The significant development of the productive forces, the giant capitalist accumulation and concentration, is unfolding amid the anarchy of production and the realization of commodities; it is marked by the desire for profit of the owners of private property; it is determined by the uneven development; it is marked by competition that is expressed mainly at the level of the monopolies and the imperialist countries, causing an intense and sharp contention in all fields, economic, financial, commercial, political, diplomatic and military.

The expansion of capitalism and imperialism cannot escape the economic crises that are occurring at increasingly shorter periods and with greater depth.

A new economic crisis is looming

The economic crisis of 2007, which made its appearance in the United States, had an impact on the great majority of countries and was identified as the largest after the Great Depression of 1929, caused massive destruction of the productive forces, the layoff of more than 10 million workers, cuts in wages, increase in retirement age and lower pensions, and the use of public funds to favor the large industrial companies and banks by the States which had in turn to go into a new and aggressive debt. It was a financial and economic crisis that erupted in the heart of the capitalist world, the U.S., which spread around the world. It was a result of the very nature of the capitalist system, it affected the large monopolies, but its most dramatic effects were thrown onto the shoulders of the working classes, peoples and youths, on the dependent countries.

The economies of the U.S., of the countries of Western Europe, of the dependent countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America that were impacted by the crisis of 2007 are in the process of recovery, though in an incipient, limited and slow manner, and especially partial since unemployment is still very high rates in almost all countries. The world GDP has reached the pre-crisis level, largely due to the growth of the emerging economies.

That crisis has left open the floodgates for the emergence of a new recession that would drastically shake the capitalist economy.

The pressure of the high external debt is one of the most serious consequences of the 2007 crisis and could become one of the triggers of a new economic crisis. The U.S. debt exceeded 110% of GDP, $16 billion by 2013, according to the World Bank. England has a debt that is five times greater than its GDP. In France the external debt is more than double the GDP. In Germany, the external debt is almost twice the GDP. Although the debt of the dependent countries has not reached the levels of the 1970s, it is growing steadily. In fact, only China recorded a GDP that is considerably greater than its external debt.

The ability to pay of the countries is seriously threatened. The U.S. had to resort to a political measure, to raise its debt ceiling by decision of Congress. Argentina has just been declared in default by the holders of its debt. The initial recovery of the economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Hungary relies on the injection of large sums of capital from the banks at high interest rates and short terms, on new and higher debts that make them very vulnerable. Italy’s economy is in the red.

Since 2012 we have seen the slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy, the difficulties in India, as well as the decline in the economies of Turkey and South Africa.

In Latin America we are witnessing a slowdown in economic growth. Brazil has been declared in technical recession, while in the first quarter of this year, 2014, Argentina had an increase of 0.9%

How is this new economic crisis being expressed? Where will the financial bubble burst? Will there be regional crises? Will it be a crisis of greater proportions than in 2007? These are some of the questions that cannot be fully answered at this moment.

The ulcers of the capitalist world continue to punish the workers and peoples. According to the ILO, there are more than 202 million people totally unemployed; layoffs are noticeably more evident in Spain and Greece, where they exceed 25%; in the case of young people, including college graduates, the rates exceed 50%. In South Africa the unemployment is above 26%.

Poverty rates for 2013 showed that one billion people live on less than $1a day; 2.8 billion people had incomes below $2 a day; 448 million children were underweight, while 30,000 children younger than one year die each day from treatable diseases.

An unprecedented wave of migration is hitting the world today, millions of workers from the dependent countries, particularly from the poorest due to the imperialist plunder, are trying to reach the developed capitalist countries by all means, to try to find jobs and opportunities. They live through real journeys, long walks, in unsafe ships defying the fury of nature, they cross sewers and raging rivers, they try to climb the walls put up to prevent their arrival. Those who manage to reach the country of their destination are subject to discrimination, low wages, the worst living conditions, as well as being victims of racial hatred and xenophobia.

