Collective preparation in critical times
At a critical juncture in global history, in the region and in Greece, in an international war-dominated landscape, from Ukraine to the Middle East, Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine, the 17th International Marxist Camp organized by the EEK in the windy Karystos with its magnificent sea, was a success.
Activists from Greece and a significant number of other countries and continents participated in the collective work of preparation for the political battles in the critical times we are living in and that we will soon be living in.
The international and internationalist stigma, the overall orientation of the 17th Camp was clearly expressed by the participation of comrades from the martyred but always fighting until victory Palestine, from our comrades in the International Socialist Center “Christian Rakovsky”, as well as from DIP, Turkey, France (ROR), Finland (MTL), but also for the first time from the struggling Burkina Faso, today’s vanguard of the anti-imperialist struggle for the second independence of Africa. It should also be emphasized that this time, a significant part of the “beyond the walls” communist Left in the Russian Federation contributed to the work of the camp. Along with written messages and videos to the camp or with a direct online connection to the camp, participants' assembly was attended by the United Communist Party of Russia (OKP), the "Association for the Soviet Union" - parties and movements that also participate in the Rakovsky Center - but also, for the first time, a politically significant event due to its role within Russia and in the international movement of communist and workers' parties, the Russian Communist Workers' Party - RKRP, by decision of its Central Committee. Finally, a very dense and enlightening video on the situation in Latin America, especially in Brazil and Argentina, after Trump's re-election, was sent specifically for the camp by comrade Osvaldo Coggiola, who is a historical figure of Trotskyism, with international fame in Europe and the entire world, from Latin American continent, Argentine Marxist revolutionary and intellectual, Professor of History at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and head of the group of Latin American Marxists who gather in the theoretical-political review Critica Socialista.
The central guiding thread of the entire political-theoretical work of the 17th Camp was the collapse of the post-war “international order” under American imperialist global hegemony, now universally acknowledged by all opposing and allied social, political, economic and geopolitical forces, from the end of the Second World War and the anti-fascist defeat of May 9, 1945, until its advanced decay and decline in the first quarter of the 21st century. The main presentation on Thursday July 24 by Savvas Michael Matsas World Capitalist Crisis, World War and World Socialist Revolution traced the establishment, the bases, of the post-war international imperialist-capitalist order, the strategic goals of stopping the revolution in the imperialist metropolises, the relationship with the anti-colonial revolution, the course of crisis and collapse of the post-war structure, the unresolved global crisis after 2008, the successive shocks, the threat of climate catastrophe until the slide towards a Third World War with strategic opponents of imperialism, Russia and China and with the first epicenters the NATO war in Ukraine in Europe and the Zionist genocide in Palestine in the Middle East. At every moment and station of this world historical process, the resistance of the proletarian and popular masses and the development of the conditions of the revolutionary “expropriation of the expropriators” foreseen by Marx are inherent in that process. The lively dialogue, then in groups, opened a fruitful, innovative discussion, which will certainly continue after the camp. Friday, July 25, was dedicated to interventions by international representatives from various countries and continents, either in person or online and by video, followed by questions to the speakers and answers. Comrade Theodore Koutsoubos gave a full report on the situation and prospects in the bankrupt Greece of the crisis and the crisis of power under the Mitsotakis government, which is sinking into scandals and popular outcry and is attempting to save itself with police-state violence, the over-up of crimes and the vacuum of a bourgeois and 'leftist' opposition as an alternative solution. Katerina Matsa also intervened in the discussion, presenting the particular political importance, the social weight, the appeal to the people of the ongoing battle against the privatization and destruction of health, and especially of public health, and the dissolution of addiction programs such as 18 Ano, KETHEA, etc. He also denounced the concentration camps that are being prepared in Votanikos and Crete for the “irregulars” (immigrants and drug addicts).
The series of presentations by the international delegations was completed on the afternoon of Saturday, July 26, with the intervention of our comrades of the DIP of Turkey, very enlightening in many points, especially on international fascism, the situation in the neighboring country, the class struggle of the Turkish working class and the role of the DIP, the Kurdish after the self-dissolution of the PKK.
On the morning of Saturday, July 26, a speech was given by Savvas Michael on the struggle for the revolutionary International from World War II to the present day. The need for the International in the new world war was shown, the dissolution of the Third International, the historically necessary, historically justified but historically incomplete mission of the Fourth International founded in 1938. The history of the Fourth International after the assassination of Trotsky was examined from the perspective of dialectical-historical materialist philosophy, the theory of permanent revolution, its relationship with the battles of the world revolution, the course of the international Trotskyist movement in these battles, especially in ignored, silenced or even slandered cases where Trotskyism penetrated into wider masses in Asia (Vietnam, Sri Lanka), South Africa, the Algerian and colonial Revolution, Latin America and the Bolivian Revolution, in the “red decade” associated with May of ‘68. On Sunday, July 27, in the morning, Savvas Michael presented the results, conclusions and future prospects opened by the 17th International Marxist Camp, which ended with the anthem of the International.
The educational work was accompanied by a wonderful entertainment and recreation program. The campers enjoyed the amazing sea of Karystos. In the evenings, there were screenings of films by Ken Loach, Palestinian cinema, and the people’s struggle in Burkina Faso. It was an unforgettable rebetiko-folk evening with live music with a band, in which active residents of the area participated, while on the last night there was a DJ set at the sea that lasted until dawn!
In conclusion and summary: the 17th International Marxist Camp was an unforgettable experience for everyone who lived it. With moments full of inspiration, effort, upliftment, but also difficulties. The biggest lesson we learned was the following: COLLECTIVENESS OVERCOMES EVERY ADVERSITY against the INDIVIDUALISM that the capitalist system cultivates!