Develop the struggle for peace and internationalist solidarity against aggressive imperialism: Portuguese Communist Party

Public domain image of Donald Trump on February 9, 2025

The Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), met on February 8 and 9, 2025, and released a communique that included this trenchant assessment of the international situation.

International situation

1. The recent developments in the international situation are taking place in a context marked by the structural crisis of capitalism and the exploitative and aggressive offensive of imperialism which aims to counter the relative decline of the United States of America (USA), as well as the other capitalist powers of the G7, and safeguard its hegemonic dominance, in the face of the continuing resistance and struggle of the workers and peoples and a broad process of rearrangement of forces at world level.

2. In the US, the Trump administration, with its profoundly reactionary agenda, despite differences and divisions, is continuing and intensifying the policy at the service of US economic and financial groups and the strategy of confrontation, interference and aggression pursued by the Biden Administration, with what this entails as promotion of exploitation, injustice and social inequalities in the US and a threat to peace, sovereignty and the rights of peoples.

Openly proclaiming the exceptional nature of the US and the primacy of its interests – which, among other examples, is expressed in its repeated claims of domination of Greenland and the control of the Panama Canal – US imperialism insists on subordinating its allies and attempting to isolate, encircle and suppress countries that assert their sovereignty, their right to development and their choices of international relations, particularly China, pointed as its main strategic target.

The US administration adopts anti-social and anti-democratic measures at home and increases trade and financial decisions, pressures and blackmail abroad, taking advantage of the dominance of the international financial system and military power to impose US interests.

At the same time, the US is continuing its commitment to militarism and the arms race, boosting the increase in military spending, particularly within NATO – whose member countries together already account for more than half of the world's military spending – an unacceptable aim as witnessed in the recent visit by NATO's Secretary General to Portugal.

Subject to NATO's warmongering orientation, the European Union is deepening the path of militarism and boosting military spending in order to further increase the arms escalation and war, at the expense of people's living conditions and rights, jeopardizing peace and security

War, arms escalation and sanctions only serve the interests of economic groups, especially arms producing groups. The warmongering by the US, NATO and the EU entails tragic consequences and serious dangers and is the most serious threat facing humanity.

At the same time, several countries are confronted with growing and blatant interference, the instrumentalization of electoral processes, the manipulation of information, the covering and promotion of terrorist actions, destabilisation manoeuvres, the promotion of openly reactionary and fascistic forces.

3. Portugal cannot continue to be an appendage in the warmongering strategy of the US, NATO and the EU. Portugal must safeguard national sovereignty and independence, defend the legitimate interests of the Portuguese people and uphold the principles of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, in particular by ensuring the conditions for the Armed Forces to carry out their constitutionally enshrined mission. Portugal must have its own voice, an independent foreign policy, diversifying its foreign relations, contributing to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, defending peace and cooperation.

4. The Central Committee of the PCP salutes the many thousands of people who took part in the demonstration “It's urgent to put an end to the war! All Together for Peace!” on January 18 in Lisbon, which, among other objectives, rejected the transfer of resources to war, which are so necessary for increasing wages and pensions, promoting the right to healthcare, education, social security, housing and improving living conditions.

The security of the peoples is not achieved with more and increasingly sophisticated and destructive weapons. Collective security is achieved by promoting diplomacy, political solutions to conflicts, agreements on disarmament and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter.

After almost 11 years of war in Ukraine, reality is proving the PCP right, since it has always been in favour of a just and lasting peace, which requires taking into account the causes of the conflict. The US, NATO and the EU must put an end to their strategy of instigating and prolonging the war, and negotiation channels must be opened urgently in order to reach a political solution to the conflict, a response to the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe, and compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.

Faced with the enormous dangers of imperialism's aggressive strategy, particularly with militarism and war, destabilisation and interference actions, the imposition of blockades and sanctions, the Central Committee of the PCP reaffirms the importance of developing the struggle for peace and internationalist solidarity, for a general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, in defence of the principles of the United Nations Charter, against the militarisation of the EU, for the dissolution of NATO and for the establishment of a system of collective security, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring peace and justice in relations among peoples.

5. Condemning President Donald Trump's deplorable statements, which explicitly proclaim the expulsion of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip and its occupation by the US, the Central Committee of the PCP salutes the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people and calls for continued solidarity with Palestine, demanding: an end to Israel's genocide and criminal policy; the implementation of a permanent ceasefire and urgent access to humanitarian aid; the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and an end to their attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; the fulfilment of the national rights of the Palestinian people, with an end to the occupation and the creation of the State of Palestine, in accordance with United Nations resolutions; an end to Israel's aggression against Lebanon and Syria and the withdrawal from the territories it illegally and militarily occupies in these two countries, as well as its repeated threats against Iran and Yemen; and a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which has been successively obstructed and boycotted by the US and Israel.

6. Welcoming the just and courageous struggle of the Cuban people in defence of their sovereignty and rights, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for the development of solidarity with Cuba, with the demand for an end to the criminal and illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade, as well as all other coercive measures and interference, destabilisation and aggression imposed by the US, aimed at affecting Cuba's economy, the living conditions of the Cuban people and its socialist Revolution.

7. At the start of the commemorations of the 80th. anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism in World War II on May 9, 1945, to which the contribution of the USSR and the Soviet people – who suffered more than 20 million deaths – was decisive, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for the defence of peace and truth, denouncing what Nazi-fascism was, the interests it represented and the crimes for which it was responsible, rejecting the rewriting and falsification of history, the whitewashing of fascism and the trivialisation of reactionary and fascist conceptions, fighting anti-communism and defending democracy, so that the barbarity of Nazi-fascism and war is never repeated.

8. The worsening of the international situation reveals with greater clarity that capitalism only has to offer humanity more exploitation, more injustice and inequality, more attacks on democratic rights and freedoms, more militarism and war, more predation of natural resources, highlighting the need to build a new society, socialism. The PCP will continue to contribute to the strengthening of the international communist and revolutionary movement, the deepening of its cooperation, the dissemination of the communist ideal and project, as well as to the development of a broad anti-imperialist front to confront the offensive of imperialism and strengthen the struggle for a new international order of peace, cooperation and social progress.