The inter-imperialist contention

The world's largest economy, the U.S., is losing ground in the economic, political and military sphere; it now faces competition from the monopolies and other imperialist countries to new degrees. Its traditional allies, England and other countries of the European Union, at the same time as they agree on common actions in certain circumstances, refuse to support some of the U.S. military actions such as the decision to bomb Syria. They openly challenge its interests, especially in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, while they also penetrate into Latin America. Within the European Union, Germany is trying to gain hegemony of this bloc, while the policies of France and England are challenging its positions. Furthermore, the strengthening of Russia's economy and particularly its great military might are strengthening it as a power with an important nuclear arsenal that seeks to participate in a new redivision of the world for its own interests. The economic growth of China, its position as the second largest economy in the world, make it into an economic, financial, commercial rival that manifests itself in all countries and continents, weakening the U.S. power and that of the other imperialist countries. It is a member of the nuclear club and has the largest land army. India is greatly developing its growth and is taking part in the redivision, regardless of the fact much of its economy expresses the direct investment of the international monopolies. Also, new countries that are emerging in the economic field, such as Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico are seeking to join the club of the powerful in the international arena.

Clearly the unipolar world no longer exists; the competition of various economic powers of the old and new imperialist countries has been brewing since the end of the last century. They are taking part in a world divided between the old imperialist countries, they are demanding their place in the new international situation, they are ready to play that position.

Today one cannot even talk of the omnipotence of the U.S., since its former hegemony is declining steadily.

The rapacious and war-like nature of the imperialist countries is being clearly expressed in their military intervention, bombings, invasions and imposing of occupation troops where their interests are endangered. The U.S. and its allies continue to occupy Afghanistan, they are present in Iraq although they have officially withdrawn, they are carrying out militarily actions in Pakistan, they maintain troops in Haiti, they have intervened to support reaction and the oligarchs in Venezuela, and they are continuing the economic blockade against Cuba. France invaded Mali; it is intervening in Ivory Coast and in the Central African Republic. Russia is annexing by force several republics and regions in areas of the former USSR.

In this year of 2014, Israel supported by the U.S. and Europe carried out a brutal military aggression against Palestine, it unleashed heavy air bombardments and repeated attacks by missiles, a military offensive with tanks and troops in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 2,000 civilians, children and the elderly. Currently there is a truce and some agreements that validate, to some extent, Palestinian demands; but they are not a definitive solution for the sovereign and popular future of the Palestinian people. The Israeli Zionists, despite the fact that they have been unmasked and condemned throughout the world as committers of genocide and terrorism, have not renounced their desires to eliminate Palestine as a state and depopulate its territories in order to occupy them.

The inter-imperialist contradictions are causing the affirmation of the former economic blocs, NAFTA composed the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the European Union, Mercosur the Asia Pacific bloc and the strengthening of new groupings such as BRICS and the Pacific Alliance.

We have witnessed an intense contention over the markets of the imperialist countries themselves as well as of over those of the dependent states of Asia, Africa and Latin America: China is particularly aggressive in selling its commodities in all countries, it now the third largest economy with the most direct investments in other countries.

Another area of inter-imperialist contention is expressed in the race to obtain mining and oil concessions, to buy farmland of large size by the transnational companies and the states themselves. The development of the productive forces, the advances in science and technology require large quantities of raw materials, energy sources and food, which have to be found mainly in the dependent countries.

The economic, financial and trade confrontation is based on the policy of military deterrence and further, going beyond threats we are witnessing localized armed conflicts to take over or keep control of countries rich in oil, in natural resources, also for strategic areas to control regions and/or to threaten, intimidate and blackmail the rival imperialist powers, countries labeled as terrorists or that support terrorism.

The alleged fight against terrorism has become the "reason," the pretext for the imperialist countries and the reactionary governments to justify police control policies of their own people, and in other countries to discriminate against and repress Arab immigrant groups and immigrants from other countries whom they classify as terrorists or financiers of terrorism, revolutionaries and social activists.

