The socio-economic conditions

The global economic crisis, which is a structural crisis of the capitalist system, is tormenting the planet. The effects of this crisis are dramatic for the peoples of the world. They sharpen the socio-economic contradiction between territories and states, but more importantly among people.

Capitalism pushes production to the extreme and at the same time it concentrates the wealth produced by society in the hands of a few multinational companies. This has always been the deeper cause of the economic crises and the basic contradiction of capitalism.

Capital is responsible for the crisis within the unjust economic system, which it has created. Yet, it does not assume any responsibility; on the contrary, it attacks vested rights of the workers, attempting even within such conditions, to increase its profits.

The main ally of capital in this effort are the bourgeois governments which, with their austerity policies, put an increasingly heavier burden on the shoulders of the workers, pushing them deeper and deeper into unemployment and poverty.

The proponents of capitalism, who keep talking about the end of history and the end of class-based struggle, are spectacularly contradicted by the reality: workers realise even more that hope for the future exists only in class-based struggle.

These forms of capitalist development are applied in the European Union in their most violent expression, especially in the countries, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the “Troika”.

The capitalist crisis leads to an acute competition between imperialist centres and new peripheral powers, aiming at dominating the global market, with a special preference for the energy sector. At the same time, it leads to a realignment of the structure of imperialism, forges new alliances and causes local wars.

The continued militarisation of the planet, the flagrant violation of human rights, the manipulation and in certain cases the substitution of the UN by UK, USA and NATO are also consequences of the aforementioned developments, caused by the inhumane nature of the capitalist system.

In Latin America, US imperialist interventions meet today with vigorous resistance from most of the countries in the region.

However, the danger of a setback either because of a coup d’état or a war of attrition against progressive governments, remains.

The results of the elections in Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Nicaragua, created hope that American hegemony in the region can be avoided, provided that the left, anti-imperialist governments, which are supported by communist and workers parties, keep working for the benefit of the peoples of the region.

Cuba is a great example inspiring the people of the region: despite great adversities, such as the aggressiveness of imperialism, it defends Socialist restructuring.

At the same time the USA, in a show of aggressive spirit, expands its network of military bases around the world and continues creating the anti-missile shield. In Eastern Europe, NATO’s military exercises have grown exponentially and are centred in the Baltic region, aiming at a permanent NATO presence in the region. The pro-western coup d’état in Ukraine, which was backed by the USA and the EU and in which neo-Nazi forces participated, is also part of these plans.

NATO’s expansion to the East, the American-bred plan for a New Middle East and the move of the USA towards Southeast Asia and the Pacific region reveal, according to President Obama, the intentions of the imperialist centres.

Religious extremism, nationalism, chauvinism, fascism and the provocation by ideologies, which propagate a clash between cultures, are all tools to manipulate the masses with aim of making them participate in or consent to imperialist schemes, as well as to repress any political response from the people.

Fascism is on the rise, as extremely racist organisations hide the true causes of exploitation and of the crisis under a so-called opposition of the capitalist system. But they cannot hide the fact that they are always supported by the established order which, as much as it might seem to oppose fascism, will use it to serve its own interests, as it does in Ukraine.

The centres of supranational power attempt to equalise fascism with communism, in an effort to divert the people – especially youth – from the socialist perspective, which is the force that can organise and direct the struggles.

The global capitalist crisis brings to the forefront the ideals of socialism and the need for building a society without exploitation, a society of prosperity and justice.