Participants began with a silent tribute in remembrance of all comrades around the world who fought for national sovereignty, peace, and workers’ liberation and passed before us, followed by the singing of “March for the Beloved.”
The rally’s chair, a worker-member of PDP, recalled, “In the autumn of 1936, more than 35,000 progressive people from around the world marched toward Spain and took up arms themselves. 80% of them were workers, and though their nationalities and races were all different, they risked their only lives under the name of the “International Brigades” to confront imperialism and fascist forces.”
She continued, “Just as the Spanish Civil War was the prelude to World War 2, today—ninety years later—we stand before a new storm of war that will accelerate the full outbreak of World War 3. If war erupts in Venezuela and Latin America, the next target will be the ‘Republic of Korea (ROK)’ andEast Asia.”
She affirmed his resolve, “Comrades! Just as the fate of the Spanish people in the past was inseparable from the fate of the peoples of the world, the fate of the Venezuelan people today is no different from ours. Here, in this very place, with the determination to defend our homeland and our workplaces, we will become the “21st Century Che Guevara,” fight together with Venezuela, and defend our peace as well.”
Participants then powerfully chanted slogans such as:
“Workers of the world, unite and defeat imperialism!”
“Let us smash all imperialist war schemes with international anti-imperialist solidarity!”
“We firmly support the Venezuelan people’s government!”
“Struggle is the only way—unite under the anti-imperialist banner!”
“Let us overthrow imperialism through Workers’ anti-imperialist struggle!”
“Under the banners of anti-imperialism and internationalism, let the working class stand at the forefront!”
“At the front lines of the anti-imperialist front, let us crush all imperialist war schemes!”
“¡Viva Maduro, viva Venezuela!”
“¡Victoria Siempre!” (Victory, always!)
“¡Venceremos!” (We shall win!)
Further resolution speeches followed.
Kim Mi-bok, Executive Director of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU)–General Union of Social Service Workers, stated, “As long as imperialism exists—whose very basis of existence is aggression and plunder—the condition of workers around the world can only become more miserable. And the beastly aggression of imperialism is now concentrated on Venezuela. For the sake of plundering Venezuelan oil, US imperialism is slandering Venezuela—a drug-free nation—as a “narco-state,” and is vilifying the Maduro people’s government, which reflects the will of the people, as a “drug cartel ringleader,” while escalating its aggression. In response, the people’s government and the people united in the comuna are now resolving to wage an anti-US life-and-death resistance. The unity of the Venezuelan government and people, and of its army and militia, together with the steadfast solidarity of Latin America and the world’s progressive forces with Venezuela, shows that the anti-imperialist front is being strengthened and expanded to crush the US’s aggression and plunder and its scheme to ignite a full-scale World War 3.”
She continued, “The history of struggle of the Venezuelan people is, in its essence, identical to the history of struggle of the revolutionary forces, the workers and people of the ‘ROK’, for it is a noble struggle to break free from US imperialism. Historically, it has been the united workers and people who have led social revolution. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the working class rallied into the International Brigades and fought alongside the Spanish people’s government. Although the Spanish Civil War ended in defeat, it provided the historical experience that made possible the victory of the anti-fascist front in World War 2: during the Spanish conflict the world’s revolutionary forces and peoples—centered on the working class—united in anti-fascist struggle and fought the imperialist-fascist armies.”
Ji Young-chul, Director of Organization at the Korean Metal Workers’ Federation of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), explained that “Capitalism has grown by squeezing the lifeblood from its own workers and people. Once it became bloated and monopolized the economy, capitalism donned the wolf’s mask of imperialism, baring its greedy, filthy teeth and hunting prey across the world. Ruthless political domination, economic plunder, and military aggression are the very survival mechanisms of imperialism, and the only way it can maintain its existence is through wars of aggression. This is how the First and Second World Wars occurred, and US imperialism—the head of imperialism—now seeks to expand World War 3, beginning in Eastern Europe, spreading through West Asia (the Middle East), and extending to East Asia and the Western Pacific. The world is now being pushed into the storm of global war.”
He added that, “Far away, in the Caribbean Sea, a new storm of war capable of triggering a “New Cold War” is beginning—US imperialism under Trump is provoking war against President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. Hiding its sinister aim to plunder the oil of Venezuela, the world’s largest oil-producing country, in order to escape the astronomical national debt crisis of $38 trillion, US imperialism spreads false propaganda that Maduro is the boss of a drug organization, stoking the flames of an aggressive war. Venezuela is now on the brink of war, in an extremely dangerous situation. Yet the workers and people of Venezuela are volunteering for an 8-million-strong militia to resist US imperialism, which has poisoned Chávez and put an absurd $50 million bounty on President Maduro’s head.”
Lee Yong-su, a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions, stated, “The just Venezuelan people, volunteering en masse, have organized an 8-million-strong militia that has resolved to defend the Maduro people’s government and to crush the US’s schemes of aggression against Venezuela through a life-or-death struggle. President Nicolás Maduro, even under relentless US sanctions and pressure, has achieved the construction of 5 million homes and food self-sufficiency with only one-tenth of the budget of the previous Chávez government. Venezuela’s path of independence and self-reliance was made possible because of the comuna (commune)—people’s self-governing power—that placed the people as the protagonists and administrators of politics. It is these comuna people who are now boldly rising in anti-US resistance, calling upon the entire world to unite with Venezuela and strengthen the anti-imperialist front.”
