New Communist Party of Britain

This is just one section of the Main Political Resolution adopted at the 2009 16^th Congress of the New Communist Party of Britain.
An index to the other sections can be found here -> [2009 Policy Documents]

WORLD TRADE

One of the most notable signs of the potential for chaos and disorder can be seen in the challenge that exists to capitalist state power by the monopoly capitalists. This is another example of the contradictions in monopoly capitalism; the state and the big economic monopolies are essential to each other, yet also challenge each other. The harnessing of these monopolies to a new system of discipline is a chief pre−occupation of capitalist states whilst the monopolies seek to limit the powers of the state.

Globalisation, the internationalism of the division of labour, has continued apace since the turn of the millennium; it is a product of science, technology and the development of the productive forces and should be at the service of humankind with the right of every human being to develop and practice their talent, skills and knowledge. However globalisation when put to work by monopoly capitalism is nothing else but raw imperialism. The end result is the worst world capitalist recession in 60 years, a festering morass of exploitation (of workers and the environment), racial and communal strife, and rapid growth in crime, drug trafficking, violence and conflict from local to international levels. The potential for major military conflicts is now greater than at any time since the 1930s.

Imperialism, represented by the leaders of the developed countries, has striven through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to tighten its grip on the economies of all countries, in particular those of the developing world. The US specifically is trying to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would enable US agriculture and industry to swamp the markets of the Central and South American nations, effectively destroying local production and converting them into mere outstations of the US economy.

The view of the imperialist nations is that the raison d’étre of these organisations is to remove any restrictions imposed by host countries; to ensure that member countries deregulate their markets in trade and services, drop any restrictions on incoming international capital and remove export subsidies and import tariffs that protect home grown industries and agriculture — in other words give maximum freedom to the monopoly capitalists. They confirmed this in the communiqué issued after the 2008 G20 summit in Washington: "We underscore the critical importance of rejecting protectionism ... We will refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services." And then they went on to instruct their trade ministers to conclude the Doha trade talks by the end of 2008.

By the time of the London G20 summit in 2009, the Doha round was still not concluded. The US and the EU are still insisting that developing countries should agree to open their manufacturing and service sectors if the EU reduces its agricultural tariffs. The EU strategy is about domination of the developing world. Most of the developing countries would be in no position to bargain or compete with the imperialists. The strategy is based on the assumption that poor countries should satisfy themselves with being agricultural suppliers to rich nations and should forgo attempts to promote their own manufacturing and service sector industries.

In the Doha trade talks, the WTO is becoming the focus of the struggle, by the developing nations against the developed, for more equitable rules and practices in world trade than the current rules, which are seen as being heavily weighted in favour of the monopoly capitalists.

When economic bullying fails, imperialism, led by the US and Britain, actively engages in war or the threat of war to dominate the Middle East, eastern Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. But wherever there is oppression there is resistance. The Iraqi people have defied the might of imperialism for almost 20 years and continue to do so even though the US and British imperialism occupy their countries. The Palestinians demand the restoration of their national rights and continue to resist the US proxy — Israel. The peoples of Latin America are electing governments prepared to defy the US and its proxy trade and banking organisations.

Socialism remains the system upheld and developed in People’s China, Democratic Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. They continue to advance along the revolutionary path charted by their communist parties in applying the principles of Marxism−Leninism to the concrete conditions that exist in their own countries. All have developed closer economic ties and are seeing positive levels of growth.

In developing their economies through equitable trade, many countries in Latin America and Africa are finding that they can also maintain above average growth levels by trading with the socialist countries. Examples are Brazil, which is selling iron ore to China, Venezuela selling oil to Cuba, Chile and Peru selling copper and farmers in general across Latin America selling soy beans to China. In exchange, throughout Latin America and Africa, Chinese experts are building roads, renovating mines, refineries and sharing agricultural skills and technology and Cuba is supplying teachers, health workers and healthcare to Latin America and Africa.

With the left gaining ground in Latin America, US imperialism in the region is being challenged. With the establishment of a regional currency for mutual settlement by the members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) — comprising Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, Dominica, and Ecuador as an associate member — the hegemony of the US dollar will end. It is planned that the currency would start out as a virtual compensation system and only later become a hard currency. In challenging the US, ALBA has set member countries the task to construct their own solutions to the world financial, food, and ecological crises independent of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and less susceptible to the effects of the world financial crisis.

The NCP supports those countries who are opposing the monopoly capitalist agenda, whether they be working within the World Trade Organisation such as China, India, Brazil, and South Africa, or within regional blocs such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). The NCP also supports the efforts of the world Social Forums, which, while far from taking a communist perspective, have done much good work in organising opposition to monopoly capitalism.