Report by Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov at the III International Anti-Fascist Forum. Moscow, May 24, 2026

We have gathered at the Third International Anti-Fascist Forum to discuss our shared goals in the struggle for peace and security, friendship among peoples, and social justice. This multifaceted activity of leftist forces cannot be conducted in isolation from the fight against imperialism and state terrorism, military aggression and neocolonialism, reaction and neo-fascism.

The global expansion of capital continues. It achieves its goals by relying on two main pillars: physical force and the manipulation of consciousness .

Even in ancient Rome, Cicero insisted that for a state to truly prosper, it needed a “union of sword and pen.” He meant combining military might and persuasive force. Centuries later, the Italian Machiavelli echoed this idea . He advised rulers to emulate both the lion and the fox, combining courage with cunning.

The emergence of Protestantism was a key milestone in the establishment of capitalism. Early Christianity championed morality and living according to “God’s canons.” It advocated aid for the poor and condemned excess. The new teaching directly linked faith with wealth. Material success, Protestant preachers taught, was visible proof that a person was “pleasing to God.” Poverty and deprivation were seen as the “seal of a curse.”

Thus, an ideological foundation for enrichment, exploitation, and expansion was created in Europe . In the eyes of capitalists, their own commoners and the inhabitants of other continents were “outcasts.” Their wealth was to be confiscated in favor of the “chosen ones.” Bourgeois empires grew on the basis of these vicious ideas.

The West has achieved great success in combining various methods of domination. This has allowed it to become the leading global power and exert influence over humanity. To maintain its hegemony, it has made extensive use of mass consciousness manipulation. With the development of new technologies, this system has become truly global.

By the beginning of this century, there were claims that the internet would destroy the monopoly on information. This optimism proved misplaced. Ownership of the means of production is the key to economic and political dominance. And it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about material production or information.

To believe that the owners of internet platforms, social networks, global servers, and data centers are driven by considerations of freedom and democracy is the height of naivety. Their goals are exploitation, maximum profit, and the concentration of power.

The same thing is happening with “artificial intelligence.” It’s not a gift from fate or from kind programmers to everyone else. It’s another resource in the hands of those who own capital. It’s perfectly understandable that capitalists will use it to enrich themselves and strengthen their dominance.

Understanding these phenomena is crucial to the success of the struggle we are waging. Our ideological opponents are doing everything they can to monopolize the “sphere of meaning .” This strengthens the forces of global capital in the battle for the future of humanity.

Even in the midst of a capitalist crisis, with the decline of old centers of development and the emergence of new ones, the global oligarchy can spend a long time shuffling the “deck of cards.” It can pit peoples and countries against each other, inventing ever new “enemy images.” It can disguise itself as a “beacon of freedom and democracy” or a “defender of traditional values.” It will do everything it can to prevent people from recognizing their class interests and understanding that the roots of problems lie not in the peculiarities of races and nations, customs and cultures. They lie in the socioeconomic system, in the ownership of the means of production.

Understanding this and opening the eyes of the working people is the most important task of communists and all popular patriotic forces. Without recognizing itself as a class, the proletariat will be a plaything in the hands of capital . It will be forced to accept alien ideas and values. As Antonio Gramsci , one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, wrote , the working people must acquire a new worldview. The duty of communists is to help the proletariat acquire class consciousness and develop a new concept of life.

The bourgeoisie skillfully imposes its morals and rules of conduct on the masses. The West skillfully exploits the mechanisms of mind control. If a state ruled by capital begins to falter, it is saved by the structure of bourgeois society. The state is merely the front line of capitalism. Behind it lies a solid chain of ideological fortresses and casemates created by the oligarchy.

This defense cannot be crushed with a quick frontal strike. A thorough and protracted “positional war” is required to win the workers’ consciousness, to draw them from the bourgeois camp to their own proletarian camp.

It’s worth remembering that the West was far from always the driving force of the global economy. Until the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe’s economy was significantly smaller than that of China, India, and a number of other societies. Europe’s leadership was achieved through unbridled and ruthless expansion, disguised by false concepts of “messianism.” These are the roots of fascism and other forms of domination.

