The New Communist Party of Romania is deeply worried about and firmly condemns the escalation of long-running hostilities in Caucasus, which has resulted in what seems to be a full-blown war between Georgia and Russia over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
This current war ought to be regarded as the expression of rivalries that exist within the imperialist camp, that is, between great capitalist powers vying for regional as well as global dominance.
In the past years, seizing on the weakness of the new capitalist Russia that had emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union, the American imperialists have taken steps to assert their hegemony in places like the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia. In 1999 they bombed Yougoslavia and forced it to relinquish its control of Kosovo. In 2001 they invaded Afghanistan, in 2003 they invaded Iraq and istigated a right-wing coup in Georgia which ousted the pro-Russian president Shevarnadze and set up a pro-American regime headed by president Saakashvilli, which is seeking EU and NATO membership.
But in the recent years Russia has overcome the deep crisis of the 1990s and a new class of mega-capitalists, of super-rich oligarchs has emerged. These oligarchs, just like their American counterparts, seek to expand abroad and, as a result, Russia has become- through companies like RusAl, Evraz, Norilsk- an important exporter of capital- mainly to poorer countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia or Africa, but also, to a lesser extent, to rich Western countries. The Russian capitalists are no longer willing to play second fiddle to the American ones. They no longer want to be dominated, on the contrary, they want to dominate others. The rise of the new "assertive Russia" in recent years is in fact nothing but an expression of the rise of a new class of international capitalists with their own dreams of world domination.
But, since the American capitalists also happen to want world dominance there can be, under the current system based on profit and greed, only one outcome: confrontation, and this is exactly what we're seeing today. World capitalism once again finds itself on the verge of plunging mankind into the abyss of an inter-imperialist war.
It is obvious that BOTH the American imperialists and the Russian imperialists are to blame for the current war. It is obvious that what we're dealing with is a replay of what happened 100 years ago, prior to the outbreak of World War One. Today's US resembles the British Empire of 100 years ago, today's Russia resembles the German Empire of 100 years ago.
The American imperialists are guilty for setting a dangerous precedent with the unilateral declaration of the independence of Kosovo. They are also to blame for trying to include Georgia- as well as Ukraine- in the imperialist NATO alliance. At the same time the Russian capitalists are to blame for seeking to expand to other countries and for supporting the separatist forces in the- albeit nominally- independent and sovereign state of Georgia. This is a confrontation between two rival gangs of international robbers.
The international working class- as well as Communists all over the world- are duty-bound to actively and resolutely oppose this imperialist war. The international working class should, under no circumstances, take sides in the current imperialist war. Both sides should be actively and resolutely opposed by the international proletariat and the international Communist movement.
As regards the two imperialist camps taken separately, the Communist and workers there must know that their main enemy is AT HOME, and, therefore, that their main task is to fight the capitalists WITHIN. Should an inter-imperialist war break out, the main duty of US workers would be to fight the US imperialists, whereas Russian workers would be duty-bound to fight the Russian imperialists. This is the only way forward for the international working class. For the workers and Communists inside the two camps the only path worth taking is the path Lenin and the Bolsheviks took 100 years ago.
The main enemy is WITHIN!
