No to Fascism!

 

The NCP joined other communists throughout the world for a keynote anti-fascist conference in Moscow in May. A 180 delegations from over 100 countries took part in the Third International Anti-Fascist Forum that was organised by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) with the aim of bringing together communist and workers’ parties from around the world to co-ordinate the increasing challenges they face from wars, economic crises, attacks on basic democratic rights, the rise of the far-right and fascism and the growing use of terrorist groups by the imperialists. This is Theo Russell’s contribution.

by Theo Russell

Dear KPRF comrades, I thank you on behalf of the New Communist Party of Britain for organising this important conference, for your wonderful hospitality, and bring you warm greetings from our comrades and activists in Britain.
In the past five years the danger of a return to the events of the 1930s has become widely recognised, with the rapid rise right wing populist movements in the rich capitalist states. 
We believe this is the result of capitalist globalisation, neo-liberal austerity policies, and the relentless decline in real wages and public social spending.
The relocation of factories overseas and closure of mines removed the basis for a stable family life and strong communities in many areas, and the number of union members with a basic political education and class consciousness declined.
The secure long-term jobs of old have been replaced by low-paid short term or “zero hours” contracts, and while ordinary workers pay ever more for basic utilities and taxes, the super-rich rapidly multiply.
The ruthless neo-liberal policies, regime changes, sanctions and wars by imperialism – which have caused the deaths of millions of people –created unprecedented migration from the poor south to the rich north.
We don’t believe the simplistic left liberal slogan “All migrants are welcome” is a realistic solution to the multiple multiple complex problems thrown up by this enormous migration. Instead, we advocate a mass struggle against these imperialist policies and massive economic support for the developing states.
In 2004 when the European Union expanded to the east, Britain was the only country to immediately open its borders to countries with wages many times lower, countries which were still recovering from the effects of the collapse of socialism. 
Since 2000 several million new citizens have arrived in Britain per decade, but instead of building new housing, health and other services for them, public funding was cut year after year.
Over 90 per cent of these migrants arrived legally because of labour shortages, but of course the far right foment the fear of hordes of “boat people “.
Most of these migrants moved to poorer areas where local councils were already struggling financially, and while local residents can wait decades for state subsidised housing, they have to house migrants seeking asylum by law. 
They also face are high levels of crime, addictions and mental health problems, and widespread despair and misery. In these areas schools, housing and health, and even the availability of places to buy healthy food, are extremely poor, where schools have to provide breakfast because their pupils get no breakfast at home and many people rely on so-called “food banks”.
According to the UN 30 per cent of children in the UK are living in poverty, almost two million people suffer from undernourishment, and we read in our media that many parents to go without food for days before payday so they can feed their children. And in 2024 this was the world’s fifth richest country in total wealth!
These communities quite rightly view the political and media classes in London with absolute hatred. 
The housing of over 12O,000 asylum claims was handed to private contractors, who placed them in the poorest districts with cheap accommodation, and didn’t even warn the local authorities of their arrival. In these areas, according to media reports, many residents can’t even dream of staying in a hotel!
It would be hard to imagine policies better designed to create anger and resentment, and the perfect conditions for fascist groups to step in and mobilise the most backward, unorganised working class elements. But we shouldn’t over-estimate the far right danger in Britain.
Last year far right gangs attacked refugees, Muslims and the police for a week across England, but in every locality far greater numbers from local communities mobilised against them. But for the police presence, the fascists would undoubtedly have suffered a crushing defeat. 
In the USA, a year after the storming of the US Capitol building in January 2021, the far right could only muster a few hundred activists in most state capitals, but recently five million people protested against Donald Trump.
While in the USA the police and national guard often defend the white racists, in Britain the far right constantly attack the police, and as a result in 2024 the far right mobs were strongly condemned by the Starmer government.
Even in the USA, where two citizens were shot dead in Minneapolis by the racist ICE police, the popular resistance movement and political backlash forced Trump to withdraw them.
While parties seeking a return to the 1930s are undoubtedly growing in many European countries, the only country where fascists have actually seized power is in Ukraine.
In the 1980s our party formulated the concept of “creeping fascism” after Margaret Thatcher launched an all-out offensive against trade union rights and the “welfare state”, and then moved to smash the coal miners. The attempts to roll back the gains of the labour movement over the past hundred years have continued relentlessly since then. 
Today there are growing attacks on basic democratic rights across Europe, particularly  aimed at the mass movement against Israeli genocide. 
However we don’t believe that  our ruling classes are considering doing away with their limited bourgeois democracy in the foreseeable future. 
In Italy, the far right government of Giorgia Meloni, once a member of a neo-fascist party, has attempted to limit the number of migrants arriving. But there has been no move to suspend basic democratic rights, nor have the fascist parties been unleashed against their political enemies.
We believe the only genuine fascist dictatorship in the world is in Ukraine, where all democratic opposition and media have been smashed, and over a million people have died to serve NATO’s plans to surround and subvert the Russian Federation.
For us the main priorities for communists today are freedom and justice for the Palestinian people, and the complete eradication of resurgent Nazism in Ukraine. If Nazism is allowed to succeed in Ukraine, its scourge will inevitably spread. We remember the watchwords of past and present struggles: No Pasaran! Sie werden nicht durchkommen! Nyet Fascismu!

