Discussion: Modern Communism

Historic Initiative

To the left is my copy of the Hardial Bain’s pamphlet Modern Communism published by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).  Comrade Hardial Bains was the founder and leader of the CPC(ML) until his passing in 1997.

This is an important pamphlet which is critical in waging the class struggle for the emancipation of the working class.  The subject is that of Modern Communism and what is needed for the working class to begin to provide solutions and alternatives that the system of capitalism and imperialism has denied and constantly denied in order to consolidate their own power.  Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

“A climate of ignorance and terror is created that militates against even exploring the subjects of Modern Communism and the Communist Party. The people do not acquire real knowledge of society in which they live, and are actively discouraged from participating in changing it. Serious discussion and inquiry into Modern Communism and the Communist Party would bring clarity to everything about society and all the political forces and other aspects of modern life. It is this clarity which imperialism and the reactionary bourgeoisie vehemently oppose…Modern Communism is based in the struggle of the present period to find the way forward, to open the door to progress of society…”

Since the reactionary bourgeoisie is busy trying to subvert the worker’s struggle through every means imaginable, I believe this pamphlet really spearheads through this climate of not discussing Communism (anti-communism) and the Communist Party by being pro-active in its approach and to engage people in discussion about it. I think it is also important that these discussions also fit in the context of the present period.

Please contact CPC(ML) or USMLO for further information about Hardial Bain’s work.

“Resistance is Our Right and Will Continue”

An excellent article by Comrade Abu Wadh from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

Resistance is our Right and will continue
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=comrade-abu-wadih-resistance-our-right-and-will-co

Also, Fight Back! has an mp3 interview with PFLP leader Leila Khaled here.

Final Declaration of Beirut International Forum for Resistance, Anti-Imperialism Solidarity between Peoples and Alternatives

Discussion on Obama on Vancouver Coop Radio

Obama’s Ascension to Power on Vancouver Coop Radio

Thanks to a fellow comrade on the Marxist-Leninist List for the links to Vancouver Coop Radio where the program “Discussion” as hosted by Charles Boylan interviews a leading member of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization on the recent events taking place in the Middle East and the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

On the program the statement of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist “Obama’s Ascension to Power” is given and elaborated.

The segment is divided into two mp3 files. The actual introduction of USMLO by Charles Boylan is given half-way through the program of Part I, and the beginning of the Part II. So please be patient.

Obama’s Ascension to Power, Part I
http://cfro.virishi.net/mp3/t1232595273.mp3

Obama’s Ascension to Power, PART II
http://cfro.virishi.net/mp3/t1232598873.mp3

Obama’s Ascension to Power

Statement from U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization, Voice of Revolution

http://usmlo.org/arch2009/2009-01/VR090121.htm#01

Obama’s Ascension to Power
U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization

As Barack Obama assumes the presidency, he is contending with the deep crisis of legitimacy in which the U.S. ruling class is mired. Obama spoke to this crisis at his inauguration and in speeches preceding it. On Inauguration Day, after emphasizing the deepening economic crisis and problems facing the people, such as job losses, foreclosures, lack of healthcare and public schools, Obama said, “These are the indicators of crisis. Subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable and that the next generation must lower its sights.” Similarly on January 8 he said that “Many, many Americans are both anxious and uncertain of what the future will hold.” He emphasized that there has been “a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government.”

How to restore this “trust and confidence” in a situation where there is broad rejection among the people of the crimes of government and government attacks on rights, at home and abroad, is a problem Obama is contending with. Americans and peoples worldwide are concerned about the danger of increasing war and aggression, including the possibility of world war. This concern was sharpened by the massive U.S.-Israeli war crimes carried out against Gaza. A vast discontent could be seen in actions worldwide defending Palestine and more generally demanding an alternative to all that is inhuman.

Obama has the task of contending with the rejection by Americans and all the world’s peoples of more war and war crimes, collective punishment and torture, growing poverty, hunger, global warming and governments that refuse to submit to the will of the people. He must contend with a situation where the U.S. and world monopolies and oligopolies through governments under their control are unable to claim legitimacy for their rule and credibility for their plans.

