This document discusses building a broad international anti-war and anti-imperialist front to oppose US imperialism. It outlines how a range of forces are rising up against US wars and aggression in different ways. Communists should work to unite these diverse forces and build cooperation between anti-imperialist organizations. They must also struggle against erroneous tendencies that could undermine unity, and educate the masses about imperialism being the root cause of many issues. The ultimate goal is to isolate the US as the main enemy and weaken its global dominance.

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On the Development of a Broad Anti-War and Anti-Imperialist Front
Communist Party of the Philippines
Contribution to the 13th International Communist Seminar:
"The Strategy and Tactics of the Struggle against Global US Imperialist War"
Brussels, 2-4 May 2004
Our paper is on the development of the broad anti-war and anti-imperialist front, a
topic that has gained utmost importance and urgency at this time when the world
capitalist system continues to sink in ever-deepening crisis. US imperialism -- the
number one superterrorist power of the past century and currently -- is scrambling to
consolidate its hegemony worldwide, and the peoples of the world are rising to
condemn and fight imperialist war and aggression.
Growing Broad Anti-War and Anti-Imperialist Front
Tens of millions marched in protest in a single day, 15 February last year, against the
impending immoral war of aggression which the Bush gang was poised to launch
against Iraq, even as imperialist propaganda shamelessly churned out canards about
weapons of mass destruction and an Iraqi people eagerly waiting to be liberated by
the US imperialist-led coalition.
A broad range of forces all over the world is rising to oppose US imperialism and war.
Such forces do so at varying degrees and consistency, for different reasons, with
various means, independently or with some kind of coordination or cooperation. They
provide the basis for an ever broadening united front against imperialism and war.
The US, Japan and the European imperialist powers collude with each other in
exploiting and oppressing the world’s peoples. But the crisis of the world capitalist
system and the relentless drive of the US to consolidate its hegemony continue to
exacerbate the contradictions among the imperialist powers. Bush’s declaration that
the US shall never again allow any power to even come close to being a peer rival or
challenging US world supremacy clearly referred not only to Russia and China but
also to Germany, Japan, France and the United Kingdom.
The US maintains control over the countries in the European Union through the
NATO that it continues to lead and dominate. A united Europe would pose a
challenge to the US in the economic and political spheres. But the countries in the
European Union still act largely according to national interests, thus allowing the US
to combine with any of these countries in pursuing definite imperialist objectives. For
example, Germany colluded with the US in fomenting ethnic conflict among the
Balkan peoples and then used the United Nations and NATO to justify military
aggression and occupation under the guise of peace-enforcement with the congruent
objective of strengthening their control over Central Europe. But the US and the
German imperialists have conflicting interests and rival plans in securing the territory
for laying the oil pipelines from the Caucasus and Caspian regions to Europe.
The European powers are increasingly resentful of the US' avarice in seizing
strategic resources throughout the world with apparent impunity, coupled with its

