The International Anti-Imperialist Colloquium “The Dangers of NATO Expansion and the Current Tasks of Anti-imperialists”, co-organized by the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) and the World Anti-Imperialist Platform, was successfully held in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 29.
The World Anti-Imperialist Platform, founded in October 2022 in Paris, France, by a group of anti-imperialist and communist parties and political organizations, held an international anti-imperialist conference in Belgrade, Serbia, two months later in December.
This colloquium was organized about three years after the first international conference.
The theme of the first session was “NATO Expansion and the Balkans,” and the theme of the second session was “Ideological Struggles Against Historical Revisionism and Opportunism Today”.
Session 1 was moderated by Aleksandar Đenić, Executive Secretary of NKPJ.
Miloš Karavezić, a member of the CC of the NKPJ, gave a first presentation. He said “The Balkans Treaty (1953) was an alliance between Yugoslavia, Greece, and Türkiye, and it was a defensive treaty. It brought NATO into the picture. The breakup of Yugoslavia was one of the key activities for NATO. The West played a key role in the destruction of Yugoslavia. The NATO bombing of Kosovo in 1999 was not to provide humanitarian aid to the Kosovars, but to establish a military base in Kosovo, which is the largest NATO military base to this day, and Kosovo is still occupied. Since 2000, Serbia has been under the control of Western capital and has been completely privatized”.
Next, Struggle Unity (Türkiye) said, “NATO intervenes illegally under the guise of ‘humanitarian’ causes, violates sovereignty through ”colour revolutions,” and escalates tensions. The intensifying repression reveals the true nature of the bourgeois state. The interconnectedness of struggles drives the global resistance for victory everywhere,” he emphasized, adding, “Disband NATO!”
Dimitrios Patelis, the Revolutionary Unification (Greece), said, “The US and NATO carried out the most brutal war campaign against the people of Yugoslavia. The attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade on May 7-8, 1999, reveals the strategic intentions of the US-led imperialist axis. It sought to dismantle the Russian Federation after the counterrevolutionary dissolution of the Soviet Union had been achieved. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the imperialist decision-makers named World War III as the “war on terrorism” and created the propagandistic ideology of “preventive humanitarian intervention to impose free markets and democracy,” and stated that “World War III is a confrontation between imperialist and anti-imperialist forces.
Lee Sang Hun, People’s Democracy Party (“Republic of Korea”), said, “In order to make World War 3 an irreversible reality, the imperialist warmongering forces are provoking wars more frequently, more aggressively, and more recklessly. In 2024, a series of escalating events unfolded: the attempted assassination of Trump in July, the Ukrainian military’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, a concentrated attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, speculation in October about DPRK troop deployment to Ukraine, the US lifting restrictions on long-range missiles targeting Russia in November, and in December, the attempted overthrow of Syria’s anti-US government. Amid this turmoil, plans were set in motion for a civil war, limited war, or even full-scale war in the “ROK.””
Session 2 was moderated by Miloš Karavezić from NKPJ.
In his first presentation, Aleksandar Đenić said, “During the existence of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, the imperialists carried out propaganda that made Nazism and communism “equivalent,” i.e., they misrepresented socialist countries as totalitarian, claimed that Nazism and totalitarianism were the same, and in the process tried to bring the whole of humanity into a distorted frame. They want to dismantle the socialist countries. They are trying to equate communists with the crimes of the Nazis. It openly supports fascism and tries to change history, not just revise it, but create an ideology.”
Lee Sang Hun, People’s Democracy Party (“Republic of Korea”), said, “Ideological battle is a necessary prerequisite for internationalist unity. World War 1 was a war among imperialist powers. Lenin established the theory of socialist revolution in a single country. He argued that due to the uneven development of capitalism in monopoly capitalism stage, competition among imperialist states for colonies would lead to the rupture of the weakest link in the imperialist chain. Lenin waged a struggle within the Second International against revisionists such as Bernstein and Kautsky, and advocated for the “transformation of imperialist war into civil war.” Drawing from the historical lessons of the Paris Commune, he strengthened Leninism, the Bolsheviks, and the Soviets, ultimately leading the Russian Revolution to success—thereby demonstrating the scientific validity of Leninism in practice.”
And “The so-called “Imperialist Pyramid” theory, which lacks even the minimum scientific basis as a theoretical framework, is currently disrupting the international communist movement. The leadership of the Communist Party of Greece is mechanically applying this pseudo-theory to reality, labeling the war in Ukraine as an inter-imperialist conflict, and taking the lead in dividing and weakening communist movements in other countries. The essence of the “Imperialist Pyramid” theory, which today stands as a symbol of revisionism and opportunism, lies in the fact that it is, at its core, a pro-imperialist theory.”
Dimitrios Patelis, Revolutionary Unification (Greece), said “The Pyramid of Imperialism that the Greek Communist Party (KKE) deliberately confuses the stages of imperialism with the imperialist state, thus branding all states as imperialist. They reject Lenin’s theory of the weak link, metaphysically separating tactics from strategy, and even rejecting and banning the word “tactics” itself. They even doubt the socialist character of the Soviet Union and characterize World War II as completely imperialist in nature, metaphysically separating theory from practice. It rejects all existing socialist countries, such as Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba, as “pseudo-sciences” and ideological devices created by the ruling class and must be critically analyzed.”
Struggle Unity (Türkiye) says, “We cannot properly understand the class struggle without a correct understanding of our time. The link between revolutionary theory and practice is crucial, as Marx warned that “theory is dead if it does not lead to practice. The Turkish Communist Party (TKP) has followed the Greek Communist Party (KKE) in supporting the bourgeoisie and failing to recognize Russia as imperialism in the war in Ukraine.”
And he said, “Overthrowing the bourgeois order is not simply a matter of people taking to the streets, but must be linked to a revolutionary class line. Revolutionary struggle is the only true path of resistance and freedom. Uprisings and revolutions are determined by objective conditions, but they cannot succeed without subjective preparation.”
The discussion deepened with a question-and-answer session with the audience.
Below are the full speeches from each delegation:
1st Session “NATO Expansion and the Balkans”
2nd Session “Ideological Struggles Against Historical Revisionism and Opportunism Today”