Obama is attempting to transcend this reality, indeed to transcend history, by attempting to maintain the status quo of the U.S. imperialist empire and the whole system of imperialist states in a situation where reality has shown it to be a failed and outmoded system. He is doing so in part by presenting his plans as making “a clean break from a troubled past, and set[ting] a new course for our nation.” His inability to succeed in actually setting such a new course lies in part with the refusal of the ruling circles to face the necessity of the times for a modern economy and modern democracy that puts the peoples and their rights at the center — including their right to govern and decide such vital matters as war and peace and having a war economy or an economy organized to meet the rights of the peoples here and abroad.

In attempting to draw Americans into supporting U.S. empire building, Obama is emphasizing that the working class and peoples share a “common purpose,” with the rulers. As he put it in Philadelphia, January 17, as he embarked on his “Inauguration Train” to Washington, DC, “Our future is our choice and if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together — Democrats, Republicans and independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not — then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process…No matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a people of common hopes and common dreams, who ask only for what was promised us as Americans — that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.” He then cautions the people to be prepared for yet worse conditions saying, “We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.” He then again refers to the founding fathers and emphasizes “The American Revolution was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was — and remains — an ongoing struggle “in the minds and hearts of the people” to live up to our founding creed.”

At his inauguration he quoted George Washington and echoed this same content and took it a step further, now calling for all to be loyal to this creed: “Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility.”

Obama is expressing the tendency of the ruling circles to essentially lie down with the dead, with the founding fathers, who would best be left buried in their graves. It is well known that the founding creed of the U.S. was that of slavery, genocide of native peoples and might makes right. It is a founding creed that continues to this day, with U.S.-organized genocide on a world scale, as witnessed not only in Palestine, but Iraq, Puerto Rico, in the blockade of Cuba, and still today against African Americans, with their mass incarceration only one example.

The American Revolution took place at a time when the bourgeoisie was rising against feudalism and the rule of Kings. The bourgeoisie put forward a conception of trust by which authority would be legitimated by the consent of the governed, and on this basis nation-states were built in their image, the U.S. being one such state. But today the nation state, once the jewel in the eye of the bourgeoisie, is seen as a hindrance to the rule of the monopolies and oligopolies. The existence of nations and peoples is being threatened and sovereignty and independence is being disregarded by the bourgeoisie.

And the rulers are being challenged, here and worldwide by peoples demanding their right to govern and rejecting the return to rule by kings, in the form of executive rule and dictate. The existence of a polity and political association is compelling people to demand a say so on the questions of war and peace. Facing the fraud of U.S. elections, and the genocidal character of U.S. style democracy not only inside the country but in Iraq and elsewhere, Americans are questioning the legitimacy of those in power who ask for trust.

Obama is hoping to overcome this by simultaneously calling on people to trust not government but him — as president — and to put aside their demands for an alternative. The role of the public is to be transformed from a force fighting for rights and for the public good as a whole, into a force loyal to Obama and the centuries-old “creed” of the founding fathers. As Obama put it in his Inaugural speech, the “price of citizenship” will be loyalty to this “creed” of war, aggression and the “promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

Across the country and worldwide the peoples are expressing their demand that today in 2009 the old creed of the founding fathers has no place. Progress demands not more promises of equality from a system that enshrines inequality but the reality of the rights of all being guaranteed and economies organized to do so. Obama represents the hope and prayer of the ruling class to salvage their empire and do so by blocking the demand of the people to themselves govern and decide. Progress cannot come from a return to Kings with their arbitrary rule and impunity to commit untold crimes. Progress lies with the American working class and people fulfilling their duty of rejecting U.S. imperialism and advancing the struggle today to come to power themselves and to organize a new society that guarantees the rights of all and contributes to the fight for rights worldwide.

No to Condescending Saviors!

Let Us Together Fight for New Arrangements Which
Provide the Rights of All with a Guarantee!

