1st of May: Cast away the illusions and launch into fight!

With serious self-criticism we publish this corrected again version of the translation of the international 1st of May declaration. - Dem Volke Dienen

To all marxist-leninist-maoist parties and organizations of the world:

We have prepared the following Common International Declaration for the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Parties and Organizations for the First of May in the current year, with the intention that they adhere to it. Due to the current difficulties in the ICM, which are obvious, we have taken the initiative to publicize the declaration hereby and await the prompt communication of the comrades from the different countries to the following email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Editorial Staff of the Magazine El Maoista, April 2020

First of May 2020

Proletarians of all countries, unite!

Cast away the illusions and launch into fight!

We already knew, we already felt it in body and soul, that this old world is nothing more than hell for the international proletariat and the peoples of the world. We already knew, what in recent months has been showing. Even the most imbecile dreamer who turned a blind eye has seen all the illusions about the imperialist world system fall to pieces, disappear like smoke.

The misnamed “Corona-Crisis” that mostly consumes the poorest and weakest, is a result of decades of systematic and progressive abandonment of the public health systems of the masses, of the prevention and preparation systems in cases of disaster – even though each new pandemic heralded a worse one – on the part of the old imperialist states and the states of bureaucratic capitalism in the application of their plans of “privatization” in order to focus on their gain and profit. This is why the hospitals do not have the capacity to care for patients during the epidemics and emergencies, why there is a lack of health personnel and instruments, of equipment and supply; it is why there is a lack of interest and delay in research and development of new vaccines and medicines to combat the epidemics that affect the survival of the broad masses in the world; it is why the early warning systems did not work and why, when COVID-19 was already raging in China in November of 2019, neither in that country nor in the United States, Spain, Italy or any other country immediate measures were taken in order “not to harm the economy”. This is the summarized chronicle of the “Corona-Crisis”, a crisis announced within the general crisis of imperialism. The “Corona-Crisis” is fundamentally the catalyst and the first phase of a new world economic crisis - a crisis of capitalist over-production, which has been announced by the economists of the financial capital for a long time and which is drastically accentuated by how the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the “Corona Virus” is used by the reactionary governments all over the world – principally the Yankee imperialist superpower, the atomic superpower Russia and the great imperialist powers. It is further deepened by the cynical competition between them.

It is a crisis, that means a destruction of productive forces in a form that has not been seen since the Second World War, where – in the midst of an avalanche of measures against the workers and peoples by reactionary governments, “legitimizing” them as necessary to fight the pandemic – as a result of the political handling of the imperialists, reactionaries and revisionists the expansion of the COVID-19 epidemic was permitted to become the COVID-19 pandemic and generated something, that is nothing less but a crime of genocide against the peoples of the world. The misnamed “Corona-Crisis”, that has plunged the imperialist and landlord-bureaucratic states into an even deeper political crisis, sharpens all the fundamental contradictions on the international level and those specific to the type of countries in question.

Those responsible for the crisis and the plagues are the imperialists and their lackeys

When the epidemic commenced in Wuhan, China, the concern of the imperialists was principally the interruption of the “supply chains”, that is, that it was going to cause problems in the process of production due to the vertical integration of its monopolies. Hence they did not take measures in order to prevent the expansion of the epidemic. When it was clear that the epidemic was going to turn into a pandemic, as was the case at the latest in January of this year, their concern was that the aeronautical and tourist companies were going to have a drop in their profits and so they did not impede the virus from spreading throughout the world. When the pandemic began to hit Western Europe, schools were closed, but restaurants and brothels were left open – under the pretext to avoid the ruining of the smallholders, when all they trafficked for was to defend the big monopolies of “franchise” and wholesale. It is only when the factories began to close, only then, that the imperialist States commenced to release means. It is there, that the states guarantee the existence of the monopolies at any cost. There they say “Goodbye” to the policy of “austerity”. There it is the unrestrained development of state monopoly capitalism. The policy of “austerity”, imposed in the world by Yankee imperialism and within the “European Union” (“EU”) by German Imperialism, is directly guilty of thousands upon thousands of deaths in those countries.

