^{The examination of developments regarding the capitalist crisis will enrich our experience. It will contribute to the development 
of the communists' struggle. Communists study the capitalist crisis, its causes and its consequences, the conditions it creates for the 
development of the ideological, political and mass struggle. 
Nevertheless, the focus of our attention on the capitalist 
 crisis should not distract us from the capitalist development of the 
previous period , in which the factors that led to the crisis developed. Furthermore, the working people must treat capitalist development in a unified way, in all the stages of the economic cycle and draw 
conclusions as well.}

Capitalism is not dangerous only in the phase of the crisis, the economic recession. It is dangerous as a whole. Because, in all its stages, it is characterized by the exploitation of labour, by 
surplus value created by unpaid labour, by the drive 
 for capitalist profit which is the life and soul of the capitalist 
 system.

 



Even in conditions of economic upswing, of expansion of the production and increase of the wealth produced by the workers, it is big 
 capital that appropriates the fruits of this development, increasing 
 its profit and its power. The profits of magnates, bankers, 
ship owners, as well as other sectors of plutocracy, the strengthening 
of monopoly capital are immense.

 



On the contrary, workers face the increase of unemployment, the 
 freezing of salaries and pensions, the postponement of the retirement age, 
 the downgrading of the right to education, healthcare, welfare, sports, 
 culture, as well as the heavy consequences from the privatizations 
 and the deregulation of fields and sectors of the economy.

 


These tendencies do not apply merely to those capitalist countries which hold an intermediate or subordinate position in the capitalist 
 pyramid. They also apply to the US, to the EU as an interstate 
 imperialist organisation. They apply to the capitalist world as a 
 whole.

 



On this basis, the preconditions of the crisis developed. Therefore, 
 the communist parties must struggle in order to highlight the real
 causes of the crisis and reveal the fake allegations of social 
democracy and opportunism that use many pretexts in order to safeguard 
 capitalism and conceal its irreconcilable contradictions.

 



There can be no retreat. The ideological-political struggle must 
 intensify.

 



We must respond resolutely to the allegations of the bourgeois and 
 opportunist forces, especially to those of the European Left Party and 
 the "Die Linke" party which play a leading role in the attempt to 
 promote capital's positions in the working class. We must respond 
 to the new wave of anticommunism unfolding on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the counterrevolution with the full support of liberal, 
 social democratic and opportunist forces.

 



First: the allegation that the crisis has been caused exclusively by 
neo-liberal management conceals the truth. It exonerates capitalism from its responsibilities and whitewashes social democracy. 
 Capitalism has suffered crises since 19th century. With its transition to 
 the imperialist stage, crises took on a systemic character.

 



All forms of management have been tested in order to prevent and avoid 
crises: the reinforcement of the state economic activity and the stimulation of the demand according to neo-Keynesian recipes; 
 likewise neoliberal recipes but also the mixtures of social 
 democratic policies. However, the laws of capitalism 
will assert themselves. Economic crises of overproduction have manifested themselves in all 
 periods, irrespective of the form of management.

 



The capitalist restructuring initiated after the crisis of 1973 and 
spread in the 1990s has not occurred by accident. The goal was to deal with the problems concerning the reproduction of capital and the slowdown of capitalist development. These changes meet the inner need of the system for greater centralization and profit - making of capital through the deregulation of markets, the free movement of capital, goods, services and labor. But even this 
management has lost its dynamic. It led to an economic crisis.

 



Second: the characterization of the crisis as a financial one and the 
 theory of casino-capitalism conceal the real causes of the crisis. 
 Furthermore, thee theories have been refuted by developments since the crisis
 has already embraced all spheres of economy.
 The history of crises has proved that they can initially manifest themselves in the financial system but their root is the 
 over-accumulation of capital that takes place in the sphere of 
 production.

 



The bad loans granted by banks and other financial companies in the US 
 have served a specific need: to provide a profitable way out for
 over-accumulated capital that included the surplus value created by the exploitation of labour, by unpaid labour in the 
 production; to continue expanded reproduction, overcoming the problems regarding 
the purchasing power of the workers' families by means of lending for
 home purchase or the satisfaction of other needs.