From the newswires…

From the News Wires…

U.S. and Israel Sign Deal on Gaza
- Matthew Lee, January 16, 2009 -

WASHINGTON (AP) — On January 16, its final working day, the Bush administration signed a last-minute deal with Israel aimed at cutting off the supply of smuggled weapons to Hamas and boosting Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire to end fighting in Gaza.

Shortly after the Friday’s signing, a senior government official in Israel said the country’s Security Cabinet would vote Saturday night on an Egyptian proposal for a truce to end the 3-week-old offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

The “memorandum of understanding” signed in Washington by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni calls for expanded intelligence cooperation between the United States and Israel, as well as other U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe to prevent Hamas from rearming should Israel agree to a truce.

At a hastily arranged State Department ceremony, Livni, who arrived in Washington just hours earlier, described the deal as “a vital complement for a cessation of hostility” in the troubled region.

She said it could advance Israeli decision-making on the future of its offensive operations in Gaza, adding that it was meant “to complement Egyptian actions and to end of the flow of weapons to Gaza.” Rice said the deal “should be thought of as one of the elements of trying to bring into being a durable cease-fire, a cease-fire that can actually hold.” The Bush administration has backed Israel throughout the crisis in Gaza, insisting that any truce be sustainable.

“As you know, there are a number of conditions that need to be obtained if a cease-fire is to be durable. … And among them is to do something about the weapons smuggling and the potential for resupply of Hamas from other places, including from Iran,” Rice said.

Livni told reporters later that she hoped European countries, notably Britain, France and Germany, would work out similar bilateral agreements with the Israelis.

The two-and-a-half page document outlines a framework under which the United States will provide military and intelligence assets, including detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations in the region. The equipment and training would be used for monitoring Gaza’s land and sea borders.

The document also calls for the U.S. to expand work with its NATO partners in the effort, particularly in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean and eastern Africa, according to a text.

It also commits Washington to use “relevant components” of the U.S. military to assist Mideast governments in preventing “weapons and explosives flows to Gaza that originate in or transit their territories.” Although signed by the Bush administration, the agreement is binding on the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and Rice and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said both Obama and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton had been briefed on the details.

Negotiations on the pace concluded late Thursday after frenetic negotiations designed to address Israeli concerns that agreeing to a cease-fire in Gaza would allow Hamas to stock up on weapons again.

To agree to a cease-fire, Israel is demanding a halt to Hamas rocket attacks into southern Israel and internationally backed guarantees that Hamas will not rearm by smuggling weapons into the tiny Mediterranean strip, which it has controlled since 2007.

Less than two hours after Rice and Livni signed the document, the senior Israeli official said a Security Cabinet vote in favor of the truce would amount to a “unilateral” cease-fire, though Israeli forces would only leave Gaza after an official declaration that the fighting was over.

It would begin a phased process in which Israel stops the assault and gauges the reaction from Hamas militants. Israel would resume the offensive if the militants continue to fire rockets, the official said.

Under the cease-fire proposal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help, and discussions on the opening of Gaza’s blockaded border crossings would take place later.

(Associated Press)

Steadfast Palestinian Resistance

Report on Palestinian Resitance from TML, who cites from Aljazeera.

Steadfast Palestinian Resistance

Raising the flag of resistance in Gaza, December 31, 2008.

The resistance continues to hold its own in Gaza against the merciless invaders. According to a January 5 report from the Ma’an news agency the update on the situation in Gaza is as follows:

Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks, bulldozers and helicopters have now encircled Gaza City and cut the Gaza Strip in two. Palestinian fighters continue to exchange fire with Israeli troops, primarily in northern towns and on the outskirts of Gaza. Ma’an reports a fierce battle between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in the northern outskirts of Gaza City just after midnight on Tuesday morning.

The Israeli military confirmed that a major confrontation is taking place in the area, Al-Jazeera reported. Near constant explosions have been lighting up the sky over the northern Gaza Strip.

