Joint Communiqué UPML-UCL / Communiqué commun
Unité Communiste de Lyon and Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste, March 18, 2019
Existing translations
The Unité Communiste de Lyon and Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste, both members of the ICOR, met at the beginning of March in the Paris region. This meeting is part of a work process initiated more than a year and a half ago between the two organizations. This meeting was extremely positive on all the points raised.
It has a significant number of joint projects, both in France and internationally.
1. Build the campaign on Europe.
Both organisations are stakeholders in the campaign initiated by the continental coordination of the ICOR on the issue of European elections.
The struggles are growing - in France, in other European countries and beyond Europe. They fight capitalism - against exploitation and for social justice, against threats from the natural environment, against corruption and oligarchies and for popular democracy. Our campaign with the ICOR denounces the European Union as a reactionary alliance serving the interests of the imperialists of Europe, first and foremost German imperialism and French imperialism.
We stand up against speeches that aim to make the popular masses believe that Europe could be something else, that it could be that of "peoples" or "nations". To make people believe that a social Europe is possible within the capitalist-imperialist framework. Europe is a tool for exploiting men, women and natural resources. Europe is an imperialist alliance for the division of the world in competition with other imperialists such as the United States, China, Russia etc. and will not back down from a war.
We also stand up against the rhetoric that tries to make France look like a state dominated by European treaties. We affirm that France, as an imperialist state, is not dominated by Europe. The monopoly bourgeoisie of France benefits jointly from it with that of Germany and other countries.
We reject the social-chauvinist analyses that invent domination from Germany, the USA or stateless capitalism over France. We consider that our supreme objective, to drive the bourgeoisie out of power, does not depend, as a prerequisite, on an "exit from the European treaties", the EU or NATO.
We consider that the positions that defend a "restoration of national sovereignty" as an essential prerequisite for wanting to fight head-on against French imperialism and the monopolistic bourgeoisie only invent steps to, in the end, retreat from the historical task that is imposed on us.
We consider the position of seeking a "patriotic alliance" with the far right against the EU to be extremely dangerous.
We consider that the European elections must be taken for what they really are: an opportunity to denounce the EU as a reactionary organisation and to defend the imperative need for a Revolutionary Communist Party capable of fighting the bourgeoisie and imperialism.
Between revolutionary organizations in the ICOR, we will coordinate and support each other to support the ongoing struggles: We fight for common demands and we will organize international activities and meetings. Workers of all countries unite!
May 1, 2019 will be an important day in the current social and political climate. We propose to march in a common, internationalist and revolutionary procession. We invite organizations and individuals who are part of our watchwords to join and strengthen this procession so that it can be as massive as possible.
We will also hold public meetings to both present our positions on the European Union and to defend the need for a revolutionary Communist Party capable of defeating French imperialism and bourgeois power.
2. Building the ICOR-France
In order to strengthen the links of international solidarity and the coordination of revolutionary forces, we announce that an ICOR-France Committee will soon be founded. This committee will be open to ICOR member organizations - whether French or not -
to members of the Friends of the ICOR present in France. We also want to invite the forces present in regions dominated by French imperialism, who want to coordinate their struggle against it, to join this committee.
3. Speak with a single voice!
As UCL and UPML, we also want to address all organizations claiming communism, revolution and the will to overthrow the capitalist order. The communist expression, during the immense combative movement of the Yellow Vests, was weak. We have each had local successes on our own, but we have not succeeded in establishing ourselves as a fundamental pole of the struggle, as a centre of gravity of it. Our lines, our designs, have been able to mark certain assemblies, have been able to rally, but this remains below what we can do.
We cannot ignore each other. We want it to be possible to recognize each other's existence, to pursue a policy of cooperation between our organizations without silencing differences. We note that some strategies are contradictory with each other and, a fortiori, with our own. But these contradictory strategies do not mean that hostility or ignorance must exist.
We can and must seek unity among ourselves in the face of capitalist exploitation and imperialist aggression!
4. Laying the foundations for unification.
The Unité Communiste de Lyon and the Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste Union finally note that there is no fundamental and insurmountable ideological obstacle to our two organizations being able to unite. We consider that we share a common and compatible strategy and general concept.
Our two organizations believe that this unification must lead to more than just the addition of forces. We want to create something qualitatively superior to the tool we have today.
The major projects that our organisations have carried out over the weekend will require major and constant efforts, as well as new forces, to be carried out. They are ambitious, the UPML and the UCL agree, but they are ambitious because they must rise to the challenge ahead.
Today's work will bear fruit tomorrow through the victories that will be won.
On the way to building the Party.
Let's strengthen the ICOR.
Let's fight for victory!
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