by Aníbal and Fredo Corvo
Introduction
This volume contains our texts with which we tried to contribute to a discussion in preparation for the Action Week and the Congress Against Capitalist War and Capitalist Peace in Prague, May 20-26, 2024.
According to the reports of some participants,[1] the week of action and the congress were disastrous.
Action: The demonstration in front of the offices of an arms dealer, first announced and then cancelled, reportedly went ahead anyway. It is unclear by whom. In any case, after provocatively waving a Palestinian flag, police intervened and were able to ask participants for identification and record their names.
Discussion: Shortly before the start of the congress, the organizers lost the rented facilities. In the chaos, two congresses were taking place at the same time.
We asked the organizers for at least a decision list and their impressions of the congress, but so far we have not even received a reply. Our letter to all participants (see the last issue of this volume) was not circulated on the discussion list. This is why, as a way to stimulate discussion, we feel obliged to distribute our congress texts ourselves, including those that appeared as “secret” on the discussion list. Where necessary, we respected the anonymity of other participants as much as possible.
Our expectations were not high.
The original list of invitees contained about 60 names, most of them anarchists, anarcho-communists, communization, black bloc, who could fit one or more of the criteria. Missing were the names of left communists, both Italian or German-Dutch communist left, Leninists with internationalist positions, who fit all the criteria. They are clearly excluded, as most were from the so-called “Brussels Conference” and those in Milan in 2023 and 2024. Among the names invited, we find several publications that we have criticized for weaknesses in their position against the inter-imperialist war in Ukraine or Gaza: ASAP, Barbaria, Internationalist Perspective, La Oveja Negra, Proletarios Revolucionarios, a criticism that has never been answered.
The invitation was not clear on important issues such as who decides on participation, if preparatory texts are required and how they are distributed, how the meetings are organized and chaired, publication of minutes or results. As a result, none of these requirements have been met.
What is the place of the “Prague” initiative in relation to other initiatives?
It competes with NWBTCW’s ICT initiative in attempting to engage anarchist and related groups and individuals inclined toward “practical” internationalism. Due to its theoretical origins in the anarcho-Leninism of the former GCI, “Prague” is more oriented towards Eastern European groups disgusted with “Leninism” and even “Marxism”, which is historically understandable. The ICT is eager to participate in Prague in order to generate interest and eventually gain a following. The Prague initiators obviously do not want this and justify their refusal with a torrent of words from the GCI’s arsenal of distancing itself from all groups that invoke the historical communist left. The hypocrisy of this approach is evident when we look at the groups that have been invited.
There is sectarianism on all sides.
The accusations against the ICT regarding the Brussels conference are unjustified in that the ICT was not one of the initiators. It was the two initiators, Controversies and Internationalist Perspective, who focused the agenda on “theoretical” issues in order to sabotage practical cooperation. The ICT opportunistically accepted this for the purpose of recruiting all practical activity-oriented participants for the NWBTCW. This is the same reason why the ICT still participated in Prague, using individuals affiliated with them. For the same reasons, the ICC, ICP (Programme Communiste) and Lotta Comunista, although not invited, were present, probably through their “submarines”.
We participated in the preparation of the congress because we believed that the common action against the inter-imperialist wars requires a minimum of common positions and that this agreement can only be the result of mutual discussion. Although several texts with sometimes different positions appeared on the discussion list, we regretted that they were not discussed. That’s why we decided not to attend the conference. We still don’t know whether, contrary to our expectations, discussions took place at the conference. In any case, now that the conference is over, we think it’s time to discuss in public.
Fredo Corvo and Aníbal, 10-6-2024
[1] See:
Amos (ICC), 10-6-2024. Activism is a barrier to political clarification: https://en.internationalism.org/content/17524/activism-barrier-political-clarification
Contents of the 42 pages complete multilingual pamphlet:
Anarcom, 1-6-2024. Report from Action week and the anti-war congress in Prague
Freie Sender Kombinat, 3-6-2024. В Праге прошел антивоенный конгресс, https://actionweek.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/05/%d0%b2-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b3%d0%b5-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d1%88%d0%b5%d0%bb-%d0%b0%d0%bd%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%be%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%bd%d1%8b%d0%b9-%d0%ba%d0%be%d0%bd%d0%b3%d1%80%d0%b5%d1%81%d1%81/#more-1254 (5-6-2024) or
https://www.aitrus.info/node/6221 (3-6-2024)
The ICT delegation, 7-6-2024. No title: https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2024-05-01/to-the-internationalists-attending-the-prague-week-of-action (See end of page)
Contents of the complete 42 pages multilingual pamphlet:
- Introduction (English) p. 2
- Introduction (français) p. 4
- On the announcement of the Prague internationalist conference ‘Together against capitalist wars and capitalist peace’ May 2024 p. 6
- Comrades, Welcome to the mailing list of the Anti-War congress. p. 10
- Camarades, Bienvenue sur la liste de diffusion du congrès anti-guerre. p. 10
- No action without theory, no cooperation without discussion. p. 11
- Pas d’action sans théorie, pas de coopération sans discussion. p. 14
- Keine Aktion ohne Theorie, keine Kooperation ohne Diskussion. p. 17
- No a la acción sin teoría, no a la cooperación sin debate. p. 21
- An effort to discussion with Guerre de Classe/Tridni Valka. p. 24
- Tentative de discussion avec Guerre de Classe/Tridni Valka. p. 27
- In reply to: KRAS-IWA, 4-5-2024: To the internationalist anti-war conference in Prague. p. 30
- En réponse à KRAS-IWA 4-5-2024 A la conférence internationaliste anti-guerre de Prague. p. 31
- 10 reviews of a group from Latin America, influenced by ‘Communization’ (LAC) p. 32
- Our letter to all participants of the discussion list, 6-6-2024. p. 41
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