The battle took place as Israeli tanks and ground troops pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip on the tenth day of an offensive that has killed more than 530 Palestinians, and wounded more than 2,500, Ma’an writes. It also reports:

“As night fell on Monday, Israeli troops had encircled Gaza City after approaching the metropolis from four directions, but appeared not to be invading the centre of the city. Israeli warplanes continue to pound Gaza, including the city centre, from the air.

“Also on Monday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai reiterated Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire. Speaking on Israeli television, in response to a question from the mayor of Ashkelon, he said he expected fighting to continue for another two weeks.

“Roni Daniel, a military analyst with Israeli Channel Two said that Israeli forces are facing heavy fighting, and that contrary to statements from the military, the situation is extremely complex.

“Daniel also added in his analysis that the main opposition to the invasion so far appears to have been from groups other than Hamas, including the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, and others. He said Hamas may be saving its firepower for a later showdown with the Israeli army.

“This assessment has been corroborated by statements sent by the various Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. In the last two days, Hamas’ armed wing has said it took part in some of the fighting, but other groups have issued more statements claiming participation in the clashes.

According to Ma’an, “The Al-Qassam Brigades threatened to widen their projectile attacks in a broadcast addressing Israelis aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV Monday.

“We promise you that our target-sites will be vulnerable at all times and open to attack any time of day,” said Hamas’ military wing spokesman Abu Ubayda. “We will expand our targets,” he said.

Tel Aviv and the Israeli nuclear site at Dimona have not yet been targeted, said Abu Ubayda, but we will not hesitate to launch projectiles at these sites if Israel continues its attack at the one and a half million people of the Gaza Strip.

“Our targets will also become the soldiers now in Israel,” the spokesman assured. “Your friend Gilad Shalit is missing and we promise to bring him company. Your land invasion will do nothing but ensure the return of Palestinian prisoners when we swap them for the Israeli soldiers.”

Israeli shelling has not weakened the Brigades; the brigades are powerful and their members are ready for any attack. said Abu Ubayda.

He also accused Israel of covering-up the casualties of the Brigades’ attacks, and of the larger conspiracy of denying the failure of the land invasion.

“We have destroyed a tank and an Israeli military vehicle with a new type of explosive we are using,” he said. “We have new projectiles and many other surprises for Israeli troops.”

Abu Ubayda promised that there will be thousands of combatants and waiting for Israeli troops when they leave their tanks.

In another development, Israel has imposed tight restriction on the work of all journalists, banning reporters from entering Gaza and its surroundings. A Palestinian journalist from Jerusalem, Khader Shaheen, a reporter for the Iranian news network Al-Alam, was arrested on charges of violating military rules prohibiting the dissemination of “secrets.”

Meanwhile, according to Israeli news reports, “Israeli soldiers have dragged dozens of Palestinian fighters and residents across the border with Gaza for interrogation.

“Since Israel’s land invasion that started late on Saturday night, forces have detained members of armed groups in clashes with invading soldiers, Israel TV said on Monday.

“A reporter for the network reported that as many as 100 Palestinians have been arrested during the recent invasion, and that the Israeli government considers the Gaza residents ‘illegal combatants.’

“Other sources quoted Israeli troops on Monday, saying they tend to arrest ‘as many Palestinians as possible’ in order to retrieve information that ‘may lead to the capture of other armed groups’ members,’” Ma’an reports.

As concerns Israel’s criminal embargo on Gaza, on Saturday the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) announced that all crossings into the Strip were closed and food distribution was cancelled.

On Sunday a Palestinian Authority spokesperson said Israel would open the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing and the Nahal Oz fuel crossing for the transfer of humanitarian supplies.

Egyptian Consul General in Ramallah Ashraf Akel said Saturday that Rafah has been open and sending aid in since the first days of the Israeli strikes, though as of Monday he was unable to comment on the situation at the border.

The Rafah crossing from Egypt and Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, are meant for civilians and cargo, not massive aid shipments, the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson Aiden O’Leary told a Saturday press briefing. He stressed the painfully slow process of getting wheat through the Karni crossing.

“The problem is that we’re operating at Karem Shalom instead of on the conveyor belt at Karni,” he said. “If we keep this going, Karem Shalom will be continuously blocked by trucks filled with wheat [rather than allowing medicines, sugar and rice in]. Karni has got to be opened. Wheat grain is not enough.”

