An important international step forward on the path opened by Lenin
Communique
Lenin’s Legacy 100 years on
An online conference organized by International Socialist Center Christian Rakovsky and RedMed web network
On January 21, 2024, exactly a hundred years from Lenin’s death, an online international conference dedicated to his legacy successfully took place, organized by the International Socialist Center “Christian Rakovsky” and the RedMed web network.
Many participants from all Continents, from the Americas to the Antipodes, Australia, from all parts of Europe and Russia to Africa, the Middle East and Asia have joined this collective and open Marxist rethinking on the historical role, contribution and actuality of the legacy of Vladimir I. Lenin, the Bolshevik leader and architect of the victory of the October 1917 Socialist Revolution.
Representatives of revolutionary parties, organizations, movements, independent militants and theoreticians from 20 countries were present. Speakers took the floor or sent thoughtful messages that were read, in a Marathon of more than eight hours: from Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, South Africa, Finland, Catalonia/Spain, Sardinia/Italy, Britain, France, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Australia.
The Conference started with opening remarks by Sungur Savran (DIP, Turkey), and it was structured at the following sessions:
1. An Introductory Session, starting with opening speeches by the organizers: on behalf of the International Socialist Center “Christian Rakovsky” Savvas Mikhail-Matsas (EEK, Greece) spoke on Lenin For the Future, and, on behalf of the RedMed web network, Sungur Savran spoke on Lenin’s strategic vision of the unification of all post-revolutionary socialist states in a federation, the exact opposite of national-communism.
They were followed by two guest speakers: Osvaldo Coggiola, well well-known Trotskyist militant from Argentina and Professor of History at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil with the presentation From Lenin to “Leninism”, and Tamás Kráusz, Professor of Russian History at the Eötvös University of Budapest, director of the Hungarian Marxist journal Eszmélet, author of “Reconstructing Lenin, an intellectual biography” (2016 Isaac Deutscher Prize) who spoke on Lenin’s Legacy-An Alternative to Capitalism.
2. A session on Lenin as Leader of the Soviet Union, with speakers from the “Land of October”
Iosif Abramson (Russian Party of Communists- RPK), Darya Mitina (Unified Communist Party-OKP), Mikhail Konashev (Association “Soviet Union”), Tatiana Filomonova (Russian National Library Plekhanov House), David Epshtein (Professor of Economics, Chief Research Fellow, Saint Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Lyudmila Bulavka-Buzgalina (Professor of Philosophy at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, director of the Center of Modern Marxist Studies, movement/journal Alternatives), Andrei Kolganov (Professor of Political Economy at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, editor in Chief of the journal Questions of Political Economy), Yuri Shakhin, former Professor at the University in Odessa, Ukraine, now in Sevastopol.
3. A session with The view of Latin America:
Luis Bernardo Murtinho Pericás (Professor of History at the University of Sao Paulo-USP, Brazil), Flo |Menezes (Composer, Professor at the Universidad Estadual Paulista- Unesp, Sao Paulo, Brazil, organizer of the Trotsky’s International Encounters in Cuba and Brazil), Arlene Clemesha (Historian, Brazil), Edgardo Loguercio (Boletin Classista, Brazil), Frank Garcia Hernandez (Comunistas, Cuba), José Capitán (Opción Obrera, Venezuela)
4. A session with Members and Friends of the Rakovsky Center
Speakers: Alex Mitchel – Judith White (Australia, Alex Mitchel was a former leader of Britain's Workers Revolutionary Party and its global affiliate, the International Committee of the Fourth International. A former journalist, Mitchell now lives in Australia where he is an acclaimed author. Judith White, his partner-wife, writes books on culture and art history), Dimitris Mizaras (Marxist Workers League-MTL, Finland) G. Bêgéneix, (Renaissance Ouvirère Révolutioannaire-ROR, France), Latief Parker (Critique, a Journal of Socialist Theory, South Africa), Gian Franco Camboni (Sardegna Rossa, Sardinia / Italy), Toni Marcó (Red Roja, Catalonia/Spain), Levent Dölek (DIP, Turkey), Ernesto Agelis/Mitrofanis Patsouras (EEK, Greece)
5. Finally, a Special Session was devoted to Palestine after the dramatic events of the October 7, 2023, Palestinian Operation Al Quds Flood led by Hamas and the ongoing genocidal war launched by the Zionist State in Gaza. In solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Resistance the following speakers took the floor:
Campagne unitaire pour la liberation de Georges Abdallah, (Lebanon), Jeremy Lester(Britain/Italy, reporting from the West Bank, Occupied Palestine), Savvas Mikhail Matsas (EEK, Greece), Burak Saygan (DIP-Turkey), and Kutlu Dâne (Friends of Palestine, Turkey)
The Conference finished with the song of the Internationale.
Between the sessions were projected two films by the contemporary Russian film director Victor Tkachev Chto takoe Vozhdism? (“What is a Leader’s Cult?”) and Pamiat (Memory). The organizers thank Comrade Tkachev for his contribution!
For more information:
The Lenin Conference of the “Christian Rakovsky” Center / RedMed web network is available on YouTube channels of Gerçek and Nea Prooptiki.
Click here to see also the article by Burak Saygan, January 23, 2024, at redmed.org.
International Socialist Center “Christian Rakovsky” RedMed web network