Communists gather in Moscow to co-ordinate tactics

 

by New Worker correspondent

Theo Russell from the NCP joined other communists throughout the world for a keynote anti-fascist conference in Moscow last month. In spite of the increasing difficulties in travelling to the Russian Federation, and the strongest imperialist sanctions ever imposed on a state, 180 delegations from over 100 countries attended the event, which took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, only a couple of blocks away from Red Square.
The Third International Anti-Fascist Forum, entitled The Fight Against International Terrorism, Arbitrariness, and Aggression. For Peace and Security, was organised by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) with the aim of bringing together communist and workers’ parties from around the world to co-ordinate the increasing challenges they face from wars, economic crises, attacks on basic democratic rights, the rise of the far-right and fascism and the growing use of terrorist groups by Western imperialist states.
As well as strong delegations from the existing socialist states – People’s China, DPR Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba – countries under attack from US-led imperialism, including Palestine, Iran, Lebanon and Venezuela, were also represented.
In his opening speech to a packed hall in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, CPRF general secretary Gennady Zyuganov said: “We have gathered at the Third International Anti-Fascist Forum to discuss our shared goals in the struggle for peace and security, friendship among peoples and social justice.
“This multifaceted activity of leftist forces cannot be conducted in isolation from the fight against imperialism and state terrorism, military aggression and neocolonialism, reaction and neo-fascism. The global expansion of capital continues. It achieves its goals by relying on two main pillars: physical force and the manipulation of consciousness.
"This forum is another step towards unity in the fight against global reaction. Imperialism has shed the last vestiges of its peace-making veneer. On our stunningly beautiful planet, it sows terrible poverty and state terrorism, war and death. Our shared task is to boldly expose the essence of big capital's policies. Unite leftist forces, put forward our alternative and persistently pursue our goals."
The conference was also addressed by the last leader of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Egon Krenz, who was awarded the Lenin Prize during the conference.
Greetings to the conference were received from Russian president Vladimir Putin, prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, and Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko. In his message, Putin said: "Today, as we face serious challenges, regional conflicts and growing global instability, it is essential to unite the work of all constructive forces to build a just, democratic and multipolar world. We must work together to counter the spread of destructive ideologies across the planet: xenophobia, neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism and Russophobia. We must defend the historical truth about the Second World War and the true heroes who saved the peoples of Europe from extermination and enslavement. This is our duty to future generations, a solid foundation for genuine partnerships between nations."

Anti-fascists rally in Moscow!