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arrogance and bullying tactics even within the WTO. France, Germany, Russia and
China opposed the US invasion of Iraq because this threatened their own
investments, concessions and toehold in Iraq and elsewhere. They perceive that this
would firm up US dominance and control over the whole region at their expense.
However, at this stage, they still acquiesce to US military superiority and dare not risk
confrontation over territory.
Both China and Russia are wary of US encroachments, including the maintenance of
US bases, in Central Asia. They held joint military exercises last August with
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, their partners in the security alliance, the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Between Russia and China, it is China that the
US considers a bigger potential peer rival. The US pursues a dual policy of
engagement and containment toward China—engaging it economically while
containing it politically and militarily.
Many countries assert their national independence to ward off US economic,
diplomatic, political and military demands and coercion. Such oil-rich but vulnerable
countries such as Iran and Venezuela, as well as current and erstwhile US allies, are
potential targets of US aggression and the policies of preemptive strike and regime
change. The example of Iraq and Saddam Hussein is all too clear to be missed. The
flagrant trampling of national sovereignty, massive destruction and incalculable
human suffering the US invasion has wrought on the Iraqi people have deepened the
resentment, enmity and contempt, rather than fear, in the hearts and minds of the
peoples of these countries, and have inflamed resistance against the US aggressors
and their allies, especially in predominantly Muslim countries.
Countries like Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea have
survived so many decades of US demonization, subversion, military aggression,
economic sanctions and various other threats during the entire Cold War. While they
do not have the same abundance of oil resources as the Middle East and Central
Asian countries, they remain targets of US aggression due to their strategic
geographic location and because they remain as symbols of national independence
and socialist aspirations for oppressed nations and peoples..
The national liberation movements in several third world countries such as Palestine,
the Philippines, Nepal, India, Turkey, Colombia and Iraq are most important to the
anti-imperialist movement because they directly address the central question of
political power and would deal lethal blows to imperialist forces and interests in these
countries once they achieve nationwide victory. Their successes and victories also
serve to inspire other oppressed third world peoples to advance their own struggles
for freedom and democracy.
A New Vietnam for the US
The seemingly invincible and awesome war machine that the US had unleashed after
the September 11 bombings and steamrollered over Afghanistan and Iraq has began
to falter and is now bogged down in what is turning out to be the early 21st century
version of Vietnam. The US’ long-range hi-tech armaments and firepower are now
useless against highly mobile and invisible Iraqi forces striking from close range at
American troops who are compelled to defend and shuttle between fixed positions.

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Barely a year after Bush declared that the war had been won conclusively, American
soldiers are falling with increasing frequency as the Iraqi people step up their
resistance to US occupation. As of 20 April 2004, 704 American soldiers have been
killed and 3630 wounded in Iraq since the US began the invasion in 20 March 2003.
At home, Bush and his neo-conservative cohorts persist in carrying out the
murderous "Project for a New American Century". They are besieged and
beleaguered by probes that produce mounting evidence of official lying and
scheming to deliberately mislead the public into supporting the criminal invasion of
Iraq.
As in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, the American people’s protest and
condemnation of the US war of aggression is bound to mount as the moral
justification for the US invasion and occupation and the image of US invincibility are
shattered. Massive anti-war protest actions in the US and abroad, the advance of
anti-imperialist wars of national liberation movements, and the floundering economy
can create tremendous pressure on the US imperialist masters to withdraw from Iraq.
The Iraqi resistance to US occupation and the Palestinian struggle against Zionist
occupation and aggression have become the rallying point for the worldwide anti-war
and anti-imperialist movements. US imperialism and Israeli Zionism have become the
twin targets of worldwide condemnation due to their gross inhumanity, arrogance and
flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, especially in
their utter disregard for the lives of defenseless civilians.
The Tasks of the Communists
It is possible and necessary for all anti-war and anti-imperialist forces in the world to
build a broad anti-imperialist front by cooperating, coordinating or providing mutual
support. An international united front is needed to confront the No. 1 imperialist and
terrorist power and be on guard against other imperialist powers.
The revolutionary proletariat and communists, through their parties, trade unions and
states committed to socialism, must be actively involved in such an international
united front and must give full play to the broad mass movement.
A number of international mass formations have this aim of building a broad
international anti-imperialist front. We can study the experience of these mass
formations to learn what can be, has been and must be done in order to raise the
level of the anti-war and anti-globalization movement towards expanding and
strengthening the anti-imperialist movement and building the international anti-
imperialist front.
The anti-imperialist mass formation with which we are most familiar is the
International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) that held its First International
Assembly last May 2001 attended by representatives of more than 300 mass
organizations from 38 countries in Europe, North and Central America, Asia and
Africa. Its objective is to provide a rallying point for cooperation, coordination and
mutual support for the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the world's
peoples. Since its inception, it has resolutely, militantly and consistently carried the

