I extend my warmest greetings of comradeship and solidarity to your meeting. Our work and the dedication of this body is not only a historic meeting…it is also of fundamental purpose to the over-arching efforts of humanity to thwart and defeat the vicious and extremely dangerous and militarized efforts by world Imperialism who seeks to establish their rule and control of peoples and resources world wide. I extend my total respect and congratulations to you all and particularly to Michael and Helen Lucas and to the never failing support of the Society of Carpatho-Russian Canadians. Over the past many years theirs has been the role of superb leadership, coupled with great personal sacrifices. May I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I profoundly regret my inability to be with you in person.

When we speak of Imperialism and the vicious role of monopoly in this year of 2004 in the new millennium, the continuation and upsurge of Imperialist aggression and war, obviously has created new historic problems rising from the "globalized" conditions of aggression by monopoly capitalism. We must study and seek instruction of these in great detail. The material conditions that gave rise originally to Marxism-Leninism have advanced with seven-league boots in terms of militarization, of the economic production, scientific and also technological development. On the contrary, the sciences of how we can live together have failed. Within the time of a single human life, society has grown from ox drawn transport to sending vehicles to Mars, and to a state of communications that our grandparents would never have believed possible. Again, to the contrary, the ability to destroy life is highest ever.

Yes, we live in a vastly changed world in those terms and we would be naive indeed not to recognize and seek to understand what immense changes for better or for worse we all now face. In many discernable ways political, social, cultural and inter-human conduct has either regressed, or responded in often chaotic and confused way to the changing methods of material production, inter-state relations, and varying forms of governance… international, national and local. The continuing factor is the class struggle and wars, attended by wars of national liberation. All of this now falls under militarized intrusions and wars flowing from "monopoly capitalism"… what Lenin analyzed as the "essence of Imperialism". The first line of his seminal 1916 work "Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism" reads:

"The enormous growth of industry and the remarkably rapid process of concentration of production in ever larger enterprises represents one of the most characteristic feature of capitalism."

It is obvious that cancer-like growth of capitalism since that time reached levels almost incomprehensible for us. But Lenin’s exposure of the political and economic growth in his time still provides basic foundations of knowledge and understanding for us today. He exposed vicious political-ideological theories and practices that blocked the way of revolutionary advances then…and still do today. Correctly he defined in the preface (written in 1920 to his 1916 "Imperialism") for the French and German editions that:

"Imperialism is the eve of the proletarian social revolution. This has been confirmed on an international scale since 1917" he wrote.

In preceding paragraphs he categorically stated:

"Not the slightest progress can be made towards the solution of the practical problems of the Communist movement and the impending social revolution unless the economic roots of this phenomena are understood and its sociological significance is appreciated…"

He was underlining his earlier reference o prevailing attitudes, policies and ideological and philosophical positions of the reformist and revisionist leadership of what he described as the "disintegrating and decaying Second International" and activity to re-assert Marxism and the revolutionary concepts of working class and peoples united action to establish a new "Socialist state". He was engaged in this immense political struggle against the socialist reformists such as Otto Bauer, Kautsky, Bernstein, Scheidemann, Noske, Thomas, Ebert, Ramsay MacDonald and a host of others of that ilk who in fact were the "agents of capitalism and labour’s ranks."

His full meaning and purpose was underlined in yet another preceding paragraph of the Preface of 1920, when he exposed Imperialism, using part of its enormous "super-profits" raped from their "foreign investments" is the colonial holdings, literally corrupted and "bought off" whole sections of labour leaders:

"…it is quite possible to bribe the labour leaders and the upper strata of the labour aristocracy… The stratum of the labour aristocracy who have become quite bourgeois…serves as the principal bulwark of the Second International, and in our day, the principal social; (not military) support of the bourgeoisie. They are the real agents of the bourgeoisie in the labour movement, the labour lieutenants of the capitalist class, channels of reformism and chauvinism…" (emphasis in original)

Lenin and the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in the years leading to 1917, confronted the enormous task of bringing leadership to the developing, war exhausted, revolutionary forces moving together in opposition and activity among workers, peasants and important sections of the intelligentsia. Essentially two central slogans expressed the long seething demands of the people. "Land, Peace and Bread!" was coupled with the established "Soviets" (Councils) of the People" that included increasingly numbers of workers in the leadership), and in the Bolshevik Party proposal of "All Power To The Soviets". The peoples, placed their feet on the path to establishing a fully integrated Socialist future as they carried through the Bolshevik (majority) Proletarian (working class) Socialist revolution. They smashed Imperialism’s stranglehold on the resources and riches of the old Czarist ruled Empire.