The idea of ​​white supremacy served as a justification for colonial conquests . It underpinned the genocide of indigenous populations and the slave trade. Colonial inhabitants were viewed as inferior beings and denied human rights.

In 1825, the US Supreme Court’s ” Discovery Doctrine ” established that land ownership belonged to those who “discovered” it. For centuries, the Indians living there had been deprived of this right. This created the “legal” basis for the mass expulsion of Indian tribes onto reservations and their extermination.

Many Western ideologues were involved in justifying racism. One of them – the Englishman Thomas Carlyle – wrote an essay entitled “The Nigger Question”. In his view, God had destined black people to be slaves to those “born their masters”. Carlyle angrily denounced those fighting for the abolition of slavery, calling them ‘unions for the defence of scoundrels’.

The ideologist of British imperialism, Cecil Rhodes, insisted: “God wills the dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race.” He wrote: ” I raised my eyes to heaven and cast them down to earth. And I said to myself: both must become British. And it was revealed to me… that the British are the best race, worthy of world domination .”

In his book “Mein Kampf,” Adolf Hitler held up the 19th-century British Empire as an example for Germans. He based his racial doctrine largely on the works of the Englishman Houston Chamberlain . Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich’s chief propagandist , called him “the father of our spirit.”

Racist ideas have accompanied capitalist conquests from the very beginning. The bourgeois system is based on increasing profits at any cost. First, fledgling European capital seized the lands of its peasants and forced them into workhouses. Then it began to conquer nations and destroy entire civilizations. ” Large-scale industry has created a world market, prepared by the discovery of America ,” wrote Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. 

Capital entered a new stage of global expansion with the transition to imperialism. V.I. Lenin identified its main characteristics. First, the concentration of production and capital, leading to the creation of monopolies with their decisive role in economic life. Second, the merger of banking capital with industrial capital, creating “finance capital,” a financial oligarchy. Third, the export of capital, which becomes more important than the export of goods. Fourth, the formation of international monopolistic capitalist alliances and the redivision of the world. Fifth, the completion of the division of the earth among the major powers.

Lenin characterized imperialism as a worldwide system of colonial oppression and financial strangulation of the vast majority of the world’s population by a handful of imperialist countries . The founder of Bolshevism demonstrated that imperialism is characterized by reaction, parasitism, and decay. Big capital establishes its dictatorship over society. It seeks to suppress the workers’ and national liberation movements. Reaction intensifies. Militarism grows.

Under imperialism, the bourgeoisie increasingly gravitates toward total control over the life of society. ” Finance capital strives for domination, not freedom ,” Lenin emphasized . ” Political reaction across the board is a characteristic of imperialism .”

Economic development draws millions of people into production and spreads literacy. This makes exploiters increasingly dependent on the most sophisticated methods of domination— the manipulation of consciousness .

The ideological connection between Anglo-Saxon capitalism and fascism was not limited to this. Western capital, in practice, fostered fascist regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and other countries . Italian fascism and German Nazism enjoyed generous support from the oligarchy. This was a response to the revolutionary wave in Europe after World War I. The Bavarian Soviet Republic, the Hamburg Uprising, and mass strikes pointed to a profound crisis in the bourgeois system.

By 1922, a circle of industrialists had formed in Bavaria who placed their trust in Adolf Hitler. Large sums of money flowed to the German fascists from Henry Ford in the United States. In 1938, Hitler awarded him the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Reich’s highest award for foreigners.

Nazi support grew rapidly . The party was sponsored by major German industrial and financial magnates. Representatives of the Deutsche Bank, the Commercial Bank, and the Reichskreditgesellschaft (Reichskräftsgesellschaft) supported the fascists.

The alliance between big business and the Nazis culminated in a meeting on February 20, 1933. The heads of corporations and banks endorsed Hitler’s course toward dictatorship. A week later, the Reichstag was set on fire. This provocation created a pretext for the elimination of opponents and reprisals against communists.