There are several localized military conflicts in which the various imperialist countries are intervening directly for their interests:

In Syria a reactionary civil war continues to develop between the most backward forces backed by U.S. and West European imperialism, the Arab governments that seek to install a puppet regime that can contribute to the encirclement of Iran and on the other hand, the government of Assad, which is the continuation of an anti-popular regime established several decades ago and which currently receives military support from Russia.

Ukraine is scene of sharp confrontations between the government troops under fascist leadership, unconditionally supported by the United States and the European Union; and the "pro-Russian" sectors of the population that seek annexation to Russia, like the inhabitants of Crimea. The soldiers that are facing each other in combat are Ukrainians but they are led by the expansionist interests of Western imperialism on the one hand and the geopolitical interests of Russia on the other hand. This confrontation has led to the imposition of economic sanctions against Russia and a defiant response by Putin’s government. This is an open contention to show the world who is who: the military force of the West and the military power of Russia.

The arms race is being dangerously revived

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, military expenditures have returned to Cold War levels. Data from 2013 show that global spending for military purposes has reached $3.3 million dollars per minute, $198 million per hour, nearly $4,800 million a day.

The U.S. by far occupies first place with an annual spending of $640,000 million dollars a year, followed by China with $188,000 million, Russia with $88,000 million and then Saudi Arabia, France, Britain, Germany and Japan. Note that both Germany and Japan are venturing dangerously into the arms race and have started sending troops abroad. Israel and Zionism are the base and spearhead of U.S. imperialism to attack Palestine and to threaten other nationalist governments in the region. It has one of the largest and best equipped armies in the world.

In general, all countries have entered the arms race, fueling the war industry which is in the hands of the transnational corporations and large government complexes.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons, the large number of imperialist military bases spread throughout the world, the process of renewal of military arsenals, go far beyond the deterrent policy practiced by the great powers; these are preparations for an eventual general conflagration for a new redivision of the world.

BRICS, a new pole in the inter-imperialist contention

The participation of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in the formation of BRICS began several years ago; it has 3,000 million people, who constitute 40% of the world’s population, they produce 20% of the world’s GDP and in 2014 represent 18% of the world’s economy.

The BRICS summit held in Brazil in 2014 relaunched the international initiative, establishing itself as an economic, financial and trade bloc, as a political and diplomatic entity with its own voice in the international arena. It established the BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency for international transactions in order to compete with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is seeking to integrate the dependent countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America into its orbit.

For the reformist positions that are present in all countries, BRICS is an anti-imperialist bloc that should be supported and to which the peoples and the "progressive governments" should look for support. Based on the assumption that Russia and China form a bloc that will hold back the U.S., that will take the side of the interests of the peoples, as they supposedly did in Syria. They assume that Brazil has a progressive government and represents the interests of the people of Brazil and of Latin America. These ideas are spread among the masses and cause confusion that is up to us proletarian revolutionaries to clear up. On the other hand, there is no shortage of naïve people who preach that BRICS is a counterweight to the hegemony of the U.S. and its allies which could create a deterrent balance internationally.

BRICS is forming a new economic and political bloc, a group of great powers, whose main objective is to strengthen itself at the expense of the exploitation of the dependent countries and of the export of capital. On the other hand, as the events developing in Ukraine show, BRICS has major fissures and contradictions within it. Russia has not received the full backing that it is demanding in its contention with the U.S. and the European Union. At the same time as China is competing with the U.S. and the imperialist countries of the European Union, it is entering into economic and trade agreements with them. At the same time as they are signing agreements, there are major economic and geopolitical contradictions among China, India and Russia.