Those few facts mentioned demonstrate that what has conditioned the handling of the pandemic on the part of the imperialist states is fundamentally their interest in profit, acting as the great common capitalist of the imperialist bourgeoisie of each oppressive nation, guided by their political and military interests in the inter-imperialist struggle and, in particular, in maintaining the super-exploitation of the oppressed peoples. Now they call on us to die like sacrificial lambs to the god of capital. In order to save them, we are supposed to immolate ourselves.

The imperialists do not divert from their way, they follow their own logic, taking advantage of the fact, that the attention of public opinion of the world is distracted by the drama of the “Corona-Crisis”. The unrestrained aggression of Yankee Imperialism against Venezuela in the Caribbean, the naval maneuvers of Russia in the North Sea and in the English Channel, the advance of the “EU” (headed by Germany) to break the sanctions of the Yankees against Iran, the threats of Trump against the OPEC + Russia to cut their oil production, to only mention a few “incidents”, demonstrate that nothing changes their nature as bloodthirsty beasts. As Chairman Mao has said, imperialism will never turn into a harmless Buddha.

The struggle within the “EU”, in the face of the demand of Italy and Spain to mutualise the debt with the “EURO Bonds”, in which Germany acts as the hegemon and forces the Spanish and Italian imperialists to kneel in a way that previously they have only been able to do with countries like Greece, likewise with the French imperialists who they force to accept the “aid” package for “Kurzarbeit” (1), thereby forcing them to eat from the hand of the President of the EU Commission von der Leyen, demonstrating once again that European unity under imperialism is impossible. But the most blatant example of the absolute lack of “solidarity” among the imperialists is how the sole hegemonic superpower, Yankee Imperialism, literally steals the medical supply of the other imperialists, using mafia methods as the representatives of the French and Italian imperialists, among others, have denounced – methods that they have always applied against the oppressed nations.

Within the scenario of a galloping economic and political crisis, it is clear who will pay for all those barbarities. As always in this putrefied system, it will be the lowest, the workers, principally those “without papers”, and the people’s masses. Already, dozens of millions have been thrown into unemployment in the imperialist countries. But the greater burden will fall on the backs of the worker’s and people’s masses, principally the peasant's, in the oppressed countries. In India alone, one hundred million workers lost their income in a single day, forcing them to return to the countryside in order to survive. Thus, it is another example of imperialist oppression not destroying the semi-feudal base but rather evolving it. When in Chile the “quarantine” began to be applied, the big wholesalers, bureaucratic capitalists, cynically declared the rise in the price of bread, in a single day, by 20%. Such a crime! First, they impede the masses from earning what is necessary in order for them to survive and then, they raise the price of the most basic food in a tremendous way. In Ecuador the dead are left on the streets of Guayaquil for days, like in the epoch of the pest, which shows the absolute putrefaction of the old landlord-bureaucratic state. In Brazil, as the fascist Bolsonaro and the top military commanders struggling for the leadership of the counterrevolutionary regime, unite in the application of the plan of the big bourgeoisie and landowners, in service of the Yankees, to further bind the masses with the scourge of the dismissals of millions, forced reduction of wages and temporary cancellation of the employment contract, more hunger, misery and repression of the poor and left -behind before COVID-19, under the pretext of fighting it.



The imperialist parasites, responsible for the crisis, cynically offer “help” through the devilish duo, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both dominated by Yankee imperialism. The peoples of the world understand very well that these institutions mean nothing else but subjugation, oppression, exploitation, hunger and misery. The slavers assault the slaves, they savagely beat them until they fall to the ground and then offer their hand in order for them to get back up, under the condition, that they put on stronger chains. That is how those miserables handle it.

Oppression generates resistance, and the development of this crisis of the imperialist system, a sign of its greatest collapse, which threatens to continue for years, will lead to an immense growth of popular protest throughout the world, with the revolution increasingly expressing its character as a major historical and political trend. All the crimes of the imperialists and their lackeys will be more than punished by the revolutionary masses worldwide, national liberation struggles will increase even more, and great explosions of people's struggle will shake the whole world. The international proletariat and the peoples of the world led by genuine Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Communist Parties will make great leaps forward in ending the most sinister scourge of all, imperialism. The colossus with feet of clay will be brought down.

Against imperialism and the old states: Combat and Resist!