Zyuganov opens conference

 by Theo Russell

The Third International Anti-Fascist Forum, held in Moscow from 24th  to 26th May was a remarkable event, bringing together 180 delegations from almost 100 countries, and members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) from across that vast country. One delegate was Egon Krenz, the last leader of the German Democratic Republic, who addressed the forum and was presented with the Lenin Prize while he was there.
Dozens of members of the CPRF from Moscow and elsewhere worked hard to ensure the smooth running of the conference. By organising this event the CPRF did a great service to the international communist and workers movement.
Opening the forum CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov said that the West “has achieved great success in combining various methods of domination”, allowing it to become the leading global power. “To maintain its hegemony, it has made extensive use of mass consciousness manipulation. With the development of new technologies, this system has become truly global”.
Zyuganov reaffirmed that “ownership of the means of production is the key to economic and political dominance. And it doesn't matter whether we're talking about material or information production”. He said artificial intelligence was “another resource in the hands of those who own capital”, saying “capitalists will use it to enrich themselves and strengthen their dominance”.
“Without recognising itself as a class”, he said, “the proletariat will be a plaything in the hands of capital. It will be forced to accept alien ideas and values. 
“As Antonio Gramsci, one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, wrote, the working people must acquire a new world view. The duty of communists is to help the proletariat acquire class consciousness and develop a new concept of life”.
In an interview with the national TV channel Russia 1 during the conference, Yuri Afonin, the deputy chairman of the CPRF, described the killing of 21 students in a Ukrainian mass drone attack at a college in Starobelsk, Lugansk, most of them girls aged 14-18, as a war crime.
He said that although Italian and Japanese journalists had visited the site “nothing was shown on their TV channels”. The BBC dutifully recycled the Banderite Kiev puppet regime’s lies, claiming the target was a college training elite Russian drone pilots. However later BBC reports acknowledged that the college may have been for training future teachers.
Afonin also made the extremely important point that the Russian leadership is not opposed to Ukraine joining the European Union, a fact which has definitely not been reported by the British capitalist mass media.
He said “President Putin had repeatedly stated this”, adding that “Russia is simply categorically opposed to Ukraine joining NATO, and becoming a military base against Russia". But he also warned that “the EU itself could become a military alliance, they're already talking about their own army”.
Afonin also reminded Russia-1’s viewers that the Western plan to destroy Belarus as an independent state, depriving Russia of an ally, “is clearly still on the agenda”. But he reaffirmed that “Belarus is not just an ally of Russia, but part of our Union State, and Russia will defend its territory as if it were its own”.
An unforgettable concert, Art against hatred, was held as part of the Forum with performances by children and teenage arts students, dances from different regions of Russia and artists and dancers from other countries like Dominica and Chile. The delegates also watched the documentary Imperialism and Terror made by the CPRF’s  Red Line TV Channel, which has also been circulated to comrades here in Britain.
At the end of the Forum Gennady Zyuganov thanked the international delegates for their “very friendly, effective and interesting collaboration” saying “we saw many familiar faces among the participants, and we are very pleased that all our friends share a common vision for the fight against Nazism and fascism, for peace and justice”.
Closing the conference Zyuganov recalled the two “systemic crises” of the last century, the two world wars “which culminated in the Great October Socialist Revolution and the great Victory of 1945”. He said that “the nuclear missile parity established by the Soviet Union saved the world from a major nuclear war”.
Zyuganov outlined the CPRF’s Victory Programme “for the Russian Federation's recovery from the crisis”, which includes nationalisation of mineral resources, a return to a normal eight-hour working day, high quality care for women, children and the elderly, and the restoration of the universal right to free education and medical care “even if a private, parallel system exists”.
In addition the Party called for “specific proposals for developing the latest technologies and harnessing the full potential of modern science, to ensure that society is educated, literate and able to live in peace and dignity.”
The appeal issued at the end of the forum For justice and global development and without fascism, terrorism and wars! recalled that “in the harsh winter days of 1941, the Soviet people proved to the world that fascism is not omnipotent”.
It said “imperialist reaction is once again seeking to unleash its broadest possible attack on the rights of working people. Its constant companions remain militarism and colonialism, fascism and anti-communism.
“Before our very eyes, capitalism has essentially cast aside the veneer of liberal demagogy. It speaks less and less about freedom and human rights. Reaction increasingly turns to dictatorship, terror, chauvinism, and war.
The appeal warns that “various forms of fascism are being revived. The heirs of Hitler and Mussolini, Franco and Salazar, Horthy and Antonescu, are raising their heads. Aggressive military blocs are increasing their activity. 
“The imperialists are increasingly trying to pressure entire peoples, cynically using political terror, religious extremism, ethnic hatred, the noose of sanctions, and the cudgel of war.
“We declare: the fight against fascism is inseparable from the fight against anti-communism and Russophobia. 
“We resolutely condemn attempts to equate the Soviet Union with Hitler's Reich, to declare its liberators ‘occupiers’, to tear down monuments to Red Army soldiers, to ban communist symbols and to justify Nazi collaborators. 
“All these steps are nothing less than political preparation for a fascist revanche. These reactionaries seek to deprive the peoples of their memories of history, to cut the bonds between generations, and to slander the heroism of the USSR and the entire resistance movement against fascism.
“The fight against terrorism occupies a special place in our common struggle. We resolutely condemn terror in all its manifestations - whether carried out by individuals, groups, with state backing, voluntary or mercenary, military, economic, or psychological. 
“Terrorism brings death and destruction, cripples lives, breeds fear and hatred, and sows pain and suffering.
