Since the beginning of the 20th century, when capitalism suppressed the revolution in Germany, not allowing the “plague of Bolshevism” to spread to the West, the European proletariat has increasingly sunk into reformist and opportunistic positions, unable to pose a real danger to the so-called western world of capital. For this, there were various causes: primarily in the concentration of capital on European soil, which remained together with the US the fortress of capitalism in the fight against the communist world behind the “iron curtain”, with a well-constructed repressive apparatus and powerful propaganda mechanisms that narrowed the possibility of revolutionary organizing. On the other hand, the position of the European proletariat was the position of the working aristocracy in relation to the proletariat of colonialized and underdeveloped countries in the rest of the world. This showcase of a consumer society proclaimed “political freedoms” with irresistible force, luring the world’s poor to come to Europe for a slice of bread and political security, fleeing poverty and endangerment. The victory of this capitulistic current among the leaders of the labor movement of Europe resulted in the fact that for a lifetime, this labor, led by such a left, represented the best dam for the preservation of capitalism. And not only the dam but also an ally to Western imperialism in its fight against “disobedient countries” and liberation movements around the world. Some expressions of solidarity with the liberation struggle around the world against the aggressive onset of Western imperialism ended at the level of the usual street demonstrations, possibly clashing with the police or appeals that were more an expression of humiliation than an expression of the strength of the rebellious masses.
And it’s been going on for almost a century — this opportunistic and treacherous line against the historical role of working-class liberation. To justify the capitulation, the left offered various theories to “refresh” scientific fundamentals about the existing legalities of class society. Especially, this “qualitative” ideological leap took place in the second half of the twentieth century, when the ideological struggle with the bloc of socialist countries escalated when this left with its revisionism broke the then unity of the international communist and labor movements.
The victory of Western imperialism in the Cold War and the “collapse of communism” pushed the Left of Europe further into ideological bankruptcy and collaboration with the class enemy who, to overcome his own crisis, began to perform from the positions of modern fascism. The European left has even become a tool in the hands of Western imperialism in the struggle, primarily against Russian and Chinese imperialism.
Some attempts by the few revolutionary elements on European soil in the second half of the 20th century to oppose capitalism through urban guerrillas were not met with support from that proletariat, nor could they have achieved more serious footholds within it with their methods of struggle. The European Left has welcomed the attempt to build a revolutionary line with condemnation, and support of European regimes. For the past decade, the European left has objectively been the décor of European capitalism by participating in elections, worrying about garbage bags, animals, air pollution rates, climate change, women’s rights outside the class struggle, pandemic conditions, or quietly protesting that real wages are falling and that it carries on its shoulders the burden of general crisis.
But it should not be forgotten that the conceptual position of the European left was increasingly followed by the so-called Russian left, and the Chinese proletariat itself after the counterrevolutionary upheavals.
On the occasion of the current inter-imperialist war in Ukraine, between Western and Russian imperialism, the European left went a step further in treason, better to say in the service of one imperialism all under the banner of the struggle for peace and the condemnation of all imperialists. The working class of Europe itself, most affected by war and crisis, wants to maintain its privileged position in relation to the proletariat of the world. His petite bourgeois consciousness wants him to live even better than he did before the crisis. It doesn’t matter at whose expense, to whose misery, tears, hunger, and death. The emergence of militarized communist parties and armed proletarians on European territory is the way for the proletariat to begin redeeming itself from the shameful role it has played over the past decades.
The strengthening of resistance to Western imperialism in The Countries of Europe, and primarily the US, will also end up strengthening the resistance of the Russian and Chinese masses to their oligarchies. Resistance to Western imperialism in the fortresses of capitalism is a direct incentive for the masses of the world to strengthen their struggle and break the shackles of imperialism. The speed with which the proletarian movement will restore international unity largely depends on the speed with which Europe’s proletarian revolutionaries build militarized communist parties.