The various cultural and religious conflicts are being exacerbated

In the Middle East, for decades religious groups and sects have been emerging that raise the banner of Islam to oppose the Western and Christian world, that define the differences among various Islamic sects through a "holy war". These groups are supported and financed by economic groups in the Arab countries and by certain governments. Al Qaeda, which was created, trained and financed by the CIA, played a dirty role in torpedoing the progressive national struggle of the Arab peoples and imposed terror. Currently, the Islamic State, which initially was part of Al Qaeda, is militarily occupying much of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a Caliphate. It is heavily armed and, as a Sunni organization, it is challenging the other Islamic beliefs and other religions, committing all kinds of crimes and atrocities. The actions of the Islamic State are serving as a pretext for a new imperialist coalition headed by the U.S., involving several Arab states, which propose to exterminate them with a scorched earth policy, by bombing Iraq and Syria. In Africa the Boko Haram organization proclaims Islamic fundamentalism; it is active in Nigeria where it proclaims an Islamic State, assassinates civilians and kidnapped hundreds of girls.

In sub-Saharan Africa ethnic and religious conflicts are breaking out in which these groups confront each other with weapons provided by the imperialist countries. Many of these conflicts are fueled by the inter-imperialist contention over natural resources, oil and coltan.

The ethnic, cultural and religious feelings that are instrumental in forming groups of fanatics are fueled by the imperialist countries and the ruling classes to divert the struggle of peoples for national and social liberation.

The struggle of the working class and peoples

In no country on earth is there social peace, everywhere the working class is facing the exploitation and oppression of the capitalists.

These expressions of discontent of the working class are developing unevenly, going through stages of debate over the defense of its interests and how to achieve them, passing through slow-downs, strikes against specific companies and general strikes, to street demonstrations, to the formation of coordination initiatives and the trade union struggle, to building political platforms and participating in the electoral struggle.

The great mobilizations of the workers in Spain, Greece, Italy and other European countries continue to show an important revival and anti-capitalist leadership of the workers movement. In South Africa miners’ strikes took place over several months. In China workers’ strikes are numerous and very combative.

The working classes and peoples are fighting for civil liberties and democracy, they are actively participating in the political struggle, they guide the popular opposition to the reactionary and sell-out governments.

The youth, mainly secondary and university students, take part in the fight for the defense of public education, in opposition to the anti-popular measures of the bourgeois governments. They contribute to the struggle against imperialism and in defense of national sovereignty.

Reformism is no real alternative for social and national liberation

A fraction of the capitalist class, including several liberal bourgeois governments, social democracy, the revisionists and opportunists, continue to develop the policy of class conciliation, proposed agreements among the workers, employers and governments to address the crisis, for the growth of the country, for social welfare.

These policies and practices have caused serious damage to the trade union organizations and the workers movement, it has allowed them to prop up the labor aristocracy, to promote the union bureaucracy that shackle the unions, demobilize the workers and divert them from their class objectives.

In opposition to the leadership of the big unions, important sectors of the workers are seeking alternatives, forming coordination collectives for the struggle for their rights, promoting union democracy, and in some countries they are forcing the bureaucracy to call strikes and demonstrations. Within the working class they are strengthening the sense of unity and struggle to oppose exploitation and oppression, to fight for their rights and for new gains.

The struggle against the reactionary and neoliberal regimes in different countries and continents that unfolded in the recent past did away with various of these governments; through elections they established some governments that called themselves "progressive."

Soon, these supposed alternatives showed their class nature; they were expressions of another sector of the ruling classes, they used some reformist measures and above all welfare practices to deceive the working masses, to form a social base of political support for the ideological confusion that allowed them to fulfill the purpose of preserving the system of private property.

These various expressions of reformism that occurred in several countries and continents, mainly in Latin America, have been exhausted, they were not able to confront the great problems of society and to meet the basic demands of the working masses; above all, they are becoming blurred in the subjectivity of the working class and peoples.

The proponents of reformism as a means to overcome inequities are spreading the idea that ending these processes will lead us to the past, to the rule of the traditional parties. That is a false premise that ignores objectivity, the fact that these governments and proposals represent the same old capitalism, a capitalism that effectively does not remain static, that develops unceasingly, always to the benefit of the propertied classes.