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anti-imperialist line in various anti-imperialist actions such as mass rallies, various
symposia, either by itself or in coordination with various anti-war and anti-imperialist
formations in different countries in Europe, Asia and North America.
Last year, the ILPS was a major participant in the Thessaloniki Resistance 2003 in
July and launched the Campaign Against US Military Overseas Bases in Chania,
Greece in September. Further, it initiated and co-sponsored along with Indian anti-
imperialist mass organizations the Mumbai Resistance 2004 (MR2004) which ran
parallel with the World Social Forum (WSF) last January. It joined and coordinated
with International ANSWER and the United for Justice and Peace in launching the
March 20 Global Day of Action to protest and commemorate the first anniversary of
the start of the US invasion of Iraq.
The Mumbai Resistance 2004 was a successful experience rich in both positive and
negative lessons in building a broad anti-imperialist united front. It succeeded in its
objective of expanding and consolidating anti-imperialist forces and exposing the
counterrevolutionary character and objectives of the WSF leadership. A sizable
number of WSF participants were drawn into the MR 2004, which provided a forum
for articulating the militant anti-imperialist line and opened up opportunities for
expanding contacts, further cooperation, networking and coordination and political
discussions.
The ILPS successfully used the united front policy and dual tactics of having some of
its member organizations attend and participate in the WSF workshops in order to
reach out to the large number of participants who were genuinely opposed to
imperialist globalization and at least potentially anti-imperialist. Most of these had
been attracted to the WSF because it provided "open space" for the articulation of
views critical of neo-liberal policies, prominent personalities as speakers and guests,
and the opportunity to attend because of funding provided by the organizers and
collaborating big NGOs.
Confronting and exposing various pseudo-left and bogus anti-imperialist projects and
formations such as the WSF is an essential task in building the broad anti-imperialist
front. These projects and formations aim to divert and coopt the growing militancy of
the people against imperialist globalization and war towards reformism. The WSF, for
example, was established by the imperialists in collaboration with social democrats
and the French Trotskyites in ATTAC and Le Monde and shortly after the militant
mass actions in Seattle and the announcement to form the ILPS in 1999.
These counterrevolutionary formations also actively collaborate with the imperialists
in attacking and demonizing progressive, militant organizations and individuals. A
case in point is the collaboration between international Trotskyite and social-
democratic parties and organizations with counterrevolutionary groups and notorious
enemy special agents in the Philippines in demonizing and attacking the
CPP/NDF/NPA and militant and progressive organizations.
Struggle Against Erroneous Tendencies
The ILPS had to struggle with and reject the ultra-left position of some elements in
MR2004 who wanted to call for a complete boycott of WSF and obscure the ILPS

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role as initiator of MR2004. This would have preempted any possibility of exposing
the WSF and its counterrevolutionary objectives from within, reaching out to the good
elements among the participants and winning them over to the MR2004 and to a
genuine anti-imperialist stand.
The ILPS also had to contend with and reject the view that holding the MR2004 at
the same time and proximate to the WSF was a waste of time, effort and resources
which would have been better used participating in WSF workshops to maximize the
articulation of the militant position in the WSF and expose the counter-revolutionary
character of the WSF, especially its leadership, from within. To have done so would
have been to forfeit the opportunity and default from the task of leading the several
thousands from more than 300 Indian and foreign organizations who went to Mumbai
to articulate a militant anti-imperialist position and to advance further the anti-
imperialist cause.
The MR2004 was also an excellent occasion for issuing and amplifying the call to join
the March 20 Global Day of Action to protest the US invasion and occupation of Iraq
and support the Iraqi and Palestinian resistance. The protest actions were made in
coordination with International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and
United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), two US-based coalitions that have organized
several successful international and US-wide protest actions and campaigns against
the US war in Iraq since December 2002. This entailed coordination on a different
political plane since the calls and issues were by and large anti-war and anti-
globalization, not necessarily anti-imperialist. However, the ILPS links with these
formations and cooperates and coordinates with them in order to bring the anti-
imperialist calls to the millions who participate and the even greater number who are
reached or influenced by these actions.
The ILPS again had to contend with elements in MR 2004 that sought to downplay
the importance or significance of linking up with and participating in the March 20
Global Day of Action. The argument was that this was an initiative of the reformists
and pseudo-revolutionaries and that the slogans of progressive and militant
organizations will only be drowned out by petty-bourgeois reformist and even
reactionary slogans. They insisted instead that genuine progressive and militant
organizations hold their own mass protest actions on a different day in order to keep
our slogans unadulterated.
Building the International Anti-Imperialist Front
It is the task of communists to ensure that the international anti-imperialist front does
not fall into "Left" or Right opportunist errors that will obstruct its expansion and
advance, cause it to shrink and eventually disintegrate. They must lead the politically
advanced and progressive forces, win over the middle forces and take advantage of
splits among the reactionaries in order to isolate and defeat US imperialism, which is
now the enemy, being the worst among the imperialists.
As in united front tactics on a national scale, the international anti-imperialist front
should unite the broadest range of forces possible to isolate the principal enemy, US
imperialism. It is good when a broad range of political forces and the organized and
the spontaneous masses come together to rise up and rally against the imperialist

