Norway – Røde Fane: Yankee Aggression and Anti-Imperialist Unity
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an editorial from the Røde Fane magazine, published by Tjen Folket Media on the 12th of March.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
Yankee Imperialist Aggression and Anti-imperialist Unity
Yankee imperialism and its lackey, the Zionist State of Israel, continue their criminal attacks against the oppressed nation of Iran; they have expanded the war to Lebanon, and the entire region is once again ablaze. At the same time, the aggression against Cuba continues, with a crippling trade blockade. These developments reinforce the necessity of uniting anti-imperialists against Yankee aggression, in order to provide the greatest possible support to the national liberation movements of oppressed peoples and nations.
The plans of Yankee imperialism
The aggression, both in the Middle East and in Latin America, is part of Yankee imperialism’s plans to defend its position as the world’s sole hegemonic superpower.
The war against Iran is part of the US’s plans for “The Greater Middle East,” a phrase with a double meaning in English. The Yankee imperialists strive to reshape the Middle East even further in their imperialist image. Subjugating Iran through war and “regime change” is a key issue in this transformation.
For fifty years, the Iranian regime has been one of the obstacles to the Yankee imperialists’ plans. Before 1979, under the Shah’s brutal despotism, Iran was the United States’ most important lackey in the Middle East. With its vast territory and large population, Iran carries far greater weight than Israel. Israel is the Yankees’ most important bridgehead into the Middle East, a militarized garrison for imperialism, but it is a small country with a small population, besieged on all sides by sworn enemies of Zionism. The Arab reactionary regimes in the region are also weak, a fact that was evident, among other things, during the so-called “Arab Spring” (2010–2011). Yankee imperialism has a desperate need to strengthen its position in the region.
Yankee imperialism seeks to push its rivals (primarily Chinese social imperialism and Russian imperialism) further and further out of the Middle East, and to tighten its grip on the corrupt Arab puppet regimes (Saudi Arabia, Oman, etc.). All the while, the Yankees and their lackeys operate under siege and threats of uprising from the masses in the region, who hate “the Great Satan” in the West, the US. The Iranian government calls the current war the “Ramadan War,” because the US-Israel axis initiated its war of aggression right in the middle of this holiest religious holiday, which can only contribute even more to the just hatred.
The aggression against Latin America—and today, particularly against Cuba following the criminal acts committed against Venezuela—is also in line with the stated plans of Yankee imperialism. They operate under the guidance of their “national security strategy,” with a plan to consolidate their dominance over the Western Hemisphere, particularly Latin America. This dominance is the basis for their hegemonic position in the world, and they seek to counter Chinese social-imperialism and Russian imperialism, which in recent decades have increased their economic, political, and military penetration of several Latin American countries.
Moreover, the other second-rate imperialist powers (Britain, Germany, France, etc.) are not only partners of Yankee imperialism, but also rivals and competitors, both in Latin America and the Middle East. With the deepening general crisis of imperialism, the contradictions between the imperialists—including the “allies”—are also intensifying, and the rivalry is escalating.
Our principles must guide our work
In this situation, the communists and the revolutionary movement are intensifying the struggle against imperialist war and aggression, based on and guided by our ideology. We base ourselves on our principles—which include an unreserved defense of national self-determination—and on Chairman Mao’s teaching to always keep a firm grasp on what is the principal contradiction at any given time.
The anti-imperialist front changes as the situation changes, but our principles do not change. Guided by our ideology, we seek to grasp the principal contradiction, because a firm grasp of this clarifies all other issues for us. When imperialism invades or wages war against an oppressed country, the principal contradiction in that country is between the attacking imperialism (or imperialists) on the one hand, and the oppressed nation (in formation) on the other.
Furthermore, we see that with the development of capitalism to its imperialist stage, the national liberation movement becomes a current within the proletarian world revolution. That is to say, every national liberation war, every national war of resistance against imperialism, objectively becomes part of the world revolution.
