, along with its Zionist ally, has kept alive the flame of war in the Middle East and the North African region since the 1991 Gulf War. In the 21st century, a succession of wars broke out in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, Libya, Syria and Yemen. There is a clear danger of a single war in the entire region. Affected by sectarian divisions, each side is driven by the interests of imperialism and regional powers. US imperialism, now under Trump, works hand in hand with Israel and Saudi Arabia, seconded by Egypt, to isolate Iran and its allies (spreading through regimes or opposition forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and even the Western provinces of Saudi Arabia), wherein Turkey plays both sides.

In the ongoing war in Syria, we denounce the reciprocal commitments between NATO, Russia, Turkey and Israel, and demand the end of foreign military intervention; the organization of international humanitarian aid, under the control of workers' organizations; free access of refugees and immigrants to all countries and assistance for their residence; disarming armed groups, the sectarian Talaphian organizations and the expulsion of the dynastic clique of the Al Assads, with the goal of a Socialist Federation of the Middle East. Only in this perspective can the national aspirations of the Kurdish nation be realized.

The recent massacre of Palestinians by the State of Israel, takes place within the framework of the militaristic offensive in which Zionism and imperialism are involved in the Middle East. Within the framework of the perspective of the Socialist Federation of the Middle East we propose the destruction of the Zionist state and the establishment of a secular and democratic Republic in Palestine, where Jews and Arabs coexist.

Latin America

In the present stage, Latin America clearly evidences the collapse of the 'nationalist' experiences. These all came into being as a result of the global crisis, during the upheavals prior to the outbreak of 2008. They were the instrument of a rescue operation for capital, but have recently caved in by virtue of the same global crisis. The collapse of 'national and popular' regimes has led to a particular situation: the emergence of right-wing governments, some through elections, others via 'parliamentary' coups. Massive struggles take place alongside these experiences, although Macri and Temer have managed to pass strategic anti-labor reforms with the [respective] collaboration of Peronism and the PT. The recent crisis and fall of the Kuczynski government [in Peru] reveals that the right does not meet the political conditions to stabilize the region.

Latin America is not immune to imperialist wars, nor could it be, being the backyard of Yankee imperialism. The Pentagon has mounted a gigantic military system in the region, from the Fourth Fleet, to the [military] bases in the Amazon and the attempt to implement them in the Triple Frontier [Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay].

We warn about the threat of economic blockade, coup and military intervention in Venezuela, and call to confront it through agitation and mobilization. In this struggle, we warn, above all, that Maduro is not a government of workers but instead of political and economic oligarchs, 'bolibourgeosie', and that he is engaged in negotiating with finance capital, as evidenced by the mortgaging of oil reserves or their auction to international capital, among many other examples.

Once again and forever: For the Socialist United States of Latin America.

Popular rebellions

The recent popular rebellions that have taken place in Tunisia, Sudan, Iran and Morocco, echo the previous spectacular revolutionary wave of 2011-2013, from the Arab revolutions to Spain and Greece, from Turkey and the Balkans to Wall Street and Brazil. These recent events have shown the provisional character of the defeats of the Arab revolutions – whose greatest expression was the revolution in Egypt – as well as of the viability of political regimes mounted on these defeats.

In France, despite having passed the labor reform without a fight, the result of union bureaucracy collaboration, the announcement of the privatization of the railroad gave place to widespread indignation and a workers' struggle movement that takes place within the perspective of the general strike. In Germany, the struggle of metalworkers’ and government workers’ unions for wage increases open the course for the resurgence of major workers' struggles. In Turkey, the struggle of metalworkers began in 2015 with wild strikes, followed by occupation of factories in 2018, leading to a strike of 135 thousand workers that has won a victory worth highlighting. In China, there is a vigorous recovery of the working class as well as in great part of Asia. The resurgence of major workers' struggles spurred by the ensemble of economic and political crises is a deeply rooted trend on a world scale.

The tendency towards popular rebellion manifests itself in the development of the women's movement and in the radicalization of its mobilizations, that is, direct action and strikes. The political projection of this movement expresses itself when it raises the republic [as an issue] in Spain, the overthrow of theocracy in Iran, the repudiation of Trump and the fight against the Temers and the Macris in Latin America. This anticipate large mass irruptions.

In the context of the emergence of popular rebellions, the crisis of leadership of the exploited has become a central issue. The dominant line of the left, of the center-left and nationalists, is to accentuate their commitments and submission to the current social order. An evaluation of this experience demonstrates the correctness of the strategy of class independence and the construction of revolutionary workers' parties to fight for workers' governments.

 

Rebuild a worker and socialist international

The organizations gathered at the International Conference, call on the proletariat of the imperialist metropolises to fight against the wars unleashed by their bourgeoisies and their states, on the one hand, through international mobilization, and on the other, by emphasizing the class struggle in their countries, in the tradition of "the enemy is in my own country".

We take a stand for a united front to combat imperialist wars with the masses and the organizations that oppose resistance to it, regardless of their confessional tint, as long as they lead a real struggle against imperialism. We also denounce the complicity of the restorationist bureaucracies and national bourgeoisies with that very same imperialism, and the purpose of using it to carry out their own policies of mass privatizations and repression of the working class in their countries.

The whole development of capitalist bankruptcy and wars calls for a struggle of historical implications; only the overthrow of capitalism and the imposition of a workers government can lead to a comprehensive reorganization of society on new social bases.

Down with imperialist wars!

Capitalists should pay for the crisis!

For governments of workers!

For the construction of socialist and revolutionary parties!

Let's build the international!

Long live the socialist revolution.