In Venezuela a particular process is developing. The economic and social measures of the government of Hugo Chavez were always significant to the benefit of the popular sectors, its patriotic and anti-U.S. imperialist positions were consistent, it was the only government that relied on the mobilization of the masses. After the death of Chavez, his successor is facing an aggressive campaign of destabilization and street fighting propelled by reaction with the direct support of the U.S. These actions are supported by social unrest due to the shortage of food and other essential items, an inflation of over 50%, successive currency devaluations, the insecurity caused by an increase in crime. In Venezuela, a hard battle is being waged between the left and the right, between the patriots and the sellouts, between reaction and revolutionary positions. Clearly, there has been no revolution in Venezuela despite the proclamations of the pro-Chavez forces, there has been no building of socialism, but there is taking place a patriotic, democratic and revolutionary process that is facing a fierce onslaught of reaction. The situation is showing that reformism, even if it takes up radical positions, is not the way to the revolution. The outcome of this confrontation is not known in the short term. In any case, the workers, people and youth of Venezuela are learning to fight through struggles at a high level, they are understanding their role in the process of social transformation. The revolutionary party of the proletariat, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela, has before it great challenges and responsibilities.

The thesis that there are warmongering and aggressive imperialist countries and progressive imperialist countries that help the peoples and on which they can rely for the process of national liberation is false. With these ideas the "progressive governments" conceal the ties of a new dependency.

The class struggle continues to be the motive force of history

The constant development of the instruments of production caused by the extraordinary development of science and technology, by the incorporation of millions of human beings into industrial production, is creating huge profits and a more pronounced concentration of the wealth in the coffers of the big international monopolies and imperialist countries. The magnitude of this accumulation, despite new inventions and discoveries, information technology, cybernetics, automation and robotics is mainly the result of the labor power of millions of men and women who work in the factories established in all countries of the earth.

The expansion of capital, the accumulation and concentration of wealth are the result, in the first place, of the appropriation of surplus value by the capitalist class. Without the existence and labor of the working class that wealth would not exist, the world of capital would not be possible.

The working class today is at the center of the epoch, it is the creator of wealth, it is the fundamental force of society not only because of its role in production but also its numbers. Never before have there been so many thousands of millions of workers forming part of the working class, industrial production is revitalizing economic development.

The ever greater socialization of production and the concentration of wealth are the pillars of the capitalist-imperialist system; the two fundamental classes of the epoch, the workers and the capitalists, face each other; a world of exploitation and oppression of millions of people by a handful of bosses has been established, a circumstance of shame and social inequality, a society in decline, a world that is irretrievably traveling the path to extinction, a situation that will be negated by the advent of a new world, a world of the workers, socialism.

We Marxist-Leninist communists will fulfill our responsibilities.

The responsibility of the communists to support the revolutionary new as opposed to the reactionary old, to push forward the advanced positions, to fight for the immediate needs of the workers, demands the continuation of the struggle to unmask the revisionist and opportunist positions within the workers and popular movement.

We Marxist-Leninists are standard bearers of the unity of the working class, in each country and on an international scale, we are working to form a broad front involving the workers of town and country, the working class and the peasantry, the oppressed peoples and nations, the peoples and nationalities who are oppressed and discriminated against within the capitalist states; which include the working youth, students and intelligentsia.

For us it is vital to improve our policies and activities to win for the economic and political struggle the major sectors of the youth who are suffering the impact of imperialist plunder and capitalist exploitation. The sensitivity and the potential of the youth is in contention: one or another faction of the ruling classes take advantage of them, the anarchist positions seduce them or we communists will win them to involve them in the process of social and national liberation, in the struggle for emancipation.

The duty of the proletarian revolutionaries to struggle against imperialism and the bourgeoisie, for the revolution and socialism, imposes on us the responsibility to deal with various situations in which the revolutionary struggle is developing, to fight fascism and repression, against demagogy and reformism, to be actively involved in the problems of society from the positions of the working class, to actively participate in the particular situation without losing sight of the strategic objective of the struggle for power.

Ecuador, September of 2014

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