Terrorism cannot be explained solely by the fanaticism of rabid groups or the criminal intent of individuals. The breeding ground for terrorism is a world of social inequality, lawlessness and poverty, humiliation and unemployment, interventions and genocide, dictatorship and neo-colonial practices, arbitrary sanctions and cynical blockades.
“Imperialism has destroyed entire countries and created zones of chaos, all the while pretending to be ‘liberating’ them. And this  same imperialism organises and arms mercenaries and orchestrates coups d'état.
“We emphasise: not only is capitalism incapable of eradicating terrorism, it constantly reproduces its social, economic, and political preconditions. The fight against terrorism cannot simply be reduced to police operations or military campaigns. 
“Life demands the elimination of its causes: the exploitation of man by man, neo-colonial plunder, and social inequality. The dissolution of imperialist blocs and the end of the dominance of transnational capital are the imperative of our times.
The appeal confirmed that the participants in the Third International Anti-Fascist Forum “express their support for Russia's anti-fascist and anti-terrorist activities within the framework of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine. 
“We view this struggle as part of the overall resistance to Western global diktat, state terror, militarism, and neo-Nazism. We strongly condemn attempts to use Ukrainian territory as a springboard for the expansion of imperialist influence.
“We emphasise: our fight against neo-Nazism and terrorism is fundamental. There is no room for compromise. 
“It is directed against forces seeking to revise the results of World War II, rehabilitate Nazi collaborators, and destroy the memory of the heroism of anti-fascists. 
“We will never reconcile ourselves to those who sow terror and fear, seeking to subjugate the world to the dictates of capitalism. We wage our struggle for the right of peoples to security and historical truth, sovereignty and comprehensive development, social justice, and the choice of a socialist path.
“We resolutely demand that the United States cease its attempts to dictate its will to the Republic of Cuba. For decades, Cuba has remained a symbol of dignity and fidelity to its chosen path. 
“We demand that the monstrous sanctions against the Island of Freedom, and Washington's arbitrary charges against the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz, must end immediately. The embargo against Cuba is an act of state terrorism against an entire people.
“The pathological desire to punish entire countries for their chosen path of development is an example of irresponsible and criminal policy.
“We express solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We demand an end to all political and military pressure on the Venezuelan people, and an end to economic sanctions. 
“We insist on the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores. The repeated US attempts to crush the Venezuelan people and appropriate their natural resources reflect exactly the same neo-colonialist policies that fuel fascism, terrorism, and military intervention.
“We demand an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people. The Israeli military must cease its crimes in the Gaza Strip, and its aggression against the people of Lebanon. We insist on the realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to their own state.
“Washington must end its support for Israel's aggressive actions, and immediately end its military operations against Iran. We call on the international community to condemn the United States’ interventionist ambitions, and demand compensation for the damage and suffering it has inflicted on the people of Iran.
“We call upon all people of goodwill to join the united front of progressive, leftist, communist, patriotic, anti-colonialist, and anti-fascist forces. We must join forces in our just struggle. 
“Acting as a united front, we must expose anti-communism, anti-Sovietism, and Russophobia, defend workers' rights and fight for a just world which can bring peace and security for all.
“We appeal to all the peoples of the world: do not be deceived! Do not trust those who spout false slogans about freedom, but who actually practice enslavement. Those who talk about democracy but cultivate the dictatorship of capitalism. Those who preach security but foment war. Those who promise to fight terrorism but instead sow discord and violence.
“Only a world of equal peoples, social justice and the brotherhood of workers will protect humanity from fascism, terrorism and war.
No to imperialism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism and terrorism! We won't let them blow up the world! No pasarán! They won't pass! Let the world of labour, socialism and friendship of peoples triumph!
Long live international workers' solidarity!”.
Among the many prominent representatives of the international communist movement from every continent, the contributions by two speakers, Petro Symonenko and Boris Litvinov – leaders of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Donetsk branch of the CPRF respectively – are of particular interest to our readers.
In his speech Symonenko said  “As events in Ukraine, and other states targeted by ‘colour revolutions’, show – which were in reality coups – we saw organised penetration into public, government political, economic and security structures, the creation of extensive networks of centres and bases for training militants, and a network of companies, banks and funds, all of which were used to hide the true goals of the project.
“To provide propaganda cover for these aggressive policies and the horrific crimes which led to an untold loss of human lives since 2014” Symonenko said “the imperialists adopted the slogans of a national liberation struggle with an ethnic and pseudo-democratic basis”.
Boris Litvinov recalled that “a vital part of the anti-fascist struggle in WW2 began in Donbas, the land of anti-fascist workers”, and said that today “our army includes representatives from around the world, even from Israel, Poland and Cuba”.
He also called for the creation of a new communist and workers international organisation. “We invite them to come to Donbas –  this is the home of the anti-fascist struggle! If we can break Ukrainian fascism, we will break one of the main points of international imperialism!”
Addressing the forum, the delegate from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela said that Russia was “playing a decisive role in guaranteeing peace in Europe and Latin America. The people of Venezuela are still fighting for the release of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, and working to strengthen people’s power. Our people want to create socialism. We are fighting against imperialism, just as Bolivar and Chavez fought against imperialism, and ours is a revolution  which will survive any attempt to crush it”.
The delegate from the Communist Party of China reaffirmed that “our foreign policy is based on global dialogue, mutual wellbeing and the observation of international law. We are working to develop Russian-Chinese cooperation and partnership, and we emphasise that the current world order must continue to be based on the outcome of World War Two”.