Similar logistical problems were described at Rafah crossing. “It is a civilian crossing and not equipped for the large number of goods being shipped in,” said Akel.

According to UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna, 18-35 trucks a day get through and about 10 percent of that is medical supplies. Before the Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion 750,000 Gazans relied on UNRWA as their main source of food. Recent estimates say as many as 2,000 families are now homeless and are now reliant on aid.

There has been no comment from Israel as to why the Karni crossing in the northern Gaza Strip has not been opened, Ma’an writes.

There are two principal aid distributors in Gaza currently, UNRWA and the Red Crescent Society in Palestine (PRC), news agencies explain. International aid and goods coming in from Rafah are coordinated by the Egyptian Red Crescent and are handed over to their Palestinian counterparts through Rafah. There has been no word on the amount of aid sent through. According to some reports the first three days of the attacks saw 65 tons of relief materials sent into Gaza. The PRC is then responsible for distribution of that aid, which is part food and part medical supplies.

For UNRWA, the largest aid distributor in the Strip, all goods are received through the crossings operated by Israel. UNRWA distributes goods based on a distribution list that depends on being able to contact individual aid recipients when aid is available. With phone companies in Gaza warning of a total collapse of the telecommunications system, distribution may become more difficult, UNRWA says.

The Palestine Red Crescent appears to be handling any international aid sent in via Rafah, including donations of 2,000 units of blood from Jordan, and five ambulances from Turkey, though these were scheduled for delivery to the area since November. UNRWA confirmed that the only goods they have brought in over and above what they have purchased, was some medication donated by the Hashemite fund and the Jordanian Government.

On Sunday Israeli authorities announced that approximately 200,000 litres of fuel will be pumped into Gaza via the Nahal Oz crossing. The industrial diesel will be used to boost reserves at the power station, which supplies about 30 percent of total need when fully operational and is now at half capacity after 10 days of Israeli strikes. The supplies are also said to be destined for “other humanitarian centers.”

For reference, 420 thousand litres of industrial diesel gives about 30 hours of electricity from the Gaza plant.

During his situation report UN spokesperson Aiden O’Leary noted “the psychological damage caused by having no access to TV, radio, phones, etc. is real. Infrastructure is breaking down. The isolation caused by the lack of electricity cannot be overstated.”

(Sources: Ma’an News Agency, Al Jazeera)

http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2009/D39004.htm#1

Photo Gallery
Peoples of the World Rise Up for Gaza

Across the globe, the peoples of the world began the new year by stepping up their opposition to the Zionist aggression being unleashed on the people of Gaza and the Palestinian resistance.

http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2009/D39004.htm#2

Palestinian Resistance Confident of Success Against Israeli Ground Offensive

Here is the latest from The Marxist-Leninist Daily, online newspaper of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) on Palestine.

Palestinian Resistance Confident of Success Against Israeli Ground Offensive

The Israeli ground offensive against the Gaza Strip began on Saturday, January 3 after six days of aerial bombardment. Hamas and other Palestinian organizations declared their steadfastness in the face of Israeli aggression. In a January 4 article reported by the Palestinian Information Center, Hamas leader Ismail Radwan stated that the Palestinian resistance and its leadership in the Gaza Strip would not leave the battlefield and would remain fighting until the last breath, warning Israel that it would pay dearly as a result of its heinous crimes in the Strip. In a televised press statement, Radwan underlined that the Israeli occupation aims to impose its extremist racist projects at the expense of Palestinian rights. The Hamas leader also warned the Palestinian people not to pay attention to the rumours and lies spread by the Israeli occupation, affirming that the Palestinian resistance and its leadership are working day and night to defend Gaza. Radwan expressed confidence in achieving victory and, addressing the Israeli state, he promised, “Gaza will be a graveyard for you and the aggression will not be a picnic. You have no choice but to stop the aggression and end the siege unconditionally. You will not enjoy security unless the Palestinian people enjoy it first.”