 

 The analysis of these complicated issues regarding the reproduction of 
 social capital requires the comprehensive examination of the 
relationship between industrial, commercial and bank capital, taking 
 into account that in the era of imperialism, even more so nowadays, 
 the merging of industrial with bank capital, the formation of 
 financial capital has taken on huge dimensions.

 



The real cause of the crisis is the intensification of the main 
 contradiction of capitalism, the contradiction between the social 
 character of production and the capitalist appropriation of its 
 results due to the fact that the means of production are under capitalist ownership. The goal of capitalism is profit and not the 
 satisfaction of the people's needs.

 

 These elements prevail in the exploitative system. They constitute the 
 basis of anarchic, uneven development. They are the basis of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, which is caused by the increase of the 
 organic composition of capital. They are the basis of the contradiction between 
 production and consumption. These factors lead to disfunctions in the reproduction of social capital, to "outbreaks", and crises of 
overproduction.

 



We struggle so that the people understand the real causes of the crisis,
 and we devote all our forces to the organisation of the struggle of 
 the working class and the popular strata against capitalist
 aggressiveness and its anti-people policy that supports capital and tries to place the burden of the crisis on the peoples' shoulders. 
 People should draw conclusions. Trillions of dollars have been 
 allocated for the reinforcement of bankers, magnates and other 
capitalists strengthening the offensive on workers' and peoples' 
 forces, the effort to make them pay for capitalist crisis. This 
 course is followed both in the US and the EU as well as in other 
 capitalist countries, both by neoliberal and social democratic parties. 
 The decision of the G20 is also at the same direction. Their 
contradictions reflect the rivalries between the monopoly interests 
 they serve.

 



Capitalist powers fear the crisis of capital over-accumulation 
and overproduction that embraces the US, the EU, Russia, Japan, Latin 
 America and is causing a slowdown in the economy of China and India. In order 
 to mislead the people they use several contrived theories. They 
 promote false expectations in order to check social response and 
 hinder the development of class struggle.

 



The social democratic forces, the Socialist International and its
 cadres, play a leading role in this effort.

 



First: they present the control of the capital's movement as a way 
 out. They talk about the democratization of the World Bank and the 
 European Central Bank. However, it has been proved that nothing can 
 prevent the sharpening of capitalist contradictions and that no 
 measure can change the nature of the bank system which is a tool of capitalism.

Second: they promote the nationalization of certain banks 
 or other capitalist enterprises as a way out. This position is 
 deceptive because even in that case the criterion of profit remains on 
 the basis of a deregulated market that breeds competition and 
 aggressiveness against the peoples.

 



Third: they are worried about the increase of unemployment. As a solution they promote the increase of growth rates combined 
 with the so-called "green development". They are actually fooling the 
 peoples. Capitalist development has never managed to ensure the right 
 to work for all the people, and it will not do so.

 



The source of the evil is the fact that the means of production are in 
 the hands of the capitalists. Profit is the criterion for development. In any case, the system is characterized by the 
 anarchy in production and uneven development between various 
 fields and sectors of the economy as well as geographical areas.

 



This fact underlines that in capitalism workers can never be before
 profits. It reveals how misleading the allegations about the 
 "rationalized", "human" capitalism and the regulation of the market 
 are. Communists must refute resolutely these illusions about the 
 management of the capitalist system and face up to the difficulties in 
 the organisation and the development of the class struggle, clarifying 
that there is no common interest between capital and the working 
 class, neither in the phase of the crisis nor in the recovery phase of capitalist development.

 



Capitalists and their parties promote new anti-people's measures in 
the name of climate changes, concealing the fact that they 
constitute the result of the exploitation of the natural resources by capital with the aim of profit-making. Energy, water, forests, 
 wastes, agricultural production, are privatized and concentrated in the 
 hands of a few multinational corporations, now also it is done in the name of the environment. Similar measures are promoted, to a greater or lesser 
 extent, in all capitalist countries irrespective of the degree of capitalist development.

