International Initiative for Peace
War is the essence of the imperialist-capitalist system, its very nature. The present conflict, however, has causes beyond this fact.
The imperialist countries, led by the USA, have begun a global war against the world proletariat and the working- and impoverished-classes in order to protect the hegemony of the imperialist-capitalist system from collapse and to prolong the existence of the capitalist means of production.
The imperialist countries decided to use the dissolution of the Soviet Union as an opportunity to pillage other countries, break them apart, and bring them under their control, expanding NATO’s sphere of influence.
Thinking they had won a historic victory over socialism with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the imperialist-capitalist countries were soon rocked by the revolutionary mass movements of the global working class, wage laborers, and the impoverished and oppressed peoples of the world. With the slogan “another world is possible,” millions of starving and destitute people rose up against their capitalist and imperialist masters.
NATO called this situation “the century of uprisings.” They made preparations to suppress these uprisings and erase every trace of socialism from the face of the earth in order to ensure the continuation of the capitalist mode of production and to defend imperialist domination.
The bombing and break up of Yugoslavia at the hands of NATO, the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Libya, the civil wars in Syria and Yemen, and the overthrow of populist governments in Latin American countries like Bolivia and Venezuela by reactionary-fascist coups that brought banana republics in their place are the result of these preparations.
The plan to surround Russia and break it apart into a series of microstates is part of this plan. The goal is to drive the people of Russia, who long for socialism and carry on its culture and values, to extinction.
The war currently taking place in Ukraine is the result of years of preparation by the imperialist camp led by the USA and NATO and was started with this goal in mind. The USA and NATO gathered all of the imperialist states and the capitalist countries that depend on them, as servile as dogs, in one camp of fascists to start this war. The war did not begin in February 2022, but in 2014 with the fascist coup and attack on the people of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The question of who started the war is unimportant. This is a war against Ukrainian fascism and the imperialist powers who back it. Above all, it is a revolutionary war against fascism and imperialism.
This war was begun by communists and revolutionaries in the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics whom Russia was compelled to join. It is a war against Ukrainian fascism which boldly challenges US, British, and German imperialism, and if they are victorious against imperialism, it will be an enormous source of morale and embolden the working class and the oppressed and exploited working peoples of the world.
Victory would mean defeat not only for the fascist Ukrainian government but also the imperialist forces who back Ukraine, organizing fascists, supplying the country with weapons, controlling it as they pour billions of dollars into the conflict. Thus, the victory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics means victory for the global proletariat.
The situation has drawn clear battlelines across the world. On one side the US, British, and EU imperialists are joined by reactionary and fascist states like Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, and Turkey. On the other side, socialist-popular governments Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are joined by powers compelled to support them by their own national interests such as Russia, China, and Belarus. This divide has become crystal clear.
Our party, TKEP/Leninist, unwaveringly takes the side of those opposed to the imperialist-capitalist system.
Revolutionary conditions have developed across the world. The imperialist-capitalist system is in a deep crisis. The bourgeoisie can only maintain its dominance over the global proletariat and working peoples with methods of repression, violence, war, and destruction.
In response, the global proletariat, the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world are revolting against capitalism, repression, starvation and poverty. The heart of the capitalist system, North America and Europe, is being rocked by the social forces of revolution.
France, Germany, Italy, Britan, Spain, and the Balkan countries that have chosen the path of capitalism are being shaped by working class revolutionary mass movements. The workers, laborers, and impoverished of Africa are rising up against imperialism to drive it off of their continent.
In the conditions resulting from this revolutionary situation, the primary duty of revolutionary communist parties is to seize control of the state and end bourgeois hegemony. These conditions now exist in all imperialist-capitalist countries.
It is possible to bring about a lasting, perpetual, and just peace, to destroy the capitalist mode of production in every imperialist-capitalist country, and to replace the rule of the bourgeoisie with the rule of the working class and working peoples.
Throughout the centuries, capitalism and imperialism, the highest form of capitalism, have shown that the wars which have drowned humanity in endless pain are inherent to class society.
In the current war between Russia and the imperialists, the interests of the global proletariat and its ultimate liberation is not served by remaining “neutral.” They are served by defeating the forces of imperialism, destroying the imperialist-capitalist system, and demolishing the bourgeoisie hegemony to form the rule of labor.
The war may spread. Such a development would only increase the economic and political crisis in capitalist countries across the globe and further ripen the revolutionary conditions in the world.
The imperialists are prepared to drown humanity in a sea of blood. But from this blood, a red sun will rise on the horizon of the sea.
This struggle is our final struggle. So let us prepare accordingly!
Statement of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist (TKEP/L) in support of the Rome Peace Conference