The Western powers contributed to the strengthening of Nazism . London and Washington watched calmly as the Nazis reneged on the Treaty of Versailles, created the Wehrmacht, and embarked on a path of accelerated militarization. They continued to lend to Germany, supplied it with strategic raw materials, participated in the construction of the submarine fleet, and supplied weapons and materials.

Mussolini’s regime also received support from the United States. The House of Morgan provided large loans. Italy became one of the leading recipients of foreign capital in Europe. Washington cynically turned a blind eye to Rome’s aggressive foreign policy.

Dear comrades! Less than a month remains until a tragic date in world history. It will be 85 years since the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The heroic struggle of the Soviet people, led by the Communist Party, led to the defeat of fascism. The Soviet people paid a huge price for our sacred Victory. One in six USSR citizens died on the battlefield. One in three Belarusians. And one in two communists.

But as long as capitalism lives, its arsenal will always include fascism, terror, genocide, and other bloody crimes .

The Western powers’ post-war treatment of Nazi criminals was extremely revealing. Many escaped punishment. They collaborated with the United States and participated in the creation of NATO. They became Cold Warriors, working for Radio Liberty, Deutsche Welle, and other anti-Soviet media. All of this is direct evidence of the profound symbiosis between big business, liberal elites, and fascist regimes. Together, they formed a single phalanx of oppressors of humanity’s revolutionary hopes.

Oligarchic capital never abandoned its plans for revenge and vengeance. Soviet cities and villages still lay in ruins when former allies in the West were already hatching plans for a nuclear strike against the USSR. The Cold War had begun. Bloody conflicts erupted in Korea and Vietnam.

Capital tried in every way to save colonial empires from collapse. It drowned national liberation movements in blood. Terror never disappeared from capitalism’s arsenal. We have thousands of pieces of evidence to prove this! We presented some of this in the film ” Imperialism and Terror ” on the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s ” Red Line ” television channel. Our forum began with its screening.

Imperialism deployed its most vicious forces to undermine the main bulwark of the liberation movement—the USSR. Unfortunately, this was achieved. However, the temporary defeat of the Soviet Union did not become a triumph for big capital . The banner of socialism was raised high by the Chinese Communist Party. The country became a world leader in economic and social development.

As long as the USSR, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), and the Warsaw Pact existed, capital had a common enemy and a desire to win the competition with socialism. This became a powerful incentive for development. Capitalists improved product quality, made concessions to workers, and expanded social guarantees.

With the collapse of the USSR, a comprehensive degradation of capitalism began. It is taking place in the economy and social life, in politics and morality. The crisis of democratic institutions and the electoral system has intensified.

Capital responds to its growing problems with open militarization . It provokes international tensions. The threat of a new world war is growing .

Western powers have intensified their neocolonial practices . Their main tools are the dollar system, IMF and World Bank debt bondage, information pressure, and reliance on a pro-Western fifth column. Sanctions, provocations, “color revolutions,” and military interventions are used against undesirable states. The peoples of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela have experienced this in its most brutal form .

The forces of global reaction are particularly cynical in their treatment of our fraternal Ukraine. They have turned it into a military training ground, declaring war on the Russian world. We provide comprehensive assistance to those fighting on the front lines against Bandera’s Nazism. We have already sent over 150 humanitarian convoys to Donbas. We regularly receive children who come to us from there for recuperation and rest. We express our gratitude to everyone who helps in this extremely important endeavor!

We are sincerely grateful to the parties and movements whose representatives attended this forum for your principled stance and solidarity with our country’s anti-fascist stance during these challenging times. We express special gratitude to the Korean people for their determination and courage in the fight against neo-fascism.

Capital has launched the dismantling of the welfare state . The neoliberal wave has sparked popular resistance. Public discontent is growing in the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and other countries. Workers are protesting against the policies of the bourgeois authorities.

At the same time, the neocolonial movement is growing . Countries in the Global South are increasingly demanding complete liberation from the legacy of Western colonial policies. Conditions for large-scale positive change are gradually being created on our planet. This process must be made irreversible .