The video Imperialism and Terror, with English subtitles, is available to watch on the YouTube channel IUAFS2026.

The Nazi revival and the threat of war

by Theo Russell

the forum begins

The Second International Anti-Fascist Forum which took place last month in Moscow was a very timely gathering of the best elements of the world’s communist and workers parties.
To be at this event it wasn’t enough simply to be aware of the resurgence of the far right and fascism in the advanced capitalist countries; in practice the parties present had to have good relations with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the Forum organisers, and also be prepared to attend an event in Moscow. This in turn means a correct analysis of the war in Ukraine since February 2014 and of the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) which began in February 2022.
Like the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40, a correct Marxist Leninist assessment of the Russian intervention in Ukraine requires a sufficient knowledge of the events leading up to it and the overall strategy of Western imperialism in the world today.
Unfortunately, some of the world’s largest communist parties have, in fact, failed this test. Led by the French communists and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), many parties declared the SMO an ‘imperialist’ operation.
This was an abject failure to understand how the Nato alliance had deliberately created a situation which effectively forced Russia to act. 
First, by 2022 fascist and specifically anti-Russian Banderite thinking had spread throughout Ukraine including the armed forces and police. Ukraine had become a living example of a 1930s-style fascist state, and in practice only an external military intervention could eradicate the resulting dictatorship.
Second, this dictatorship unleashed horrific atrocities and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, especially in the Russian-speaking regions, long before February 2022.
Third, Nato blatantly used the Minsk peace talks to pump weapons into Ukraine and train an entirely new ‘Nato standard’ military, all the while falsely claiming that the Donbas forces and Russia were breaking the agreed ceasefires. When it became clear that the placing of long-range missiles in Ukraine was the next step, the puppet regime became a mortal threat to Russia. In other words, Nato’s plan all along was to force the Russian Federation into a war.
Thus, a Marxist-Leninist analysis shows the current war in Ukraine is not between Russia and Ukraine. It is a war directed against Russia, and backed by 55 Nato and allied states.
From a Marxist-Leninist position, the Russian intervention, and the war fought before that by the Donbas People’s Republics, is a just war. It is in fact a war of liberation from the tyranny of a fascist dictatorship.
For these reasons, the Moscow Forum was an opportunity for the best elements of the world communist movement to gather and prepare tactics for the inevitable future clashes with the rising fascist tide and the threat of new wars – the products of the deepening capitalist crisis.
Leading members of the CPRF themselves made major theoretical contributions to the Forum, including general secretary Gennady Zyuganov as well as Dmitry Novikov and Yuri Afonin from the Central Committee.
During the Forum discussion on Nazism and Fascism as a Natural Continuation of Colonial Capitalism, Afonin described how fascism first arose as capitalism's reaction to the Great October Socialist Revolution, which he said “resulted in a colossal strengthening of the communist and labour movement across the planet. Capitalism found itself on the brink of historical collapse. Its response was fascism”.
He argued that the bourgeoisie of the richest capitalist countries such as the USA, Britain, France and the Netherlands, were able to maintain their rule without abandoning bourgeois democracy, due to the enormous financial resources available to them. “But in the poorer countries of the semi-periphery, the capitalists began to solve this problem with the help of fascism” – a reference to Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
“After 1945” he continued “fascist practice and fascist regimes became the lot of the periphery of the world capitalist system. The Western imperialist powers in suppressing national liberation movements in the colonies was practically no different from the practice of mass terror that Hitler's Reich conducted in the occupied territories”. 
Afonin said the Western powers established a kind of "export" of fascism to the countries of the Third World, now known as the Global South. “In the Third World they contributed to the establishment of fascist regimes dozens of times, and supported them for decades”.
He described the ‘special structures’ which were created, such as the USA’s ‘School of the Americas’ created in 1946 to train military and police officers from Latin American countries in large numbers. “Graduates of this ‘school’ took part in many coups d'état, after which fascist regimes were established” with the creation of  “death squads, mass kidnappings, torture and murder”.
