ICOR resolution: Statement on the racist attacks in Germany

Written by: ICOR on 28 March 2020 

On 20 February 2020, a racist and fascist killer murdered nine people and wounded several dozen others in Hanau. We remind of Ferhat Unvar, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Vili Viorel Paun, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Hashemi, Gökhan Gültekin, Kalojan Velkow. We express our deepest sympathy to all relatives and friends of the murdered victims and the surviving victims of the attack. He hit two shisha bars before killing himself.

In Halle on 9 October a fascist committed an anti-semitic, racist assault on the synagogue as well as on a snack bar. He murdered two and injured several persons.

In June 2019, the conservative District President of Hesse of the CDU was executed with a shot in the head. The main defendant was active in nazi networks and in cooperation with the NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands), a German neo-Nazi party.

In the same period of time, a short-lived election victory of an FDP candidate for Minister President occurred because of an agreement between the FDP (liberals) - CDU (conservatives) - AfD (fascist). This agreement in Thuringia - designed to drive out Die Linke, the left-wing reformist party - was quickly denounced as the handshake of shame. But it set a precedent: agreements on a government level are now conceivable.(1) As a result of immediate demonstrations by tens of thousands of people, the bourgeois parties have had to give up breaking this taboo for the time being.

These situations reveal both the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary attempted breakthrough of the extreme right. It goes hand in hand with a legitimization of its discourse. It is not specific to Germany, but it is worrying that it also expresses itself in this country. This is both because of the history of German imperialism, the dictatorship of fascism, the genocide of the European Jews, Roma and Sinti, the instigation of two murderous world wars, the war of extermination against the Soviet Union and because of the immense weight that this state represents in the European Union.

This situation is common to all states and reflects a strong trend. A trend fueled by the deterioration of the economic situation, by the greed of the bourgeoisie. This degradation invariably translates itself politically. A progressive destruction of democratic rights, the fascistization of the state apparatus, ... in short, the pressure is mounting. The constant struggle against progressive revolutionary ideas means that political expressions of this anger can turn to the most violent reaction. The bourgeoisie rejoices in this.

The racist and toxic climate has been adorned with a democratic and legal façade by officially confining itself to criticism of Islam and its reactionary tendencies but by doing so fueling anti-Islamic slander. The words of the German Interior Minister are still present: "Migration is the mother of all problems!" These are the real racist, and basically fascist roots of the problem. This is its primary foundation, its primary nature. The heart of fascism is the völkische (ethno-nationalist) extermination strategy towards all “non-Blood Germans”, the oppression of the revolutionary workers' movement, the hatred of socialism and openly aggressive anti-communism. In the face of this, the bourgeois parties defend the idea that it would be a "terrible hatred", a “lone madman”, racism at most. This is to seriously talk down and whitewash the scope of fascist terror.

Often these assassins are presented as operating alone, as lone wolves. But behind that there are racist-fascist networks operating internationally and nationally. The logistic support, the dissemination of their calls for murder and systematic hate speeches is carried by fascist currents and underground organizations, also on the Internet. This shared responsibility is on several levels:

• A moral complicity of reactionary agitators.

• A practical complicity, on the part of the state apparatus. Neo-Nazi or fascist networks benefit from tolerance on the part of the police, the intelligence services or the judiciary. The NSU scandal in 2011 revealed a deep intertwining of Nazi murderers with parts of the German secret service and parts of the German state.
• A media silence, but also a continuous highlighting and presence of the AfD in all televised debates, in which formulations evading the political character of the crime are used.
• Strategic support: the German finance capital regards the existence of these groups and the influence of their ideology as a counter-insurance in case the democratic interfaces fail. The protofascist or in parts fascist AfD and the increasing fascistization are an option of the imperialist state of the Federal Republic of Germany. If crises are intensifying, if class struggles are developing broadly, if the contradictions of big powers are developing to imperialist wars, then those in rule will want to resort to this form of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, to install fascism in power.

We condemn these attacks, and we also condemn the direct and indirect accomplices to them.

The only ones who really, fundamentally defend the interests of the people, the interests of the exploited and the oppressed, are those who fight against the imperialist and capitalist system, against fascism and reaction.

Our thoughts are with the victims of these horrible attacks. These attacks are all the more horrible because the relatives of the victims and the survivors rarely get justice. Let us give them a voice.

The ICOR welcomes the series of mass demonstrations which have been taking place daily in many German cities since the Hanau attacks. Tens of thousands of people are not only demonstrating, but also talking in the neighborhood, at the workplace and in the family. The bourgeois parties have realized that their way of doing things is not working at the moment and hypocritically paint themselves as fighters against racism!  The determined fight against the right-wing development of the governments and the fascist tendency must be continued seriously and much more strongly in order to stop them and open up a proletarian and revolutionary perspective for socialism.

(1) In France, in 1998, a similar situation occurred: Charles Millon, UDF deputy (center) was elected in a contested manner with the votes of the extreme right. The situation triggered an outcry at the time. Today, it is no longer a problem.

Signatories (as of 23 March 2020, further signatories possible):

1. ORC   Organisation Révolutionnaire du Congo (Revolutionary Organization of Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. MMLPL   Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Line
3. CPSA (ML)   Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist)
4. PPDS   Parti Patriotique Démocratique Socialiste (Patriotic Democratic Socialist Party), Tunisia
5. CPI (ML) Red Star   Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star
6. Ranjbaran   Hezb-e Ranjbaran-e Iran (Proletarian Party of Iran)
7. NCP (Mashal)   Nepal Communist Party (Mashal)
8. БКП   Българска Комунистическа Партия (Bulgarian Communist Party)
9. PR-ByH   Partija Rada - ByH (Party of Labor - Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bosnia and Herzegovina
10. MLPD   Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)
11. UCLyon   Unité Communiste Lyon (Communist United Lyon), France
12. UPML   Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste (Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Union), France
13. BP (NK-T)   Bolşevik Parti (Kuzey Kürdistan-Türkiye) (Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan-Turkey))
14. KOL   Kommunistische Organisation Luxemburg (Communist Organization of Luxemburg)
15. MIKSZ   Magyar Ifjúság Közösségi Szervezete (Organisation of Hungarian Youth Community), Hungary
16. RM   Rode Morgen (Red Dawn), Netherlands
17. MLGS   Marxistisch-Leninistische Gruppe Schweiz (Marxist-Leninist Group of Switzerland)
18. KSC-CSSP   Komunisticka Strana Cheskoslovenska – Cheskoslovenska Strana Prace (Communist Party of Czechoslovakia – Czechoslovakian Workers Party), Czech Republic
19. TIKB   Türkiye İhtilalci Komünistler Birliği (Union of Revolutionary Communists of Turkey)
20. TKP-ML   Türkiye Komünist Partisi – Marksist-Leninist (Communist Party of Turkey – Marxist-Leninist)
21. KSRD   Koordinazionnyj Sowjet Rabotschewo Dvizhenija (Coordination Council of the Workers Class Movement), Ukraine
22. MLP   Marksistsko-Leninskaja Platforma (Marxist-Leninist Platform), Russia
23. PCP (independiente)   Partido Comunista Paraguayo (independiente) (Paraguayan  Communist Party (independent))
24. BDP   Bloque Democratico Popular (Popular Democratic Bloc), Peru
25. PML del Perú   Partido Marxista Leninista del Perú (Marxist-Leninist Party of Peru)
26. PC (ML)   Partido Comunista (Marxista Leninista) (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)), Dominican Republic
27. PCR-U   Partido Comunista Revolucionario del Uruguay (Revolutionary Communist Party of Uruguay)
28. CPA (M-L)  Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)