 



Furthermore, the protection of the environment is also used as a 
pretext for imperialist interventions. Multinational monopolies, 
 through the powerful imperialist powers, above all the USA and the EU, 
 promote anti-people's interstate agreements in the framework of the 
 WTO and the Doha round of trade negotiations with the less developed
 capitalist countries. Thus they set goals, e.g., for biofuels, that
 destroy vast forest areas. They promote genetically modified food 
 and other measures as well, striking an even bigger blow to workers' income and that of the poor and medium-sized peasantry.

 



"Green economy," promoted mainly by the EU, constitutes a way out for the over-accumulation of capital and the safeguarding of monopoly
 profits by means of intensifying the exploitation of workers and 
 natural resources. Not only does it not solve the problem of 
climate change but, on the contrary, it intensifies it. Climate and environmental problems cannot be dealt with apart from the 
 ownership of the concentrated means of production and the issue of political power.

 



Social concession, class collaboration is one of the most insidious 
and dangerous tools for the manipulation and disarmament of the working class. We are thus obliged to strengthen the ideological front and to struggle against such positions, which in most cases are 
 expressed not only by neoliberal or social democratic parties but 
 also by parties that present themselves as "left", namely opportunist 
parties. These parties try to build relationships with communist 
 parties and exert influence on their ranks, their ideology and their policy.

 



Some of these so-called "left" parties do not only promote positions 
that serve capitalism but they also resort to open anticommunism, they slander socialism adn the history of the communist movement.

 



The effort of the communist movement for the unity of the working 
 class should not be based on its relationship with so-called "left" opportunist parties. It should depend on its ability to
 convince, to rally and mobilise working and popular forces against 
 monopolies and imperialism, and against their open or covert allies.

 



KKE believes that the clarification of this crucial issue will give an
 impetus to the struggle of the communist movement. It will strengthen its independent action and the recruitment of new forces in the labour 
 movement. This issue is particularly important for the change of the 
correlation of forces and the effectiveness of the struggle in
 conditions of crisis but also for the future.

 



Furthermore we would like to stress the following:

 

 This intense ideological-political struggle requires a bigger effort 
 to tackle developments according to a Marxist-Leninist analysis. It also requires the strengthening of the international
 meetings of communist and workers parties in this  respect. Only in that way can international meetings fulfil their role, respond to 
 the complicated duties of the communists, and meet the expectation of 
 the working people.


In Greece we experience the difficulties of a hard battle
 characterised by the aggressiveness of the EU and the social democratic government. Under the conditions of the crisis the 
 enforcement of capitalist restructuring is accelerated. The effort to impose the so called "flexicurity" and the flexible forms of employment in general intensifies, the policy of dismantling the 
 social security rights continues, healthcare, welfare education are 
being further privatised while salaries and pensions freeze. All means are used to reduce the price of labour, and to increase the 
degree of exploitation and capitalist profit-making. 

 



Under these conditions KKE increases its efforts for class unity of the working class and the social alliance with the peasantry and other oppressed popular strata. It insists on the organisation of 
 the working class in the workplaces and the trade unions. It supports
 PAME, the class-oriented pole in the trade union movement that 
 struggles against the forces of yellow trade unionism and fights hard battles for the rights of the working class.

 

 The strengthening and the effectiveness of the struggle of the
 class-pole of the movement require its orientation against the efforts
 to place the burden of the crisis on people's shoulders; likewise the 
 promotion of demands that meet the people's needs (full and stable
 employment, substantial increases in wages and pensions, exclusively free, public healthcare, welfare, education system etc).

 



The trade unions that struggle through the ranks of PAME have achieved
 significant results. Through strikes, demonstrations, occupations and 
other forms of struggle they rescind dismissals; they force the 
 employers to reinstate dismissed workers; they sign collective labour 
 contracts that provide increases exceeding the incomes policy; they 
block the attacks against immigrants.

 



KKE along with the class-oriented movement confront these difficulties 
 and are particularly demanding regarding the strengthening of the 
 ideological, political, mass struggle for the liberation of
 working-popular forces from the influence of bourgeois politics and 
 ideology from reformism.

 

 In our opinion, communist parties must combine efforts for the strengthening of the class oriented movement at national level with the strengthening of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) which 
is making significant progress in its reconstruction.

