Yet more on the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform ([[Ivan Pinheiro|Ivan Pinheiro]])

Yet more on the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform
Author	Ivan Pinheiro
First published	June 3, 2023
Source	Revista Opera

Over a month ago, I shared information with my circle of contacts about the emergence of an eclectic World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP), which was created in October last year and which, in just seven months, has already held four international meetings, with an average attendance of 25 organizations, including communist, social democratic and nationalist parties, collectives and movements, some of which were also created recently. As far as the CPs are concerned, few have any links with the International Communist Movement, which holds its annual meetings (IMCWPs) and has the Solidnet portal as a unitary source of information and coordination.

Surprised by the presence of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) at the event, I said:

"There is a demand for a collective debate that communists cannot postpone: what is imperialism today? And it can only be resolved properly if it is preceded by another decisive debate: what has China's so-called 'market socialism' become? Without this, we can't understand, as a collective, the war in Ukraine or Lula's spectacular visit to China."

Having learned about this initiative by reading critical notes about it, published by Communist Parties with which I identify with, I searched the archives of this platform to understand its political objectives and, to my surprise, I discovered that the PCB officially participates in its meetings. The first three were held, respectively, in Paris (October 2022), Belgrade (December 2022) and Caracas (March 2023), with party leaders taking part in the second, virtually, and the third, in person, represented by its General Secretary.

In the Venezuelan capital, President Nicolás Maduro's party (PSUV) hosted the event and the International Commission of a so-called People's Democracy Party from South Korea, the organization that created and coordinates the platform, chaired the event.

The PCV (Communist Party of Venezuela), with which the PCB has historically enjoyed fraternal relations, was not invited to take part in the Caracas meeting, which it probably wouldn't attend, both because of its political line and because it is the victim of persecution and an attempt by the ruling party itself to revoke its registration.

Although to date no information has been published in the PCB's media about the party's participation in this articulation, which dates back to December 2022, the party's International Relations Secretary took part in person, on April 13 and 14 (more than 50 days ago), in the WAP's fourth international meeting, held this time in Seoul (South Korea), as can be seen in the platform's publicity material.

The host and leader of this fourth meeting was exactly the same People's Democracy Party from South Korea, which had already chaired the one held in Caracas, and about which I still don't have enough information, apart from the perception of its mistaken understanding of the current state of imperialism, the close relationship and solidarity with Russia and China, the defense of the reunification of Korea and the reading of a summary of the conclusions of its recent 3rd Congress (which was also attended by the IR Secretary of the PCB), and whose main theme seems to have been the definition of the "Theory of the Revolution of the 21st Century", described in the following terms:

“Twenty-first century revolution theory is ‘people-centred combined with advanced science. ‘People-centred’ refers to 21st-century political revolutions, while ‘Advanced science’ refers to 21st-century scientific revolution. The aim of the 21st-century political revolution is to build politics for the people and by the people.”

The aims of my messages on the WAP, comrades, are to contribute to making clear the need for the debates I have suggested and to provoke a collective reflection on this radical change in the PCB's stance on international relations and its understanding of the character of the war in Ukraine, taking into account the current resolutions of its recent 16th Congress and the only political note released publicly to date by the Central Committee on the war in Ukraine, from which it is enough to quote a brief passage to realize the incoherence with the platform's political line:

"The interests of the US and Russian bourgeoisies are evident in this struggle to share out the capitalist world, and war is not in the interest of the workers."

However, from what can be seen in the political declarations of its already four meetings, the main reason for the creation of this recent organization is its unrestricted and unconditional support for Russia's so-called "special operation" in Ukraine and China, given that, denying Lenin's studies on the subject, its anti-imperialism is only partial, against aggressive powers, as can be seen in this and various conclusions of the platform:

"Russia and China are not aggressive imperialist powers but, on the contrary, are targeted by our enemies because they stand in the way of the USA’s complete global domination."

In this way, the fight against imperialism comes down to the form of its exercise and not its nature, thus creating the illusion that the peaceful side of the powers in dispute will never resort to the force of their weapons, except for their own defensive purposes or out of mere humanitarian solidarity with weaker countries. This selective anti-imperialism goes as far as the recent Seoul Declaration of the WAP, approved by the organizations present, which hides the main contradiction between capital and labour and thus disarms the proletariat worldwide, by stating verbatim:

"The primary contradiction in the world today is that between the US-led Nato imperialist bloc and the mass of suffering humanity."

I don't have any information about where the decision in favor of the PCB joining this international platform took place, whether in the party's National Political Commission or in the Central Committee's meeting, from which I left in June last year, in a reserved letter to its members in which I explained my reasons for remaining in the party.

But we need to be aware of some issues that may not have been correctly considered by the comrades who decided to promote this surprising political turn.

One of my concerns is that repeated participation in this platform will lead us further and further away from the revolutionary camp of the Communist Parties with which we decided to align ourselves at the 13th Congress of the PCB (2005), a position ratified at the recent 16th Congress (2021).

In fact, as can be seen from the list of organizations participating in the platform, not only the parties of this revolutionary camp are missing, nor do the overwhelming majority of the parties that make up the International Communist Movement (ICM), including those that, despite our differences, deserve respect for their trajectories and the political weight they still enjoy in their respective countries. There are parties that only attended one of the first meetings, probably to find out about it, and never returned. In our country, apart from the PCB, the only other party that has participated in the WAP is the PCdoB.

By the way, the evidence that all the airfare and accommodation costs of the delegates from the organizations attending these meetings are fully covered by their main stakeholders and the frenetic pace of a world event on average every two months, on different continents, should serve as food for thought and study as to what the primary reason is for the creation and financing of this platform, which is oriented against Marxism-Leninism and in uncritical and unrestricted defence of the strategic interests of powers competing for world hegemony in the imperialist chain, of which they are a part.

Another aspect that needs to be considered is the risk that the initiative to create this eclectic platform could consolidate into a kind of anti-imperialist international (selective and, as we have seen, not so much anti-capitalist), which could end up resulting in a split in the International Communist Movement.

In a party that declares itself to be founded on democratic centralism, it is worrying that its militants seem to be unaware of the PCB's participation in this articulation, let alone the political reasons that inspired it. After all, these world meetings are not clandestine, so much so that they take place in public places and are widely publicized in the media, including the list of organizations present, the full names, photographs and statements of the participants.

Democratic centralism is a two-way street. Only the leadership that practices it has the political authority to demand it!

When there is a lack of information and debate and disagreements are resolved only by disciplinary means, by silencing, "canceling" or " suppressing" comrades and, even more so, when important decisions are taken by a few, in the complicit and opportunistic silence of the majority of their peers and behind the collective's back, it is time to review and rectify the methods of leadership. Before it's too late!