11 IMCWP, Intervention by CP of the Russian Federation

Intervention by Vyacheslav Tetekin,

Member of Presidium, Secretary of the Central Committee,

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Dear Comrades,

I’m very glad to be here in this unique brotherhood of the Communists of the World. We have here an extremely valuable exchange of ideas and experience. It is a great inspiration to Russian Communists.

It is a year since the world economic crisis broke out. Its nature and possible consequences are still at the focus of attention. This is a systemic crisis which makes one doubt about the prospects of the American-style global economy that predominates in the world today. I think it would be appropriate in this respect to share the views outlined by the Russian Communists.

The events of late last year and this year have proved the validity of the classical Marxist-Leninist thesis to the effect that crises are an inherent and inevitable part of capitalism. The advocates of a free-for-all market have suddenly discovered that the existing capitalist system would have collapsed but for the resolute state interference. We have watched with interest the government in the citadel of the free market, the one of the USA, doing precisely what the Communists have been proposing all along, nationalizing key banks and major corporations.

There is a lively debate on whether the bottom has been reached and whether the recovery of the economy, of which there are some signs, will be fast or slow. Glib pronouncements about the end of the crisis have drowned out some candid and honest assessments, which hold that this is a crisis of the current speculative model of capitalism, and that its origin is the United States of America, the beacon of the capitalist world.

Talk about an early end to the crisis is called upon, among other things, to justify the reluctance and inability of the “powers that be” to change anything in the existing model. While at the preparatory stage for the first G20 meeting some concrete and resolute proposals were heard, now they have practically disappeared. And indeed, why change anything if the broken model could be fixed with tax payers’ money. Although the world oligarchy has lost some superfluous fat, it has no intention of giving up its attempts to continue living according to the old templates. The banks, the mainstays of the oligarchic capitalism, which have benefited most from the anti-crisis measures, are staunchly defending corporate interests. They have an iron grip on the actions of their countries’ governments.

However, the locomotive of speculative capitalism has broken down. Cosmetic repairs can be made, but it obviously is no longer able to move forward at the same speed and with the same load. Those who were pinning their hopes exclusively on “effective global capitalism”, including Russia, suffered the most. This should prompt far-reaching conclusions.

We are convinced that the crisis of the world economy is of a fundamental character arising both from the contradictions of capitalism in general (as proved by Marx) and from the faults of the specific model of neo-liberal capitalism. In the opinion of major Western scholars such a fall cannot be overcome easily or rapidly. Recovery is only possible if the governments come up with qualitatively new methods of governing, methods whose novelty and practical implementation match the depth of the slump that has occurred.

It took the Americans nearly ten years to overcome the Great Depression, and they did so with difficulty only thanks to Roosevelt’s New Deal which was based on the left-centre economic philosophy of Keynes. The course relied heavily on the Soviet experience of the early five-year plans in the field of planning and social engineering. Today it bears repeating that notwithstanding all the Western crises, the Soviet country was enjoying a rapid and sustained development using novel economic and social methods. Ultimately it helped the world to recover from the crisis in those years. It helped to free the planet of the plague of fascism.

However, no decisive changes are taking place in the consciousness and methods of running the state and society in the West today, and consequently, due to objective reasons, the crisis there will deepen. The next fall will be even more dangerous. It is perfectly clear today that protective mechanisms need to be found to prevent the destructive sway of globalization, that new approaches must be found.

It cannot be denied that the crisis triggered the process of active erosion of the unjust world economic order that has existed up until now. Similarly, we see the erosion of the economic and political structures that ensured the dominance of one power in the world arena around which the main allies were grouped as satellites.

Serious changes may be needed in the work of such organizations as the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, etc. Simultaneously the question arises of ensuring the stability of the political system that enabled a small group of highly developed capitalist states to dominate the modern world.

Dear Comrades,

Just as I have said the intellectual quality of our discussion is very high. One really feels that Marxism remains the most powerful instrument of the human society understanding. We have brilliantly analyzed the contradictions of capitalism and confirmed its inevitable self-destruction. But we must not underestimate the ability of capitalism to adapt to changing situations. It managed to adapt itself for October 1917 Revolution in Russia by introducing social security systems in Europe and the USA to keep people away from socialism. It succeeded in adapting itself for the collapse of colonial empires after World War II by introducing economical neocolonialism. And it is adapting itself for the current crisis by performing unthinkable – nationalizing banks and major corporations. The intellectual stooges of capitalism are diligently studying Marxism in order to defeat the one.

Of course the adaptation power of capitalism won’t save it from eventual collapse. It is a system driven by greed and we can already see how at the very first signs of recovery capitalists abandon their lofty intentions to correct the wrongs of current model. They are enthusiastically blowing up new financial bubble similar to the one that caused the current crisis.

Anyhow it is clear that capitalism is unlikely to collapse automatically by itself. We must help capitalism to collapse.

Of course the unity in action and collective solidarity are extremely important. But the most important thing is to strengthen our respective parties and turn them into the consolidation centers of all progressive anti-capitalist forces.

Russian Communists are moving in precisely this direction. The capitalist mafia in Russia composed of criminal oligarchy and top state bureaucracy is perhaps the most greedy an irresponsible in the world. Though Russia is potentially the richest country this capitalist mafia mismanaged the economy to the point that our country suffered the most sever impact from the crisis.

Now people start to see tremendous difference between socialism they had 20 years ado and the highly criminalized society they are offered now under the name of capitalism. Hence there is noticeable change in political mood. Even in condition of terrible election frauds the Communist Party systematically receive from 15% to 20% of votes at various elections. We know however that our potential support is well above. And we pledge here that we are going to intensify our work to return socialism to Russia and restore the Soviet Union.

Che Guevara’s famous expression reads as follows: “Let’s be realistic – let’s demand impossible”.

But world socialism is increasingly becoming possible. Let’s work for it!