Unfortunately, the invited Soviet friendship organization from Canada, Northstar Compass, was not able to send any of its leaders. However, two articles we distributed contained the Northstar Compass masthead. From the USA, our small Ray O. Light Group was one of two participating US groups from the currently small and weak revolutionary movement within the belly of the beast; for US imperialism is the most powerful and belligerent imperialist fortress in the world, the chief oppressor of the world's peoples. By contrast, the powerful revolutionary movement in the Philippines was represented by participants from the National Democratic Front and from the Communist Party of the Philippines which today leads this powerful liberation movement against US imperialism and its Ramos lackey government.
The working class of most of the other advanced capitalist and imperialist countries, from Japan and from Western Europe were represented by their workers and communist parties. There were small and large organizations from most of Western Europe, from Britain and Scandinavia in the north, to Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal in the south. It seems that all of these countries have more advanced socialist and communist Workers forces than the USA at this time.
The extremely important country of Turkey, which bridges the civilizations of Europe and the Middle East, and which combines characteristics of both an oppressor and oppressed nation (much like Tsarist Russia did) had two revolutionary parties in attendance. Among the revolutionary nationalist and communist forces of the oppressed nations, from the Middle East, the leading Palestinian revolutionary organizations, as well as Algeria, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt were represented. From Africa, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo. From Asia, where much of the revolutionary struggles against imperialism have been centred during the past fifty years, along with the Filipino comrades, there were four parties from India, two from Bangladesh, and an Indonesian group. Among the many representatives from Latin America were revolutionary organizations from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
From the former Socialist Albania, Nexhmije Hoxha, widow of Albania's long time Party and Government leader Enver Hoxha, and herself a major revolutionary Party and government leader, demonstrated that she still retains her revolutionary determination and beliefs. Now in her late seventies, she had been imprisoned for the past years under the new capitalist and pro-USA imperialist regime. Two months before, its supposed "communist leaders" turned the country over to foreign capitalists and local reactionaries, seventy-five percent of the Albanian people had still voted communist. Yet even after suffering such a shocking setback in Albania, comrade Hoxha shared the podium with Hysni Mylloshi, the chairman of the new Communist Party of Albania and together, they provided insight into the current battles of the Albanian working class. From the former USSR, five communist and workers parties (including one based in Azerbaijan) aspiring to help lead the former Soviet workers back to Soviet power participated. These included: Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Russian Communist Workers' Party, Union of Communist Parties, Russian Workers' and Peasants' Party and Communist Party of Azerbaijan. Especially noteworthy were the consistently internationalist contributions of Victor Anpilov, leader of the "Communist Party of the Soviet Union", throughout the sessions. The challenge of leading the working class of Albania and the USSR "back to the future" is unprecedented. By contrast, official representatives of the Workers Party of Korea and the Cuban Communist Party shared the efforts of their socialist regimes at defending their national sovereignty and independence from imperialist aggression and plunder.
What links all these revolutionary working class organizations?
The workers throughout the world are all experiencing exploitation or super-exploitation or are threatened with same under the domination of international capitalism headed by US imperialism.
Eighty-two years ago, Lenin wrote that capitalism had already entered its monopoly stage and that this meant the concentration of capital and the domination of industrial capital by financial capital. The world's markets had already been saturated and wars for the redivision of the world's natural and labor resources and markets was inevitable. (World War I was going on at the time.) Lenin referred to this last, dying stage of capitalism as Imperialism. In the past decade, the globalization of capital, the accelerated concentration of capital, the absolute domination of finance capital over industrial capital have become so pronounced that it is undeniable. Wars and threats of wars sparked by US imperialism have broken out all over the globe. While there are still major and growing contradictions among various capitalist groupings, the "new world order" (the George Bush, Rockefeller-Trilateral Commission term) has sent the mushrooming of international organizations of the international capitalist class. From the Trilateral Commission, to the World Bank, to the IMF, to the Bildeberg Group, the international capitalist class has sought to achieve their maximum unity against the international working class.
The International Communist Seminar, hosted by the Workers Party of Belgium, represents a positive revolutionary step back toward international unity of the international working class which was vital to the world historic victory over the most aggressive and bellicose imperialist powers, the Fascist Axis Powers, in World War II. That victory led to the flowering of national independence movements and socialist victories, especially throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. One very encouraging development is that diverse revolutionary forces supportive of Comrades Stalin, Mao, Hoxha, Fidel, Ho, Che and others are beginning to forge revolutionary anti-imperialist unity. The working class and oppressed peoples of the world urgently need principled revolutionary unity to overcome the unity of the international capitalist class that is today spreading misery on an unprecedented scale.
May the annual International Communist Seminar in Brussels continue to build revolutionary unity of action and of purpose of the world's working people in the years ahead! Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World Unite!
For more information on this Seminar, contact Ray O. Light at the following address:
Boxholder; DLD 354
310 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
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