China’s initiatives are particularly important for creating a more just world . Following the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made important proposals in the areas of global development, security, and civilizational interaction. Last September, an initiative on global governance was launched in Tianjin. Symbolically, this was done at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. SCO and BRICS members are called upon to play a special role in creating a new system of international relations.

Global capital is responding to the attempts to undermine its position by taking steps to establish complete control over humanity . To this end, it intends to use the latest means of communication: the internet, social media, and artificial intelligence . These goals are no longer a secret. Their existence is clearly indicated in publications by the executives of Palantir Technologies .

Back at the beginning of this century, in my article ” Globalism and the ‘New Imperialism,’ ” I emphasized: ” A third world war is effectively flaring up on the planet… First it was ‘cold,’ then ‘cool,’ then ‘warm.’ And now, with the advent of globalism, it is rapidly moving into a hot phase… Humanity is sitting on a powder keg, around which more and more sparks are igniting .”

The modern world is undergoing a transition to multipolarity . The hegemony of Western capital is weakening. Conflicts between imperialists are growing. These have resulted in confrontation between the US and the EU, as well as conflicts within NATO and other associations.

However, a just international system remains a long way off. The old centers of power cling to global dominance with all their might. To maintain it, they are prepared to use the full arsenal of political, financial, informational, and military pressure.

We must acknowledge the fact that not all modern poles of influence strive for an egalitarian world order. Often, their ruling circles are only interested in redistributing markets and spheres of control. Therefore, we, representatives of the left and popular-patriotic forces, must understand: a simple change of global leaders within the framework of capitalism will not free workers from exploitation. Only socialism guarantees a real alternative.

Developing Lenin’s characterization of imperialism, the CPRF highlights a number of key features of globalism . First, the dominance of finance capital over industrial production is increasing . The true owners of the world’s largest assets are capitalist giants such as Black Rock, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase . Their resources exceed the capabilities of individual states.

Secondly, the global economy is built on unequal exchange . Developing countries supply cheap raw materials and purchase expensive finished goods. Debt bondage is intensifying. According to the UN, global debt has approached $100 trillion. Almost half of humanity lives in countries that spend more on debt servicing than they spend on healthcare and education.

Third, the global division of labor perpetuates colossal social inequality . Oxfam estimates that the combined wealth of billionaires will reach $18.3 trillion by 2025. This is double the 2020 figure and seven times the 2000 figure. Last year, the number of billionaires worldwide exceeded 3,000 for the first time. The 12 wealthiest people on the planet own more wealth than the combined wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population. 

Fourth, the influence of transnational capital on politics is growing dramatically . Major financiers and corporations directly determine the course of states. The US administration is demonstrating an increasingly close fusion of power and financial-industrial groups. Oxfam’s data literally echoes Lenin’s conclusions about the relationship between monopolies and political reaction.

Economic inequality is leading to the erosion of rights and political freedoms. Authoritarianism is on the rise. “Governments are making misguided decisions to please the elite and the rich, suppressing the rights and anger of citizens over rising living costs that have become unaffordable for too many ,” notes Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar .

Fifth, international law is increasingly being replaced by a system of “rules” that benefits the global oligarchy . Nation states are losing control over economic processes. Big business is using international institutions as a tool of pressure. Ritual statements about the “inviolability of private property” do not prevent the West from freezing and confiscating the assets of other countries.

Sixth, information and cultural expansion has become an independent and highly destructive form of aggression . Consumption and behavior patterns are being imposed through global media platforms, social networks, and digital monopolies. Attempts by individual states to protect their information sovereignty are loudly declared an “infringement on freedom of speech.”

Finally, the parasitic nature of global capital is growing . It skillfully appropriates the benefits of technological progress. Meanwhile, a significant portion of humanity remains in poverty and dependence. At the same time, the environmental crisis and spiritual degradation are growing. Social relations are becoming dehumanized. The tragedy of the Palestinian people and the reaction of Western states to it have become a special symbol of this.