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war, even as they carry diverse issues, calls and slogans. Communists have the task
of encouraging and supporting the growing mass movements worldwide against war
and imperialism, while they consciously avoid prejudicing the broad united front and
mass character of the movement.
Communists should first of all build the united front against imperialism and all
reaction in their own countries. They should build the broadest united front on the
basis of the revolutionary class line, under proletarian leadership through its
vanguard party, creatively applying Marxism-Leninism in making a concrete analysis
of concrete conditions in their country. The anti-imperialist united front in each
country at once becomes an integral part, a basic building block, of the international
united front.
Further, the components of the national anti-imperialist united front can engage in
international solidarity work, either individually, in groups, or collectively, with their
counterparts in other countries. The existence of multifarious mass organizations
addressing various class, sectoral and issue-based concerns provides a wide latitude
of flexibility and range of possibilities for doing international solidarity work.
Communists must encourage and support the international solidarity work of
progressive mass organizations, and the solidarity relations, formations and alliances
with their counterparts abroad. These mass organizations and formations can be
encouraged to support the setting up of their counterparts when these are not to be
found and thus support the expansion of the united front in other countries.
In building and leading the international anti-imperialist front, communists have the
essential task of raising the level of the broad mass movement from merely
protesting war, "globalization" and a host of other issues, to exposing and opposing
imperialism as the source of war and plunder. This task requires massive,
widespread and sustained education and information dissemination through various
means, including the internet and the world wide web and community radio.
Raising the level of the broad anti-war and anti-imperialist movement and building the
broad international anti-imperialist united front can only be ensured with the formation
and growth of more genuine Marxist-Leninist parties worldwide, and fostering
practical cooperation and understanding among communist parties.
Communist parties must persevere in their efforts to clarify their Marxist-Leninist and
anti-imperialist position and develop such position through revolutionary study and
practice. They can enter into bilateral relations, which follow logically from the
conduct of ideological and political discussions and practical cooperation, or
multilateral relations such as in conferences and seminars for study and exchange of
experience and views.
Communists can contribute best to building the international united front and
advance the world proletarian revolution by advancing the revolutionary struggle in
their respective countries against imperialism and all reaction. Thus any communist
party can support the revolutionary struggle of the workers in other countries, in
accordance with the principle of proletarian internationalism which guides us in
working for the unity of the workers of all countries and for the fulfillment of the
historic mission of the working class.

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As the advanced detachment of the working class in their country, the communist
party should lead the people in their revolutionary struggle to seize political power to
achieve nationwide liberation, democracy and build socialism. The revolutionary
struggle in every country is part of the world proletarian revolution for socialism and
against imperialism and all reaction. The victory of the struggle in any country opens
up greater possibilities for the victorious peoples to directly support those still fighting
to overthrow imperialism and all reaction in their country, and inspires the oppressed
peoples of other countries to persevere and advance in their struggle.