History tells us the immediate reaction of world Imperialism was an organized military invasion of the new state to retrieve and re-establish and emplace foreign financial and industrial ownership. Headed by Great Britain no less than fourteen foreign armies assembles and invaded the new Socialist State. Included were the military of Canada, side by side with Great Britain, the USA, France, Germany, Italy etc. They went down to inevitable defeat at that time. But from that historical point forward until 1990 every means possible, including the Nazi Imperialist war of 1941 was carried forward to re-establish the Imperialist’s ownership and control of their "lost" fields of plunder. Apart from the military, economic, political wars and sabotage (read Cold War) a central and particular ideological and theoretical weapon in the hands of the Imperialists was inexorable anti-Marxist, opportunist bureaucratic conduct through out more than seventy years of very aggressive subversion and sabotage of Soviet Socialism.

This was a fundamental political struggle waged first by V.I. Lenin against what he described as "the principal social (not military) support of the bourgeoisie…the real agents of the bourgeoisie in the labour movement…" For those who may reject totally or in part that indictment, we can only suggest a historical review from 1917 forward to the present to check it out. Included would be found and brought into focus the "works" of such as Kautsky, Bernstein, Otto Bauer, Scheidemann, Noske, Ebert, Ramsay MacDonald et al … and above all, the final counter-revolutionary betrayals that grew and grew within the leading ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from Khrushchev to Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Yakovlev.

The pre-eminent and unrelenting political struggle begun by Lenin did not and could not end with the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In fact we know that anti-Soviet traitors such as Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev and an army of other "inside workers for counter-revolution" were welcomed world wide by Imperialism and embraced as "heroes" of Imperialist totally false and hyped claims of "freedom and democracy". In latter years, with some honourable exceptions, the unscrupulous, undermining of the Marxist-Leninist aim and purpose of developing conditions for the growth of the "New Soviet Citizen" by ongoing empowerment of the people with educational, ideological, economic, political and cultural programs developed by the people were sidelined and lost. This was done under very noxious, unrelenting bureaucratic opportunism, and Imperialist pressure of lies and the Cold War, spawned by subversive US financial and corporate powers.

The Nikita Khrushchev’s alleged "revelations" and the "demonization" of Socialism and Stalin, opened the door to penetration of counter-revolutionary activity that led to the final dismantlement of the USSR by the internal counter-revolutionaries, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the ideological "agent of influence" Yakovlev. The "real agents" of the bourgeoisie both within the USSR and leading forces of labour movements from outside had served their Imperialist masters well. The Soviet people and the people of the world paid, and continue to pay as this is being written.

It is not my intent to place before you definitive or total answers as to how or in what manner organizations such as ours can proceed. That will require far-reaching and ongoing debate and discussion in totally frank exchanges – as will final analyses of how the anti-Marxist-Leninist "leaderships" brought down the USSR.

However, on this occasion I cannot other than suggest that any such discussion or debate that fails to connect the historic assessment and analyses of Lenin’s first all-important encounter with the supine 2^nd International "labour lieutenants of the capitalist class, channels of reformism and chauvinism…" will be barren of meaning for the struggles today for socialism. The working class and people will continue to struggle blindly…to their detriment and to Imperialism’s advantage.

Our program of Friendship, Solidarity and Peace cannot stand in isolation from the general political crisis Imperialism has imposed. We recognize that a program of Friendship, Solidarity and Peace is a subjective factor that can grow essentially only with the class struggle of a political character that are the opposite, or flip side of the Imperialist onslaught on all the people. We are totally aware that such struggles arise as part of the movements by the people in sometimes chaotic efforts to effect fundamental change. The role of Marxism-Leninism, and its practice by the Communist Parties we fully recognize as primary when based upon and rooted in such struggles of the working class and of the people. From this point of view we fully expect that national demands and activity will unquestionably take a pre-eminent position in the development of policies, programs and activities developed by political forces.

But, precisely because of the "globalized" character of monopoly capitalism…Imperialism…that now threatens all people everywhere, the international development of Friendship and Solidarity where possible under peaceful conditions, ranks at the top level of consideration.

Without the element of real International Solidarity, unconvincingly displayed by actions of some Communist Parties, Global Imperialism will confront only a series of nationally based oppositions. The very survival of the species, demands more and taking into full account the varying tactical requirements and national anti-Imperialist movements that run gamut of different historical and political experience, globalization of human and political qualities of our Friendship and Solidarity program stands as absolutely indispensable. Race, colour, creed, national origin and cultural heritage must now be turned into paths of international solidarity in the anti-imperialist struggles to build a "globalized" united font of all peoples.

It is on these grounds, as an active member and to a modest degree locally, nationally and internationally, a leading force in the Communist, labour and peace movements since the late 1930’s, a period of some three generations, in all humility I offer my sincere greetings on this important occasion. In 1916 Lenin wrote "Imperialism on the eve of the proletarian, social revolution". In 2004, eighty years later, I profoundly believe we can say: "Imperialism now stands in the first light of the dawn of proletarian and peoples social revolution." Their crisis is without possible remedy.

With fraternal and comradely greetings and embraces.

RAY STEVENSON
Associate Editor
Northstar Compass