The principal contradiction in imperialism, both throughout its entire history and in today’s concrete situation, is the contradiction between the imperialist powers and the oppressed peoples and nations. The bourgeoisie is completely losing the ability and will to lead national-democratic revolutions, and the proletariat must assume the leadership of these revolutions by transforming them into new-democratic revolutions.
Regarding the anti-imperialist front, communists work according to the principle of “uniting those who can be united” in order to “isolate the enemy to the maximum” at every stage and in every phase of the struggle. We see that in individual struggles, both some revisionists and some reactionaries may end up on the right side, albeit temporarily.
Defend the unity and combat divisiveness
The enemy—today, in particular, the world’s sole hegemonic superpower, Yankee imperialism, the principal enemy of the world’s oppressed peoples and nations—always seeks to sow division. In line with the ancient Roman maxim “divide et impera” (divide and conquer), the Yankees, the Zionists, the intelligence services, and the media monopolies systematically seek to divide the masses, to bring the masses under their influence, and to pit masses against masses. They seek to divide national liberation fronts, as they are attempting to do in Palestine—and Iran, Venezuela, etc.
In the face of the masses in the imperialist countries of the West, the enemy systematically employs black propaganda, lies and fabrications, sophisticated visual media manipulations, religious fanaticism (Christian sects), and outright racist chauvinism—all with a simple and transparent agenda: to divide anti-imperialist movements and to create public support for their modern colonial wars. It is in this context that we can understand the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Machado in Venezuela or the imperialists’ sudden “concern” for Iranian women.
Communists and revolutionaries, anti-imperialists and true democrats, must reject the enemy’s attempts to sow division and must participate in and defend the anti-imperialist front and its unity. It is obviously not a prerequisite for the front that there be complete ideological and political unity—otherwise it would not be a front. A front is a class front, where different classes and strata of classes are represented by different parties and organizations. Thus, there will be different lines, different views and perspectives, which in the individual struggle can and must be united against a common enemy, if one is to isolate this enemy to the maximum and build the broadest or strongest possible front.
This is the “ABC” of Marxist tactics, and these are methods that have been masterfully applied by the communist classics, from the founders Marx and Engels to Chairman Mao and Chairman Gonzalo. The great Lenin addressed the “leftist” slogan-mongers’ cry of “no compromises!” in his text “‘Left-Wing’ Communism: An Infantile Disorder”:
“It is surprising that, with such views, these Lefts do not emphatically condemn Bolshevism! After all, the German Lefts cannot but know that the entire history of Bolshevism, both before and after the October Revolution, is full of instances of changes of tack, conciliatory tactics and compromises with other parties, including bourgeois parties!
To carry on a war for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie, a war which is a hundred times more difficult, protracted and complex than the most stubborn of ordinary wars between states, and to renounce in advance any change of tack, or any utilization of a conflict of interests (even if temporary) among one’s enemies, or any conciliation or compromise with possible allies (even if they are temporary, unstable, vacillating or conditional allies)—is that not ridiculous in the extreme? Is it not like making a difficult ascent of an unexplored and hitherto inaccessible mountain and refusing in advance ever to move in zigzags, ever to retrace one’s steps, or ever to abandon a course once selected, and to try others?”
The Communists in formationopenly and honestly declare their positions: Only new-democratic and socialist revolutions can wipe imperialism off the face of the earth; these revolutions must take the form of People’s War, and they can only be led by the proletariat’s sole party—the Communist Party—guided by the sole proletarian ideology—Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This process requires a fierce, life-and-death struggle against imperialism, revisionism, and all reaction.
But this is our maximum program. The minimum program is different, and it changes as the situation changes. In the face of Yankee imperialism’s wars of aggression, the burning question is to unite the forces that can be united against the enemy’s attacks, to exploit the divisions among the reactionaries to inflict greater losses on them, and to combat the enemy’s attempts to split the anti-imperialist front.
The Editorial Board of the Røde Fane magazine
March 2026