“In 1965-66, during the establishment of the fascist regime in Indonesia, according to various estimates, between one and two million people were exterminated. And in Guatemala, the fascist regime, supported by the United States, exterminated about 10 per cent of the country's Indian population in the 1980s, with Indian villages being destroyed along with all their inhabitants and burned.
Afonin paid tribute to Cuba’s outstanding role in the fight against fascism in the second half of the 20th century. “Cuba gave every possible support to Latin American liberation movements that fought against fascist regimes. And this was one of the reasons why Latin American fascist dictators were eventually either overthrown by rebels or forced to resign and give way to democratic governments. 
“And in Africa, Cuban internationalist warriors helped the peoples of Angola and Mozambique defend their independence in the face of aggression from the racists of South Africa, whose regime pursued a truly fascist policy towards black Africans”.
“In the modern world”, Afonin continued, “fascism is a form of neo-colonialism used by Western imperialism. The closest example to us geographically is Ukraine. After the collapse of the USSR, it effectively fell into neo-colonial dependence on the West.
“Today, the form of this Western domination is the Zelensky regime, which meets all the signs of a fascist one. Now this regime is busy preparing to transfer all the natural resources and all the most profitable assets of its country to the United States. It is difficult to find a more obvious example of outright neocolonialism”.
He then turned to the Middle East. “Here the State of Israel is pursuing a policy towards the Palestinian people that is confusingly similar to the policy of Hitler's Reich towards the peoples it declared ‘inferior’.
“It is also worth taking a closer look at armed radical Islamism. These groups usually say they want to return society to the times of the first caliphs. But we understand that this is impossible. It is impossible to revive the social order that existed almost one and a half thousand years ago. 
“Behind this reactionary utopia lies a completely different reality. We must not forget that radical Islamism in its current form was created by Western intelligence services in the 1980s to use against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. And now we see signs that Western imperialism is using radical Islamism against its opponents. 
“The economy of ISIS territories continued to be integrated into the system of global capitalism. Oil extracted in ISIS territories somehow ended up in Western tankers, which transported it around the world. In the territories where radical Islamists established their power, polygamy, marriages with little girls and slavery were legalised. Ancient cultural monuments were barbarously destroyed and mass terror was unleashed”.
Dmitry Novikov, Deputy Chair of the CPRF Central Committee spoke at the section "Lenin's teaching on imperialism and fascism". He emphasised the new aggressive approach of the collective West in the form of the war against Russia unleashed by the hands of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, adding other examples such as Israel's bombing of Palestine, the use of Taiwan in the fight against People’s China, and the new American trade war. He warned of the danger of economic conflicts escalating into military ones. 
He recalled that the capitalist crisis after 1918 led to a powerful struggle by the labour movement. In Italy Mussolini banned strikes and reduced workers' wages, while the ‘democratic’ countries supported the regime. In Germany the Nazi party was “turned into a fist of the bourgeoisie to strike blows at the communists and the labour movement”, while American and British monopolies helped the Third Reich to rebuild military production.
Today, he said “Nato has put the supply of various types of weapons to the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime on stream. Thus, the imperialists play a key role in the formation of fascist regimes”.
Novikov pointed out that “Lenin was the first and most outstanding anti-fascist. He saw the threat of fascism back in the early 1920s and warned the European workers about it. He revealed the essence of imperialism, which is the progenitor of fascism.
“Vladimir Lenin created a party that, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, became the grave-digger of fascism and created the Comintern, whose parties took up the first battle against the brown plague”.
He recalled that after the Soviet victory over the Third Reich, many Nazis went on to serve in government structures and intelligence services of the ‘democratic’ countries, while the West supported the power of the colonels in Greece, the Pinochet junta in Chile, and other reactionary regimes.
Novikov spoke of the latest ‘innovations’ of global capital, such as using global social networks to suppress dissent (what the Cuban Communist Party calls “digital colonialism”). “In the US and Europe, people who criticise the policies of the ruling circles are subjected to moral terror by the authorities, fired from work, and banned from professions and publication in the media”.
“At present world capitalism is reviving Nazism. The threat of a new world war is growing. In these conditions, the duty of progressive forces, honest people, is to consolidate in the fight against dangerous tendencies.”
