The Communist Youth Organisations subscribing to this resolution, gathered in Madrid during the weekend of 27, 28 and 29 May on the occasion of the meeting of the preparatory Working Group to the MECYO, as well as the Communist Youth Organisations adhering to it, reject the holding of the NATO Summit in Spain. On 29-30 June, Spain will host the next NATO summit in Madrid, a conscious decision to “celebrate” the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to this imperialist alliance. The main objectives for this year are the approval of the new Strategic Concept,
which sets out the Alliance's roadmap for the next ten years, and the formal invitation to Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
All over the world, we are witnessing a sharpening of inter-imperialist contradictions, manifested in a global increase in arms spending and an increasingly aggressive militarism. This is evidenced by the outbreak or reactivation of different conflicts (such as the case of Western Sahara or the war in Nagorno-Karabakh). In a world divided between the various imperialist powers, the only way out and the only way to conquer new markets for the monopolies is to take them away from other monopolies. In the present context of the globalised economic crisis, these tensions are at their highest level and the aggressiveness of the different imperialist alliances or powers becomes even more acute. In the case of the recent escalation of the war in Ukraine, NATO's co-responsibility is clear and places us before the risk of the outbreak of a generalized imperialist war. The expansion of the war in Ukraine is also the most recent example of the use by NATO forces of ethnic conflicts to destabilize and justify their presence all around the globe.
What the imperialists here call the "new Strategic Concept for defence and security" is nothing more than a series of plans aimed at achieving a higher degree of aggressiveness in the competition against the other imperialist alliances or blocs, with preparation for war being the real aim of this summit. In this context, it comes as no surprise that the feigned neutrality of Sweden and Finland now translates into their desire to join this criminal imperialist alliance.
We communists recognise the danger of this and any imperialist alliance, and that is why we take an active stand against it. We know that the strengthening of NATO, of any imperialist alliance, will only bring us closer to new armed conflicts in which the youth of our countries will become cannon fodder under someone else's flag. We acknowledge that despite the current propaganda campaign of warmongering inside NATO countries and in other imperialist countries, the peoples will be against any imperialist aggression and in favor of the peace. It will be the working class, and specifically the youth, who will pay for the arms expenditure through ever greater job insecurity and a total lack of life prospects, while these conflicts are used to increase internal repression. We know that the strengthening of such alliances only means destruction and misery for the benefit of a few capitalists.
A clear example of this is the arrest of the Kononovich brothers in early March by the Ukrainian government on charges of "being spies in the service of Russia and Belarus". Mikhail Kononovich, the current first secretary of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine, and his brother Alexander are still under arrest. The policy of persecution and criminalisation of communists in Ukraine initiated after the regime change brought about by the Maidan in 2014 continues, taking advantage of the context of war to escalate its repressive measures against those who oppose the imperialist war.
The undersigned Communist Youth Organisations strongly reject the holding of the next NATO summit in Spain and express our firm will to strengthen the struggle for the exit of each of our respective countries from this imperialist alliance. We call on the working class and popular youth to mobilise against the holding of the Summit and against any kind of involvement of our respective countries in the plans of the imperialist powers. As communists, we reject any strengthening of NATO and any imperialist alliance and condemn the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
Communist Youth Organisations signing the Joint Statement
1. Communist Youth of Austria (KJÖ)
2. United Democratic Youth Organisation (EDON)
3. Communist Youth of Denmark (DKU)
4. Socialist German Workers' Youth (SDAJ)
5. Young Communist League of Britain (YCL)
6. Communist Youth of Greece (KNE)
7. Front of the Communist Youth, Italy (FGC)
8. Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI)
9. League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ)
10. Collectives of Young Communists, Spain (CJC)
11. Joventut Comunista de Catalunya (JCC)
12. Union of Communist Youth of Spain (UJCE)
13. Revolutionary Communist Youth of Sweden (RKU)
14. Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG
