Statement of the Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative for the 200 years since the birth of Karl Marx.
"The philosophers have only
interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to
change it”.
200 years ago, οn May 5th 1818, in the
city of Trier of Prussia, the great revolutionary Karl Marx was born.
Marx had a decisive contribution to the foundation of the
revolutionary worldview of the working class as well to the economic,
political and philosophical thought of humanity. He was connected
with Friedrich Engels and with their decisive contribution they
played a key role in the first revolutionary groups of Paris. He
consistently fought against various petty bourgeois theories on
socialism that were dominant in that period. Following his
deportation to Brussels in 1845, he joined the “Communist League”
along with Engels and participated in its 2nd Congress where they
played a vital role in the adoption of revolutionary positions.
Commissioned by the Congress they wrote the famous and unparalleled
work “The Communist Manifesto”, which was published in February
1848.
In this work the consistent materialism
that concerns every aspect of social life is ingeniously explained,
as the most complete and deep teaching of evolution, driven by the
theory of class struggle. This was the first time that the vanguard
revolutionary role of the working class as the founder of the new
communist society was determined and presented based on the
conclusion that “the history of all hitherto existing society is
the history of class struggles” that “necessarily lead to the
dictatorship of the proletariat” which “is only the passage to
the abolition of all classes and a non-class society”.
Marx developed his materialist theory
in a series of historical strategic positions of the world communist
movement, focusing mainly on the study of Political Economy. Marx
revolutionized this science in his works “Critique of Political
Economy” (1859) as of course in “Capital” (its first volume was
published in 1867) which analyses the capitalist exploitative system,
its economic function and constitutes a unique work for the world
proletariat as well as an important contribution to the scientific
documentation of the exploitation of man by man, amongst other
things, with the analysis of the concept of surplus value.
Following the revolutionary events in
1848, he was deported to Germany, France, and finally settled in
London. There, he played a leading role in the “International
Working Mens’ Association” writing its programme and a series of
resolutions uniting in practice the workers’ movement of various
countries in an period characterised by the revolutionary upsurge of
the proletariat and the foundation of mass socialist workers’
parties, a period which was marked by the famous Paris Commune in
1871.
The unparalleled works of Marx as well
as those of Engels and Lenin constitute the Marxist-Leninist
worldview. They have inspired and guided the working class in order
to fulfil its revolutionary mission, to overthrow capitalism and
construct the socialist communist society. Marx’s work, although it
has been on the receiving end of uncountable opportunist and
bourgeois distortions and every kind of deformation in the name of
Marxism until today, remains intact and continues to play an
irreplaceable role in the development of class struggle.
The Parties of the European Communist
Initiative honour Karl Marx and his invaluable contribution by
continuing the struggle in their countries in order for
Marxism-Leninism to win the workers’ and people’s consciousness.
We continue the ideological political confrontation with bourgeois
and opportunist theories, we substantiate with our Marxist-Leninist
worldview and our activity the need for the working class to
emancipate itself and in alliance with the other poor popular strata
to overthrow bourgeois power, capitalist barbarity and construct the
new world, socialism-communism. With faith and commitment, with
revolutionary optimism we struggle everyday responding to the timely
internationalist calling: PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES UNITE!
4/5/2018
The Secretariat of the European
Communist initiative.