We communists of the world must understand the current political situation very well and assume our responsibility with initiative, energy and audacity, inexorably fighting to raise the red flag with the hammer and sickle to the top in the front rows of the struggle of the masses, combating and resisting, in order to direct and channel it in service of the proletarian world revolution, in the struggle for the democratic and socialist revolutions – according to what corresponds respectively in each country. The deepening crisis of the imperialist system generates excellent conditions for the communists to further unfold the politics of the masses; to deepen, tighten and amplify the roots and ties with the broadest and deepest masses, as comrades are already doing in various countries and that allows to advance in the construction of the three instruments of the revolution, the party, the army and front, concentrically. Per se, and it can not be otherwise, the principal thing is to focus in the construction of the Communist Party itself whether it is in the process of reconstitution, constitution or already reconstituted, but even so, the construction of the front – the United Front of the revolution, be it democratic or socialist, led by the proletariat – deserves special attention. The front must be shaped according to the moment of development of the revolution in each country, as a class front that corresponds to the central and highest task of the revolution, the revolutionary armed struggle, that is People’s War, in order to conquer and defend the power for the proletariat and the people, based on the fact that the revolution in each country is different according to the particular conditions and that the front in a country is not the same as the front on world level. It should make us think about: Unite, differentiate and lead! A good handling of the policy of the front allows the communists in all countries to take gigantic steps in advancing their positions and – according to their particular conditions and the current moment of the revolutionary process in the respective countries – to unite the broad masses under their leadership that experience first-hand the plague that is imperialism. Our problem is to differentiate, not confuse. Only by sharply differentiating us can we handle the polarization of classes that is unfolding and will be greater. If we do not differentiate us, then we will blend in and develop that vulgar “frontism” of those hodgepodges that serve ends contrary to those that we serve. This has to be done also, because the Party has to persist and do everything necessary in order to be the sole and recognized center so that the revolution can be really developed according to what Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, has established.

In moments of great sharpening of the class struggle, it must be unfolded as a prolonged one and carried out long term. Keep in mind, that everything can not be developed on equal level, that there is uneven development. It is a law. The development is uneven and it always will be. It is obligatory that the communists give clear and concise slogans to guide the struggle of the masses, accompanied by forceful actions that reverberate in the minds. In this case that is to break the “political truce”, the “national unity”, that the governments try to impose under the pretext of “fighting the Corona-Virus” in order to crush the revolutionary and people’s struggle. The communists have to unmask the corporatist measures and blow away all illusions in the old states, otherwise they will fall into the trap of serving the great reactionarization of the states. They have to focus the agitation and propaganda on putting forward the fact that the only way out from the iron cycle of exploitation is the revolution under the direction of the proletariat lead by its Communist Party. The struggle for daily demands is necessary and must be developed in service of the struggle for power for the proletariat and the people. What has to be seen here, is that the political struggle is principal and that the economic struggle of the proletariat and the workers in general is the basis. The problems of wages, working hours, conditions and rights – such as the right to unionize, strike, of assembly, of association, of expression, of opinion and movement, etc. - are problems, of vital importance, that we can not get around, because if we avoid them, we can not develop the mass work for the revolution. It must be raised, giving an impulse to stoppages and strikes, handling well their interrelation according to the specific circumstances of the struggle.

In the face of the pandemic, the communists cannot abandon the masses in the face of the blackmail and threats of the “social isolation tax” of the reactionary authorities and the crumbs that they offer them as good Samaritans (“social measures”). They must lead the organization of the defense of the health of the people, guided by a class line, as political organisms of the people of the masses in order to fight for the basic needs of protection against contamination and in order to guaranty by all means the supply of food and health personal; for medicines, instruments and equipment for emergency care and sanitation of centers of infection; for canceling the payments for water, electricity and transportation of the masses. Rejecting that it is the organisms of the old state and the imperialist NGOs that are in charge of delivering “aid”, demanding that it must be the organizations of the people who assume administration and distribution in order to crush the counter-revolutionary and manipulative use that is being forced by the old state through its own internal orders and laws of war.