He continued, “The Defense Brigade “21st Century Che Guevara” that we are organizing is meant to show steadfast solidarity with the Venezuelan people’s government and to strengthen global joint anti-imperialist action. The strengthening of the anti-imperialist front will inevitably weaken the possibility of imperialist aggression in the ‘ROK’ and East Asia, and in the worst case—even if a war of aggression breaks out—it will serve as a powerful force to repel imperialism and realize peace. The blood-stained struggle of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War is a model of internationalist history standing against imperialist fascism. Eighty percent of the 35,000 fighters of the International Brigades organized by the Comintern were from the working class. The proud internationalist spirit expressed in the slogan “All the peoples of the world are in the International Brigades next to the Spanish people” beats strongly in the hearts of our working class as we organize the “21st Century Che Guevara.” We will unite and struggle with the Venezuelan people’s government and with the workers and peoples of the world, overthrow imperialism, and hasten the independence and liberation of the workers and peoples of the entire world.”
They continued by shouting, “Let the working class take the lead under the banner of anti-imperialism and internationalism!” and “At the forefront of the anti-imperialist front, let us crush the schemes of imperialist aggression!”
Jin Young-ha, Chair of the Workers’ Committee of the People’s Democracy Party, read aloud the resolution, “Let us firmly unite on the anti-imperialist front! Let us Defend the people’s government of Venezuela!”
The participants then sang “The International” together.
On this day, youth and students also held their own rally and called for participation in the “21st Century Che Guevara.”
The full text of the resolution follows:
[Workers’ Resolution]
Let us firmly unite on the anti-imperialist front! Let us Defend the people’s government of Venezuela!
The brutality of imperialism is always accompanied by plunder and aggression. The US, the bandit nation, is pressuring the ‘Republic of Korea (ROK)’ to pay an additional 600 billion dollars on top of 350 billion dollars, demanding a tenfold increase in the cost of stationing US troops in the ‘ROK’. The heinous and ruthless bandit policy of US imperialism is destroying the ‘ROK’ economy and driving our workers into unemployment. That is not all. By expanding the operational range of USFK to East Asia, it is announcing intervention in Taiwan, and conducting war exercises with Japan, it is opening a runway for Japanese militarism’s continental aggression. The numerous wars taking place across the continent show that war in East Asia is inevitable and imminent. Once war breaks out anywhere in East Asia, the ‘ROK’, serving as an advance base for US forces, will be transformed into a battlefield, and workers and the people will become cannon fodder and victims of a wartime economy. This is why our workers and people must stake their lives to strengthen the anti-imperialist front.
The imperialist US’s schemes of aggression are now concentrated on Venezuela. The US invasion forces are assembling warships, strategic bombers, fighter jets, and thousands of troops in the Caribbean Sea, creating a crisis even sharper than the 1962 Caribbean Crisis. Trump has approved the CIA’s operation to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, and, adding to the maritime operations, is now raving that he will launch military operations in the air and on the ground as well. The war crisis is expanding beyond Venezuela to Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua. The US’s aggressive schemes against Venezuela are aimed first at plundering oil, but fundamentally they seek to drag Latin America—advancing toward freedom and liberation—back into the US’s “backyard,” reducing it once again to a colony. The Venezuelan people’s government and its 8 million-strong militia have resolved to wage an anti-US resistance and are calling upon the people of the world to unite on an anti-imperialist front.
The Spanish Civil War was the prelude to World War 2. Progressive forces around the world joined the war as the International Brigades to support the victory of the Spanish people’s government. Workers and the people across the world actively waged anti-fascist struggles, widely exposing the dangers of fascism and the looming crisis of World War 2 in their respective countries. Although the Spanish Civil War ended in defeat, it laid the groundwork for the victory of the anti-fascist front in World War 2. To prevent a war of aggression today, we must shatter the false pretexts fabricated by imperialist aggressors and expose their invasion and plunder. In the 2000s, the US, in pursuit of plundering oil in West Asia (the Middle East), slandered anti-US forces in the region as “terrorist groups” and proclaimed a “War on Terror.” Now, for the sake of plundering Venezuela’s oil, it is raising a so-called “War on Drugs,” maligning President Maduro as a “drug cartel.” Especially we workers—who suffer exploitation by capital—cannot stand by and watch as imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism and another name for the financial-industrial-military complex, turns other countries into colonies and subjects workers around the world to double and triple exploitation.
Today, when aggression, massacre, and plunder are taking place across the world, we form the Defense Brigade “21st Century Che Guevara.” The fate of Venezuela is the fate of the ‘ROK.’ If the Venezuelan front collapses, all of Latin America will be placed in jeopardy, and World War 3 ignited by the imperialist warmongers will inevitably enter its full phase. It will be impossible to stop the storm of war from sweeping across the ‘ROK’ and East Asia. Unwavering support for the people’s government of Venezuela is, in turn, firm solidarity with the progressive humanity of the world united on the anti-imperialist front. The strengthening of the global anti-imperialist front will inevitably bring about the victory of anti-imperialist resistance and joint anti-imperialist action. “Workers of the world, unite!” and “the people united will never be defeated” are banners of victory and eternal truths. We workers and the people, united with the workers and people of Venezuela, will shatter the schemes of imperialist aggression and hasten the world’s march toward independence and genuine peace.
Workers of the world, unite!
The people united will never be defeated!
¡Viva Maduro! ¡Viva Venezuela!
Always, until the day of victory!
November 15, 2025
In front of the US Embassy, Gwanghwamun, Seoul
Workers’ “21st Century Che Guevara” Defense Brigade