Already, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that its fighters inflicted heavy casualties on the invading Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) troops in the east and north of the Gaza Strip, affirming that they managed to kill more than five Israeli soldiers and wound about 30 others. In a Hamas communiqué published by the Palestinian Information Centre, the Al-Qassam Brigades stated that their fighters successfully attacked Israeli special forces and an Israeli tank near the Beit Hanoun crossing using anti-personnel explosive devices. In this attack, the Al-Qassam Brigades successfully captured two Israeli soldiers who have been transferred to a safe location away from the battlefield. Spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida stated that they would not give any free information to the Israeli occupation on the capture of the soldiers. He also noted that the number of IOF troops killed is greater than the number of Al-Qassam fighters lost. News reports also state that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades shot down an Israeli helicopter flying over the territory.

A Palestinian field commander affiliated with the Al-Qassam Brigades stated to the Palestinian Information Centre on Sunday, January 4, “We continue our mission normally and we are not affected by these raids because we have taken all precautions for such an operation and a larger one as well. We have the ability to operate in this way for a long time.” The field commander pointed out that Al-Qassam rocket firing units operate cautiously and skilfully and no one is able to know the places from where rockets are fired.

Palestinian eyewitnesses were reported by the Palestinian Information Centre that day as stating that ferocious confrontations were raging between Al-Qassam fighters and the invading IOF troops who advanced from the eastern side of Zeitoun district, east of Gaza City. According to the eyewitnesses, the IOF troops failed to advance several metres because of the intensity of the confrontations they faced in the area despite the aerial reconnaissance and heavy bombardments.

Already, Israel seems to be losing its bearings. Ha’aretz noted that the challenges faced by the Israeli officials at this stage were exactly the same as those they faced in the July 2006 war against Lebanon. “Two and a half years of a lull, six days of fighting, and we are almost back where we started,” the daily noted. “The dilemma, in a nutshell, is this: Is the heavy pounding from the air enough, or will Hamas simply rise out of the ruins later, shake off the dust and declare, as Hezbollah did in 2006, that it succeeded in surviving against the army that purports to be the strongest in the Middle East?,” Ha’aretz added.

Meanwhile, there is growing concern that Israel may spread the war into Lebanon, with thousands of Israeli soldiers massing at the southern Lebanese border. The Lebanese resistance has declared itself on high alert for a potential Israeli attack while drawing parallels between the 2006 war on Lebanon and the current offensive on Gaza. According to Al-Manar TV, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah on Saturday, January 3 renewed the comparison between what has been happening in Gaza and the Israeli July 2006 against Lebanon, expressing belief that the Palestinian resistance had actually learned from Lebanon’s resistance and would do well. According to the same report, on Friday, January 2, Nasrallah severely criticized the Arab leaders for their stance over the aggression, calling on them to at least let their people express themselves freely and declare solidarity with their Palestinian brothers. He also called on the Egyptian government to open the Rafah border and, failing that, he called on the Egyptian people to forcibly open the border through mass action. He continued by assuring Palestinians and Arabs that resistance against Israeli ground operations is bound to be successful. He reiterated that bargaining on the resistance’s defeat will fail, calling on the whole nation to unite against the aggression. “What’s taking place in Gaza is a defence of all the Arabs and their convictions,” he said, calling upon everyone to bet on the resistance, its will and determination.

SOURCE:http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2009/D39003.htm#1

Photo gallery of worldwide support for the Palestinian Resistance against Israeli invasion of Gaza:
Actions in the United States
Actions around the World

No to U.S.-Israeli War Crimes against Palestine!