Keep in mind, that the old states in the face of the deepest crisis unload its weight on the backs of the masses. The exploitation and oppression are bolted fast with mayor cuts in the rights, liberties and benefits earned with the blood of the masses. To apply it, the reaction needs to have its “social measures” or “reforms” and these will only bear fruit for the reaction if we allow our flags of combat to be snatched away. We communists are advancing and we will not allow them to snatch them, nor will be depose them. We have to hit them to make them fail, in order to pull the rug out from under the counterrevolutionary action. The masses know where their interests are. Have confidence in the masses, confidence in the people. Always recall: “The people and only the people are the driving force of history.”

The current situation in the world from the side of the people is condensed in: THE EXPLOSIVITY OF THE MASSES INTENSIFIES IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND WILL UNFOLD MORE POWERFULLY. Our obligation is to be clear about this explosive situation and to use it according to the interests of the proletariat and the people, in service of the initiation and development of the People’s War. You have to know how to fight. You have to apply the principles of war. Then you have to apply what Chairman Mao says says for all kinds of struggles in general: Fight with reason, advantage and limitation.

As the imperialists, reactionaries and revisionists throughout the world with overbold cynicism try to use the sharpening of the imperialist crisis in order to advance their own particular interests, attacking the international proletariat and the peoples of the world, bringing out their iron claws to steal, kill and seize the greater part of the loot, which are the oppressed nations, the proletariat and the peoples must do the opposite. The communists have to put forward a single answer, a united response from the international proletariat. We must uphold proletarian internationalism, in theory and in practice, and struggle for the unity of the International Communist Movement (ICM), based on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally the Maoism, the fight against revisionism and in serving the proletarian world revolution, wielding the people's war, developing those who have been initiated – such as in Peru, India, the Philipinies and Turkey -, preparing and, principally, as soon as possible starting new ones in all countries.

Today, the communists are advancing in the unity of the ICM, advancing decisively towards the realization of the Unified Maoist International Conference and that will bring about the birth of the new international organization of the proletariat.

This is the moment for unity. Enough of the splitism, sabotage, trafficking and dirty fighting. Those who are for Maoism and the People's War and who have made grave errors of principle must assume self-criticism, breaking not only with those methods, but mainly with their source, the convergences with the approaches of Avakian and Prachanda, well understanding that none of these two rats have made any contribution to Marxism but are, and have always been, simply revisionists. In the ICM an increasing number of Parties and Organizations clamor for the reconstitution of the glorious Communist International guided by Maoism, some still hesitate and a few have other criteria, but that does not cancel out that his long road has already been taken and that there is no turning back and over time, and particularly with more People’s War, the unity of the communists of the world on the basis of principals will be forged.

It is time for action. We must redouble our activities, give an impulse to the rebellion of the masses and struggle to transform spontaneous struggle into conscious struggle under the leadership of the proletariat. Now is not the time to cry about our failures and limitations, but in the midst of the struggle we must rise to the necessaries of the moment. It is for this we prepared ourselves, now there is no other option but to launch ourselves into the fight. Those who doubt or hesitate in this moment loose the confidence of the masses. This First of May will be a great manifestation of the vigor of communism, our brilliant red flags with hammer and sickle are the symbol of hope, of the luminous future of communism, which proclaim by their waving the war on the world of oppression and exploitation, of the old order.

And to emphasize: This First of May we also celebrate a very important anniversary. It is the 130th anniversary of the first Mayday demonstration. This first demonstration was implemented and guided by the great comrade Friedrich Engels, whose 200th anniversary of his birth we are celebrating this year. Forward, comrades!

LONG LIVE THE FIRST OF MAY – THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE PROLETARIAT!

UNITE UNDER MAOISM!

HAVING THE PARTY, HAVING THE MASSES, ALL MIRACLES WILL BE DONE!

PROLETARIAT AND PEOPLES OF THE WORLD: UNITE TO SWEEP AWAY THE PLAGUE OF IMPERIALISM FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH WITH PEOPLE’S WAR!

Signatories:

Notes:

(1) The term “Kurzarbeit” in German is used to describe a particular system which implies that the state pay a percentage (averagely 60%) of the workers salary and the “employer” nothing, but still the worker is not considered “unemployed”. When the “employer” consider that he needs the worker back again he can be immediately reinstated on his workplace. 100 billions of the 540 billion packagein the FRG is destined to measures of this type.