 



We should be in a state of alert. Capitalist crisis intensifies intra-imperialist contradictions in a period when significant reshufflings take place, when the share of the US in the Gross World Product dwindles, the EU reinforces its presence, and China, Russia, India 
 and Brazil are strengthened.

 



Working people should not have any illusions about the so-called 
 "multipolar world", about the slogans of social democracy about the 
 "democratisation of the UN" or the "new architecture of the 
 international relations". These slogans only intend to humanize 
capitalism. In fact there has never been a "unipolar world"! Intra 
 imperialist contradictions have always existed. Nevertheless, in the 
 past they were mitigated due to the need to confront the USSR and the 
 other socialist countries.

 



Nowadays, we witness a new intensification of intra-imperialist 
 contradictions as well as the quest of several rising imperialist forces and alliances to play an upgraded role in international 
 affairs, described through the model of the "multi polar 
 world".

 



In fact imperialism is characterised by the drive for markets and natural resources. Communists have assumed great responsibilities as 
 regards the enlightenment and mobilisation of the peoples against
 imperialist wars and interventions, against imperialist 
 occupation, as well as against all imperialist organisations and centres irrespective of their "colour", their name or the region where they are formed in.

 



The conflicts inside but also between the imperialist organisation 
such as the WTO should not trap the working people in demands for a
 better or a more "fair" management of the capitalist system. The 
 agreements concluded there reflect the correlation of forces. It is 
 an illusion to believe that they can become fairer.

 



Communists do not struggle for a better position of their country in 
the world capitalist market or a better management of capitalism but for the overthrow of capitalism and for socialist construction!

 

 The working people both in developed capitalist countries and in 
 countries with a medium and lower level of capitalist development should respond with a unified common front against imperialists, against the 
 efforts to divide the peoples irrespective any class criteria in 
 "South and North" in "rich and poor" countries.

 



Communists must respond to these pseudo-divisions with the elaboration 
 of a common strategy against imperialism, with an even more
 distinctive unity at global level that will be forged in our 
 coordinated struggles at national, regional and global level in 
 cooperation with other anti-imperialist forces.

 



The historical slogan of the Communist Manifest "proletarians of all 
 countries, unite!" is still relevant.

 



The distance between capitalists and the working class increases both in the so called "developing" and "developed" countries. The social contradictions sharpen due to the overall attack launched by big 
capital after the overthrow of the socialist system in Europe on the 
 rights and the gains of the workers around the world.

 



Historical experience has proved that the communist movement 
 strengthens to the extent that it is firmly dedicated to the line of 
anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly struggle and to its strategic goal, 
namely the struggle for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism,
 that is to say, socialism, the abolition of the exploitation of man by man. In 
 the modern era, an era of transition from capitalism to socialism, the struggle should not aim at bourgeois democratic transformations but at 
socialist power that will overthrow the power of monopolies and 
 solve problems of economic backwardness, dependence etc.

 

 The enemies of socialism and the various anticommunists, who
 celebrated a few days ago the fall of Berlin Wall and the overthrow of
 socialism, cannot stop the course of history, no matter what they do.

 



Socialism has had a great historical contribution. In a few years it solved problems that capitalism has not managed to solve throughout 
centuries. It established the right to work, to free healthcare and 
 education. It developed sports and culture for the people. It 
 abolished the exploitation of man by man. It showed the supremacy of 
 socialism over capitalism.

 



The Soviet Union was a key factor in the victory over fascism,
 having lost 20 million of its people in the battle.

 

 We are studying the shortcomings, the mistakes, the opportunist deviations that 
led to the overthrow of socialism. We are drawing the lessons. Socialism of the 
 new century constitutes an integral continuation of the heritage and
 the lessons of the socialism of the 20th century.

 



Socialism is more relevant and necessary. The intensification of the main capitalist contradiction, unemployment, poverty, exploitation and the capitalist crisis show its historical limits.

 



The way to the satisfaction of the people's needs is through workers' power, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the socialisation 
 of the means of production and land, central planning and workers' control.

 



This is the beacon that lights our path.


 http://inter.kke.gr