Condemn U.S.-Israeli War Crimes Against Palestine! End All U.S. Funding for Israel Now! All Out to Support the Resistance!, statement from U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization

No to Israeli War Crimes! Hands Off Gaza! Long Live the Heroic Palestinian Resistance! statement from Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Israel Condemns Deadly Attacks on Gaza and Calls for International Mobilization

United we will fight this aggression and win statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Now is the Time for Unity and Resistance, statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

89th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, 1917

Moscow, November 7, 1918: V. I. Lenin makes speech from rostrum in Red Square at celebration of First Assembly of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

The socialist revolution in Russia that shook the world took place during the First World War. Anti-war sentiment was high in all countries within the imperialist system of states. The problem confronting the anti-war movement was that the political elite was adept at keeping the people out of the equation in stopping the war. Political initiative was in the hands of the ruling elite in all the combatant countries and the people were not a factor. A big role in keeping the people out of the equation was played by many so-called left-wing parties who lined up behind their own imperialists as social patriots and chauvinists. Instead of straightforward calling for an end to the slaughter, bringing the troops home and negotiating a democratic peace, the social patriots raised objections about the politics of the “other side.” Certain social-democrats in Germany accused the British Empire of wanting to rule the world and thus it was necessary to wage war to stop them. Certain British social-democrats accused the German government of being undemocratic and totalitarian and it was necessary to wage war to oppose German autocratic aggression and defend British values. The people were blocked from deciding their own fate and were sent to slaughter on behalf of their own imperialists in the muddy trenches of continental Europe and elsewhere.Only within the Russian Empire did resistance to the imperialist war make the people a factor in the equation. The determination of the anti-war movement in Russia led by the Communist Party (Bolshevik) to achieve its aim of peace and defend the well-being of the peoples of all the belligerent countries made the people the determining factor in taking Russia out of the imperialist war, bringing the troops home and negotiating a democratic peace with Germany.

When the Russian people overthrew the Tsar in February 1917, the hopes of the soldiers and their loved ones were raised to the sky that peace was possible. The new capitalist/landlord provisional government soon dashed that hope with its renewed commitment to the slaughter. The Russian people led by Lenin’s Communist Party did not despair but renewed their efforts for “Land, Peace and Bread” and convinced the doubters from amongst their midst that the path of active resistance and revolution was the only road to peace and social progress. By November of the same year the people were indeed ready in their consciousness and their determination to make themselves the decisive part of the equation. They rose in mighty rebellion for Land, Peace and Bread. The people became the key factor in deciding their fate.

Workers, peasants and supporters from the middle strata, responding to the November 6, 1917 call of the Communist Party and its allies, rose in massive rebellion throughout the Russian Empire holding high the slogans “All Power to the Soviets!” “Land, Peace and Bread!”

The capitalist/landlord authority in power had failed to uphold its duty and change the conditions according to the demands of the times and it paid the price with its revolutionary overthrow. By 2:00 am the following morning November 7 (October 25 in the Julian calendar) Red Guards of the Petrograd Soviet seized the Winter Palace, headquarters of the executive power of the capitalist/landlord Kerensky government of the Russian Empire. Later that day in Petrograd the revolutionary slogan — All Power to the Soviets! All Power to the Workers and Peasants’ Councils! — was formally brought into being at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers and Soldiers’ Deputies. The Congress passed a resolution negating the authority of the capitalist/landlord government, and establishing all political power in the Soviets. The Congress passed and issued its famous message “To Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants!” written by Lenin. (See For Your Information)

As the revolution spread rapidly throughout Russia, into Ukraine and other surrounding nations of the Russian Empire, and gripped the millions of conscripts on the front lines of World War I, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets upon declaring its revolutionary authority passed two momentous resolutions that were to concretize the demands of the Russian working people for new conditions, in particular for Land, Peace and Bread. (See For Your Information for extracts from the Decrees on Peace and Land)

The victory of the socialist revolution was not fortuitous. The Communist Party in Russia, known as the Bolsheviks and led by Lenin had prepared the subjective conditions for the working class and peasants to seize political power and consolidate and maintain their power. The most important subjective condition was the building of a Communist Party that never lost its bearings and refused to succumb to opportunist pressure. Lenin’s party fought tenaciously to defend the purity of Marxism, develop the theory and tactics of socialist revolution for the period, continually improve the level of the Party’s members and supporters and constantly move the consciousness of the working class towards socialist revolution. Every movement for reform, every struggle for a wage increase, benefit or social program and every protest became an occasion to unite the people in defence of the rights of all, to recognize and celebrate the power of the working class when united and independent of the capitalist class, and to grasp the necessity of building a Communist Party in every workplace and neighbourhood with the ultimate objective to transfer political power to representatives of the working people.

