TAKE TO THE STREETS ON THE 1ST OF MAY!
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
April 2023
TAKE TO THE STREETS ON THE 1ST OF MAY!
This year it is 100 years since the founding of the Communist Party of Norway on November 4, 1923. The party was born in the midst of the class struggle, as the Norwegian section of the Communist International. Now we can celebrate this 100-year anniversary in the wake of a great victory for the international proletariat: the founding of the International Communist League. Thus, this year’s May Day must be a celebration of two historic events: The 100-year anniversary of the Communist Party of Norway and the founding of the International Communist League.
The Communist Party of Norway was liquidated by revisionism at the turn of the 1970s. Continuing, the only and true ideology of the proletariat has been developed to its highest level so far: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, mainly Maoism, with the universally valid contributions of Chairman Gonzalo. The proletariat has only one ideology, Maoism, and only one party, the Communist Party. Without its party, the proletariat lacks leadership. The party is a prerequisite for the proletariat to seize power through revolution. Communists must therefore do everything we can to reconstitute the Communist Party of Norway as a Maoist party.
THE IMPERIALIST HELL IS COMING TO AN END
We are living in stormy times, in which imperialism has taken a new downward leap in its decay. The counter-revolutionary offensive that began around 1990 is being beaten back. The international proletariat and the oppressed peoples of the world are marching into a new period of revolutions, within the strategic offensive of the world proletarian revolution. All the great events we see unfolding today are expressions of these general tendencies. The red banner with the golden hammer and sickle is being raised in the midst of the class struggle, in country after country. This year’s 1st of May is a day when our forces are again marching to show that there is a way out of the hell of imperialism. Proletarian revolution is the only way to end the imperialist genocide of war, hunger, poverty, environmental destruction and mass unemployment.
The last few years have been eventful and full of confirmations that imperialism is coming to an end. The corona-virus pandemic has claimed millions of lives due to poverty and lack of healthcare. The cyclical crisis has returned, with the onset of a new crisis of overproduction in 2020. The George Floyd protests shook the US and spread across much of the world. US imperialism, the world’s sole superpower, had to withdraw from Afghanistan with its tail between its legs. The huge popular protests in France, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and so on have shown something of the power that resides in the people. The people, and only the people, are the driving force that changes history. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian imperialism in 2022 and the brutal wars in Syria, Yemen and Ethiopia show once again that imperialism means war, war and more war. All these are world-shaking events, and the earth will tremble and shake from struggle until revolution sweeps imperialism off the face of the earth forever.
Russian imperialism’s war of aggression against Ukraine is of the utmost importance. Russian imperialism has displaced millions of people and killed tens of thousands. The war has sharpened the rivalry between the imperialists for world hegemony. The main contradiction in the situation of Ukraine is between Russian imperialism and the Ukrainian nation. Ukraine is a semi-colony, where various imperialists compete for influence, in particular Yankee imperialism, Russian imperialism, German imperialism and Chinese social imperialism. The Ukrainian resistance struggle is a war of national liberation, and it is justified and fair. The basis of the Russian invasion is the rivalry of Russian imperialism with the US, where Russia has been on the defensive for thirty years.
Today’s government in Ukraine are reactionary lackeys of US imperialism. It does not represent the interests of the Ukrainian nation, but the interests of the world’s sole hegemonic superpower, which has an interest in dragging Russian imperialism into a protracted war to weaken it. Anti-imperialists did not support Slobodan Milocevic, Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, the Taliban or Ghaddafi, even if their country was attacked by imperialism. The national resistance is justified and fair, but reactionary imperialist lackeys can never lead it to victory, as history has shown again and again. The national resistance in Afghanistan has inflicted a defeat on the US, but the Taliban have made dirty deals with US imperialism, consolidating its position as an oppressed nation. This confirms that only new democratic revolution under the leadership of a communist party can liberate oppressed nations from imperialism. Imperialism means war, but Afghanistan is yet another example of the inability of the imperialists today to win decisive victories, because since the turn of the 1980s we have been living in the strategic offensive of the world proletarian revolution.
FOR THE PARTY AND THE REVOLUTION
In the midst of the decay of imperialism, Maoism is marching forward. There have been 7 meetings of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations in Europe. There have been 5 meetings of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations in Latin America, and a first conference of such parties and organizations throughout the Americas. After many years of two-line struggle and ideological, political and organizational endeavors, a long phase of the struggle to unify the international communist movement under Maoism culminated in the first Unified Maoist International Conference in 2022. This great historic conference founded the International Communist League, with 15 members from 14 countries. This was a victory for Chairman Gonzalo and the campaign for Maoism initiated by the Communist Party of Peru in 1982. Now the banner of the International Communist League is raised high above the burning barricades of the French popular protests and riots against Macron’s pension reform.
