30th January 2022

At the end of 2022, the Marxists Speak Out network discussed the Paris Declaration released by the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. The majority of the network endorsed the statement. Several organisations representing Marxists from Brazil, Argentina, UK, US, Australia and South Korea have all reached out to World Anti-Imperilaist Platform and offered our endorsement of the Paris Declaration.

Class Conscious agreed unambiguously with all eleven points of the declaration. We wish to proudly display the slogans, “Defeat for the NATO led alliance! Victory to the Alliance! No cooperation with the imperialist war!” on our banners.

Class Conscious and the other organisations who made contact have all participated in panels and made statements against the imperialist war against Russia which can be found on the marxistsspeakout.org and worldonfire99.wordpress.com websites. We have also participated in protesting the war on the ground in our countries.

We took on face value the statement that the declaration “ remains open for revolutionary and anti-imperialist parties and organisations to sign.”

However, none of the organisations from Marxist Speak Out have received any reply from the World Anti-Imperilaist Platform, not even to acknowledge receipt of our emails.

We are concerned that our endorsements are being ignored because the organisations that made contact and did not receive a reply, including ourselves, are from the Leninist-Trotskyist tradition of Marxism, but we hope we are wrong.

Across all Marxist tendencies there have been groups which have failed this historic test and refused to oppose the imperialist war on Russia. The war in Ukraine provides an historic opportunity to unite all genuine anti-imperialist from across the various common traditions. The World Anti-Imperialist Platform has shown admirable leadership in putting out this call, and we hope that sectarianism will not be allowed to impede or hinder the growth of this initiative.

Class Conscious has decided to publish the Paris Declaration on our website to show our support for it despite the lack of response from the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. We intend to explain what has occurred publicly, as we believe that all organizations which have thus far endorsed the World Anti-Imperialist Platform should be aware of our efforts to sign the declaration.

We hope this issue can be resolved soon and we can join you as comrades in the joint struggle to oppose the imperialist war on Russia that is escalating by the day.

Update: On February 9th classconscious.org received a reply from the World Anti-Imperialist Platform acknowledging and welcoming our intention to sign the Paris Declaration but indicating that given our organisations political differences with those who have already signed the declaration, it would more time to decide on whether our endorsement will be accepted.

Paris Declaration: The rising tide of global war and the tasks of anti-imperialists

We stand at a moment of grave peril for workers and oppressed peoples everywhere, in which the imperialist war drive is pushing us towards a third world war and a nuclear conflagration.

Even as NATO’s aggression in Ukraine is failing both militarily and economically, the USA’s desperation to save its hegemonic position in the world means it cannot back down, but is instead looking for ways to expand and prolong the war. In the face of all experience, it seems that the imperialists still hope they can find a way to wear down all resistance to their rule and come out on top.

As a result, we face the prospect of the Ukraine war spilling over into neighbouring countries in Europe and central Asia – and also of the outbreak of hostilities in several other theatres further east. Recent US provocations in Taiwan, alongside its ceaseless ratcheting up of tensions with the DPRK and China on every front, make this all too clear.

At this moment of historic importance, we, the undersigned parties, agree that the following essential points should be made clear to the masses of the world, and should guide our antiwar and anti-imperialist work:

1. That the conflicts that have already or are threatening to break out are not isolated and local affairs, but are integral parts of the USA’s drive to retain its global hegemony.
2. That the present war in Ukraine is not the result of ‘Russian aggression’ but of this western imperialist drive to war – in particular, the war drive of the USA.
3. That the war really began when the USA and its allies financed, armed and organised a fascist coup in Kiev in 2014, and that the Russian side, in its alliance with the peoples of the Donbass, is engaged in a war of self-defence and national liberation against imperialist attack.
4. That the war drives against China and the DPRK are also a result of imperialist aggression, and that, no matter who fires the first shot, if the threatened conflicts break out in Korea or Taiwan, those wars will likewise be wars of anti-imperialist self-defence and national liberation waged by the Korean and/or Chinese people.
5. That Russia and China’s ability to defend themselves and others does not indicate expansionist ambitions or imperialist economics; it is based in decades of planning for self-defence, initiated by the socialist governments of the USSR and the PRC.
6. That there is no economic data to justify characterising China or Russia as imperialist. These are countries that do not live by superexploiting or looting the world. They do not put other countries into military, technological or debt slavery. On the contrary, the beneficial terms of trade and the technological and military assistance they offer are giving smaller developing countries the chance to break out of imperialist enslavement.
7. That Russia and China are the targets of imperialist aggression because both by retaining their own independence, and by assisting other nations to gain theirs, they represent a serious threat to the imperialists’ world hegemony.
8. That the growing alliance between Russia and China offers hope to the people of the world: hope of an alternative to US domination and imperialist superexploitation. A strong anti-imperialist camp is our peoples’ best defence against the aggressive plans of the bloodthirsty Nato alliance – our best defence against the looming threat of nuclear war.
9. That antiwar activists must mobilise the masses in their countries for a campaign of active non-cooperation with the imperialist war effort aimed at sabotaging Nato’s war machinery in every way possible. We must refuse to fight in or assist Nato’s armies (direct or proxy). We must refuse to transport Nato’s men and materiel. We must refuse to allow Nato’s bases to operate unimpeded on our territories. We must refuse to manufacture or supply Nato’s armaments and other vital equipment. We must refuse to broadcast, print or distribute imperialist propaganda lies; and refuse to cooperate with imperialist trade and sanctions wars.
10. That the accelerating war drive, economic crisis, hunger crisis, environmental crisis and more all make it abundantly clear that the need to remove the imperialist economic system is more urgent than ever.
11. That the slogans of true anti-imperialists in this time must be: Defeat for the Nato-led imperialist alliance! Victory to the resistance! No cooperation with imperialist war!

More information about the Paris Declaration can be found on the World Anti-Imperialist Platform website