Of the major European communist parties, the Bolshevik Party was the only one to oppose the war hysteria leading to the First World War and to organize actively for an anti-war government. All its activities were directed at mobilizing the working class and peasantry to defend themselves according to plans worked out in organizations built and defended by the masses, especially the Soviets. (See For Your Information)

Lenin’s Party learned from history and used its theoretical rendering as a guide to action. The seizure of power by the working people during the 1871 Paris Commune, its eventual defeat and Karl Marx’s theoretical guide “Civil War in France” became an integral part of Leninism in the conditions of imperialism. The successes and defeat of the 1905 Russian revolution became a Leninist “dress rehearsal” for the victorious revolution that was sure to come.

When the masses overthrew the tsar in February 1917 demanding “peace, land and freedom,” the capitalists and landlords snatched political power from the people and established a provisional government. But the workers and peasants organized into the Communist Party and Soviets never for an instant stopped demanding that the government use its authority to change the conditions and bring about peace, land to the tillers and freedom for the working class and peasants to have an organized voice in governing the country.

Did the capitalist/landlord government create the necessary conditions for peace? Did it bring the Russian masses relief from the senseless slaughter in the trenches? No, on April 18, 1917 the Provisional Government sent the Allied governments confirmation that Russia was prepared to continue the fight in World War I to a “victorious end.” Immediately, the Soviets throughout the empire organized massive demonstrations of workers, soldiers and peasants against the continuation of the war, reaching enormous proportions April 20 and 21. The conscripts began to turn decisively towards the only consistent opponents to the imperialist war, the Communist Party and its peasant ally the Left Social-Democrats.

Did the Kerensky provisional government give the peasants land? No, the big capitalists formed an alliance with the landed nobility and blocked the transfer of the land to the tillers. The peasants began to turn massively away from the capitalists and to see the working class as their natural ally.

Did the capitalist government develop political reforms to concretely change the conditions and bring representatives of the working masses into power through the existing Soviets? No, it consolidated power in the Duma (parliament) under the dictate of the political parties of the capitalists and landlords. The provisional government did everything to sideline the Soviets and block the participation of the working class and peasantry in government. Under the hoax of aiding the war effort the provisional government stemmed any relief in the form of higher wages and social programs for the people. The working class began to turn decisively towards the Communist Party, especially in Petrograd, Moscow and other industrial centres.

In mid-September 1917 during the elections for representatives to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Communist Party won a majority. Lenin reported to the Central Committee of the Communist Party that the date of the uprising was fast approaching. Of the 650 elected members of the Workers and Soldiers’ Deputies who were to meet in Petrograd November 7, 390 were members of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) led by Vladimir Lenin and almost one hundred were from its peasant ally organized as the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.

By September 1917, the slaughter in the war had become intolerable, famine was stalking the land and the masses began to raise the banner “All Power to the Soviets! Land, Peace and Bread!” The Bolsheviks are right the people declared. The capitalists cannot be trusted to keep their word. The working class and peasants must form a Soviet government through revolution.

Everything was in place for the workers and peasants to seize political power November 7. It was not fortuitous; it was tenacious, meticulous preparation of the subjective conditions for revolution by the Communist Party.

The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution was a victory for the peoples of the world. It immensely weakened the imperialist system of states by removing a major population and landmass from monopoly competition for markets, raw materials and masses to exploit through voluntary servitude. Within a few short years, Communist Parties had been formed in almost every country of the world including Canada. The battle was on to move the world forward under the conscious political leadership of the working class and its Communist Party. The human factor/social consciousness was becoming decisive in world affairs. A way forward for the people had been shown in practice. Now it was time for peoples everywhere to develop the theory and tactics of the revolutionary movement according to the prevailing conditions using Marxism-Leninism as their sure guide to victory.

SOURCE: Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)