Dear comrades,
First of all, I would like to convey fraternal greetings from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov to all the participants in the Meeting and to wish you successful and creative work.
On behalf of the party I would like to thank the Communist Party of Cuba for organizing this Meeting which is being held after a long break thanks to its efforts.
Comrades, the CPRF is asking for the time allotted to the CPRF and the UCP-CPSU to be merged so that the participants in the Meeting should get the fullest possible information on the events taking place in Ukraine and their proper assessment.
For my part I would like to set forth the reasons that guided the CPRF in supporting the Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
The beginning of the 21st century was marked by an unprecedented world crisis. Of late, the class essence of the global and internal processes has been manifesting itself ever more dynamically, powerfully and noticeably, having swept practically all the countries and continents. Against this background social cleavages have been growing rapidly.
The growing planetary appetites of world capital provoke internal conflicts in various parts of the world; in pursuit of its goals capital uses armed forces, technologies of “colour revolutions,” terrorists and avowed Neo-Fascists it has nurtured.
The trend is mounting. Today we are witnesses and contemporaries of geopolitical catastrophes on a historic scale.
Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Syria and undisguised threats to other countries provide vivid illustrations of how US imperialism acts in the world.
All the countries which have refused to bow to American diktat and pursue independent foreign policies are branded as sponsors of terrorism. Cuba and Venezuela are salient examples.
Possessed with rabid Russophobia, hatred of Russia and the whole Russian world, the imperialist circles of the USA and Europe, using the situation of redivision of spheres of influence between different national groups of oligarchs, capitalists in Ukraine, the situation they have themselves created, have unleashed a fratricidal war in Donbass where blood is still being shed and people are being killed. Again, Fascism is being used to foment war.
Western leaders openly speak about the start of a new Cold War, an open confrontation with Russia and the need to teach Russian aggressors a lesson by coming out on Ukraine’s side.
Another task is to drag Russia into a military conflict in order to weaken and eventually enslave it.
The offensive is being waged on many fronts, including economic and diplomatic pressure and military threats. Information and ideological offensive plays a key role.
Comrades,
Coming back to the situation in Ukraine, I would like to say that unfortunately, the position of the CPRF in supporting the Special Operation being conducted by Russia has met with a mixed reception among the communist and workers’ parties.
The party is openly accused of pro-government, i.e. pro-imperialist position.
Some parties have shown solidarity with the opinion of the Greek comrades who maintain that what it taking place in Ukraine is an imperialist war in the interests of the Russian bourgeoisie and that by supporting the Special Operation the CPRF “pursues the line of solidarity with the ruling United Russia party and President Putin.”
We categorically disagree with such a utilitarian approach because any war has its specific features, which it is the Marxist’s prime task to determine.
As we see it, the war of the people of Donbass against the Kiev regime has an obvious national liberation character. It is essentially a war of independence from the ruling Fascist regime, and from Russia’s point of view it is a struggle against an external threat to national security and against Fascism.
In accordance with the Constitution of the RF the President took actions envisaged by Law because it was impossible to stop aggression by other means. Russia had no other way but to deliver a pre-emptive strike in order to ensure its national security.
Besides, Kiev, backed by the USA and the European Union, deliberately sabotages the negotiating process in the framework of the Minsk Agreements.
Comrades,
We have been and still are very critical of the policy pursued by the Russian leadership and have always condemned the virtual neglect of the interests of the peoples which were once part of the single Soviet state.
It is the CPRF that has since 2014 persistently called for Russian recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, constantly sending humanitarian convoys and rendering all-round support to the people fighting Fascism.
No other political party in Russia has done so much to support the population of Donbass. We have all along come out for the return of Donbass to Russia.
It is not that the CPRF that “has shown solidarity with United Russia and President Putin,” but they, owing to historical imperatives, have to follow the path the CPRF has persistently called for over three decades.
Comrades, the CPRF is voicing its solidarity with the struggle of the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela and all the countries which have embarked on the path of struggle against international imperialism.
In conclusion, I would like to make several announcements.
The CPRF and the RCWP have prepared a joint statement “The Struggle Against US Imperialism and NATO Striving Toward World Hegemony Is the Key Task of the Progressive Forces!” We urge you to support it.
Unfortunately, the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of the USSR have been postponed until a later date in connection with the current situation in the world and great logistical problems. The new date of the event is to be announced.
Long live proletarian internationalism!
Long live Cuba!