Novikov referred to the fascist tactic of “playing on the social moods of the people, to exploit the workers' desire for justice, their rejection of corruption, and the dictates of capitalist monopolies. As a result, many workers become victims of Nazi demagogy”. 
Viktor Tyulkin, leader of the Russian Communist Workers' Party, declared his party’s support for the special operation in Ukraine.
He described the collective West, led by the United States, as “the most predatory imperialist force in the world. To achieve its goal of world hegemony, the Western imperialists are striving to dismember Russia. All this began not in 2022, but in 1991,” he said 
“We should not remain silent about Nato approaching the borders of our country, about the imperialists cultivating Banderites in Ukraine. Repeating the fate of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya in Russia is contrary to the interests of the working class of our country and the whole world”.
Tyulkin also mentioned the responsibility of the Russian ruling class, since the roots of the current situation lie in the liquidation of socialism. “The abolition of Soviet power put Russia in a vulnerable position, and the unleashing of anti-communism continues to this day. Only under socialism will it be possible to completely eliminate the threat of fascism”.
Tyulkin also spoke of “a campaign in our country to rename settlements, squares, streets, and to glorify reactionaries, including fascist philosophers.”
Many other speakers condemned the US and Nato for the Ukrainian Nazi regime, Israeli aggression against Palestine, and American pressure on China and Cuba, and said it was unacceptable for countries which took an independent position to be branded "sponsors of terrorism" and "enemies of democracy".
The representative of the People's Socialist Party of Mexico declared that socialist and genuinely democratic forces should create a World Anti-Fascist Front. 
I N Makarov, of the Russian Scientists for Socialism movement, spoke of the struggle against bourgeois counter-revolution in Russia in the 1990s, and “the unleashing of fascist terror in Russia” in October 1993. “After tanks fired on the House of Soviets” he said, “the Yeltsinites killed hundreds of protesters defending the USSR Constitution at the Krasnaya Presnya stadium and the Ostankino TV Tower”. 
Makarov referred to the work of Gennady Zyuganov, Russia under the Gun of Globalism, which he said “asserts that the phenomenon called ‘globalism’ is simply a new form of imperialism, but has not changed its essence in the slightest. Consequently, Lenin's definition of imperialism remains relevant.”
He said that today “Russia has the mission of defeating fascism for the second time in the past 80 years. He predicted that “if the USSR's victory over Hitlerism in 1945 was followed by the collapse of colonialism, then the current defeat of Banderism will serve as a prologue to the fall of the imperialist system”.
Speakers in the section Fascism – a threat to security and cooperation in Europe spoke of the resurgence of fascism in Europe today, arguing that the European Union has, to some extent, become “the forerunner of the Fourth Reich” in which the renewed fascist movements actively use the difficult situation that has often developed in the sphere of migration policy in different countries. 
Many speakers expressed alarm over the ongoing distortion of historical truth and called for a complete rejection of all forms of decommunisation in state ideology and policy.
Emilio Lasada Garcia, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of Cuba, said “fascism in Latin America has not gone away. With its subversive actions against Venezuela, Washington today seeks to establish a fascist regime in this country, betting on the ultra-right, fascist forces.
“In the United States itself, very disturbing processes are also underway. The slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ is reminiscent of the fascist slogans of the past. In today's USA, concentration camps have been revived, where many thousands of migrants are thrown.”
Marcelo Rodriguez of the Communist Party of Argentina, said that the right-wing Argentine president Miley’s ideology –  “anti-communism, racism, and open hatred of the indigenous Indian peoples actually make it neo-fascist”.
Delegates from several Middle Eastern parties said the Zionist regime is pursuing a fascist policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, where every thirtieth resident of the Gaza Strip has already been killed and 20 per cent of residents have been expelled from their homes, most of which have simply been destroyed.
Benedict Martins of the South African Communist Party noted that the armed struggle in the Donbas did not begin in 2022, but eight years earlier. And the root of this conflict is that neo-fascism has once again raised its ugly head in Ukraine in the form of an openly Nazi Bandera ideology.
This view was echoed by Konstantina Kartsioti, a Greek communist in the Anti Imperialist Front, who said the huge Western imperialist propaganda machine was now spreading lies about Russia around the world, but that thanks to the activities of progressive forces, more and more people are beginning to understand the essence and roots of the conflict in Ukraine.