Furthermore, we live in a period in which the Communist Party of Peru has taken a great leap in the process of general reorganization, and in which the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist has held its first congress, after 49 years of party construction and people’s war. The banner of people’s war is held high in the Philippines and India, under the leadership of great Maoist parties. The revolutionary movement advances, under Maoist leadership, in Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador. Maoist groups are emerging and raising the red banner in country after country, even in the “belly of the beast” the US, in social fascist China and in Russia. No true revolutionary can witness these developments without being filled with revolutionary enthusiasm. If we unite and strengthen the revolutionary movement, we can help to advance these developments. We are living in historic times. It is up to us, up to each individual revolutionary, to seize the day and the hour, to act consciously and voluntarily, united and disciplined, to fulfill the tasks that history has given us. The revolution requires an enormous collective effort, the revolution needs everyone. No contribution is too small, nor too great for the future of humanity. All kinds of people and all kinds of contributions are needed in this struggle.
We are living in the midst of a turning point for the revolutionary movement, for the proletariat and for all mankind. We live in the midst of the 50 to 100 years in which imperialism will be swept off the face of the earth. Our foremost task in this country is to reconstitute the Communist Party of Norway as a Maoist party. This party is the vanguard of the international proletariat in our country, it must be forged and hardened in struggle, in the midst of the class struggle and on the basis of the movement that we see developing today.
IMPERIALIST DECAY IN NORWAY
The situation in Norway is part of the international situation, with rising prices affecting the poorest in particular. We see that the petit bourgeoisie is shrinking and that the poorest have become poorer over the last ten years. Real wages are falling, there is a crisis of energy prices, interest rates are going up, the Norwegian krone is losing value, and the whole situation is rightly called times of inflation even by bourgeois politicians. But they respond to the times of inflation by increasing the burden, with tighter budgets and cuts in welfare.
These economic and social conditions are having an impact on the political situation. Social democracy continues its process of decay. Conflicts are intensifying in most bourgeois parties, as we see not only in the Labor Party, but also in recent years with disagreements about direction and leadership within KrF, Frp, the Greens and SV. The bourgeois labor party Rødt is abandoning its independent position in foreign policy and adapting to the NATO line on Ukraine. They join the Norwegian arms donations to the government in Ukraine. In this situation, we now have a historically unpopular government, which barely garners the support of 20% of respondents in opinion polls.
We see a tendency towards state monopoly capitalism, where the state increases taxes and also increases its participation in the economy. The so-called “green shift” is a sham, which is not about saving the planet but about subsidizing unprofitable investments in more energy and other measures to boost the economy. We see a tendency towards corporativism, which has manifested itself in a number of cases of forced wage arbitration to stop strikes. We see a tendency towards militarization, where the Norwegian state spends more money on the military, where they intensify the propaganda for the military, including through TV programs, and with more surveillance, for example through the new intelligence law. The militarization of Norway is part of the militarization of the Nordic region, and everything points to the militarization of society and more wars in the future.
All this decay is also evident in ideological relations. We see rising nationalism and chauvinism. The state wants to use 2030 for a Christian nationalist ideological offensive, in connection with the millennium commemoration of the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. There is a tendency towards extreme individualism turning into narcissism, which we can see in social media and with the so-called “influencers”. We see sexualization, excessive focus on enjoying life, dieting, plastic surgery, interior design, clothing and identity as a commodity. Porn and prostitution are promoted as “sex work”. The state obliges pharmacies to sell “alternative medicine”, without any scientific basis. Young people are subjected to an ideological pincer, with Andrew Tate on one side and identity politics on the other. Both sides share the extreme individualism and focus on the ego. What we need to do is to put the collective first, to put our common future above the short-term interests of the individual.
LONG LIVE MAOISM! DOWN WITH REVISIONISM!
In this situation, revisionism and all kinds of opportunism are trying to exploit the mood of disruption and discontent to win votes. They want to prevent the revolt and channel the discontent into legalism and electoral struggle. Revisionism is the extension of the bourgeoisie into the labor movement. Therefore, the struggle against imperialism and reaction must be united with the struggle against revisionism. The revolutionary movement is forged in the struggle against revisionism, and this struggle must be waged in the midst of the class struggle. We must raise the struggle for daily demands and link these with the struggle for power. We must harden ourselves in struggle, and educate ourselves and others in Maoism, to embody it more and more.
We address the revolutionary movement, all workers, working women, students and pupils, all anti-imperialists and all people with a revolutionary spirit. Mark the 1st of May with us! Mark the 1st of May under our red flags. Highlight the historic event of the founding of the International Communist League. Raise the banner with the hammer and sickle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Norway. Fight for the unity of the class, for the united front and the popular front, fight against imperialism, reaction and revisionism, to unite under Maoism.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
Take to the streets on the 1st of May!
NKP 100 years – Reconstitute the Communist Party of Norway!
Long live the International Communist League!
Red Front
April 2023