The struggle against fascism is the common and urgent task of the progressive forces all over the world

Appeal of the Second International Anti-Fascist Forum

We, the participants in the Second Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow, reaffirm and support the Manifesto for the uniting of the world’s peoples “Safeguard Humanity Against  Fascism” adopted on April 22 2023 in Minsk by the I International Anti-Fascist Forum.
The course of events has indicated the proposition that the cause of imperialist aggressiveness in the modern world is the aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism. At the end of the 20th century the counter-revolution in the USSR and in the countries of Eastern Europe temporarily weakened the planet’s socialist pole and untied the hands of reaction. Fully in accordance with the Leninist theory of imperialism, the USA and the other capitalist predators are making a bid for world hegemony by the most heinous of methods, including the fostering of neo-Fascist regimes.
In accordance with the Fascist ideology of enslavement of the peoples the imperialist regimes have stained their reputations by barbaric aggressions against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, supported the Israeli Zionists who have unleashed the slaughter in Palestine which has practically developed into a genocide of the Palestinian people.
Threatening a new world war, international imperialism is stoking up tensions in various regions of the world and igniting new conflicts.
NATO countries  set the task of demonizing Russia, defeating it militarily and dismembering it in the same fashion as the Soviet Union. To achieve this goal an aggressive bridgehead was being created in Ukraine.  Banderovism, a form of Nazism which has formed the basis of Russophobia and the spread of Fascist ideology, was being nurtured there. By February of 2022 the US-led anti-Russian policy of the NATO military involved nearly 50 satellite countries. The economic, political and military resources of the world capital, including war mercenaries, were committed to the attack against Russia. Further strengthening of the Neo-Nazi regime in Kiev and pumping it full of weapons must be prevented. The Bandera thugs and their principals in the West must be justly condemned and the Fascist regime in Kiev must be fully liquidated.
Revanchist motives are increasingly evident in the ideology and policy of the Western bloc. They are being instigated by the same forces which suffered a defeat at the hands of the Soviet Union and its Red Army in 1945. Anti-communism is one of the main signs of the resurgence of Fascism in Ukraine, the Baltics and other Western countries. This is totally in line with the practice of Hitler’s Fascists who created an Anti-Comintern Pact. Everything that is happening in the European Union is essentially a prelude to the creation of the Fourth Reich.
The peoples of the world must stem any attempts of a Nazi revenge. We demand total renunciaton of all forms of de-communisation in state ideology and policies. The struggle against neo-Nazism is the task of all the thinking, courageous and decent people of the planet. It cannot be put off until later. It must be waged here and now by all available means and by bringing together all possible allies!
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory over Hitler’s Nazism and Japanese militarism in the Second World War we declare: a final end to Fascism and the threat of world wars can be put only by putting an end to imperialism. We support without reservations the transformation of the struggle against Fascism into the struggle for the socialist renewal of all the countries on the planet.

The battle against Fascism cannot tolerate pauses and armistices!
Join the ranks of the fighters against Neo-Fascism, for social progress and socialism!
We will not allow the world to be blown up!
¡No pasarán! They shall not pass!
Long live the united front of the progressive forces!

Moscow
23 April 2025