Once again, as in the last century, capital is increasingly relying on far-right forces . In Europe, far-right parties sympathetic to Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and Horthy are gaining strength. In Latin America, a number of politicians are justifying the crimes of military dictatorships. The actions of Donald Trump’s close friend in Argentina, Javier Miley, have become emblematic of far-right politics.

Today’s reactionary public is united by aggressive anti-communism, Russophobia, and a desire for global dictatorship. These forces are prepared to use the full might of armies and state apparatuses to assert their dominance .

The United States increasingly perceives socialist China’s enormous achievements as a strategic challenge . Washington seeks to regain its position as the world’s leading industrial center. To this end, it is weakening Europe, increasingly subordinating it to its interests. This naturally deepens the contradictions between the imperialists.

But it must be emphasized: overall, capitalism retains a high capacity for adaptation and survival . Beyond military force, it relies on information control and manipulates public opinion. Bitterly and ironically, the suppression of political opponents occurs under the guise of defending democracy. Bans on participation in elections, tightened censorship, and the campaign to “cancel” Russian culture—all of this has become part of Western political life.

Global capital hasn’t abandoned its old, tried-and-true methods. Various forms of neo-fascism are reviving . Ukrainian neo-Nazism, which grew out of the bloody ideology of Bandera, has received generous support. Far-right forces have revived in many European countries.

The rise to power of Donald Trump’s team in the United States was a landmark event . Having won the sympathy of ordinary citizens through sophisticated demagoguery and populism, this oligarchic capital is destroying the remnants of the “welfare state.” It is also organizing interventions around the world.

The ideologists of “peace through strength” are turning to the most reactionary concepts of the colonial era. A striking example of this was the speech of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference this year. Calling Western civilization the greatest in history, he admired its conquests. ” For five centuries, until the end of World War II, the West expanded its borders – its missionaries, pilgrims, soldiers, and explorers left its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, and build vast empires stretching across the globe ,” Rubio declared.

According to the US Secretary of State, the emergence of the “evil empire”—the Soviet Union—led to “dark times.” Tellingly, Rubio identified 1945 as the turning point in Western dominance. After that, he declared, ” the great Western empires entered a period of decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and anti-colonialist uprisings that changed the world and brought vast swaths of the map under the rule of the red hammer and sickle .”

I would like to emphasize that this is the logic of the most ardent imperialists.

According to the head of the US State Department, the Trump administration is working to restore the West to its former glory. In alliance with the United States, Europe must cast off the “shackles” of environmental regulations and social guarantees. Rubio further stated: ” Together, we rebuilt a shattered continent after two terrible world wars… The free West united with courageous dissidents fighting against tyranny in the East to defeat Soviet communism. Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration .”

Such aspirations are a direct threat to all humanity!

Capitalism is demonstrating its inability to solve the key problems of our planet. Moreover, in its desire to maintain its power, it is becoming increasingly dangerous . The crisis of global capitalism is leading to increased exploitation, conflict, and the threat of large-scale wars.

Unlike previous eras, the global situation has changed fundamentally. At this point, humanity already has the resources and technological capabilities to overcome poverty, hunger, and appalling inequality. But capitalism is unwilling. It is turning colossal wealth and astonishing opportunities into a source of growing aggression and degradation.

We—representatives of parties and movements, public associations and initiatives, scholars and experts—have no right to stand aside. Our reason and conscience do not allow us to remain indifferent to what is happening in the world. Special times have arrived for human civilization. The continued preservation of capitalism can no longer be justified. A way out of the crisis, solutions to global problems, and peaceful and successful development are possible only through the transition to socialism.

The creation of a new world, free from the dictates of global capital, is on humanity’s agenda. And this is not something that can be put off until tomorrow. The struggle continues every day—here and now! Like our like-minded partners in other countries, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is waging its political battle persistently and consistently. Our focus is on exposing imperialism, reaction, neocolonialism, neofascism, and state terrorism .

In 2023, we proposed taking this work to a new level. Together with the Communist Party of Belarus, we initiated the First International Anti-Fascist Forum in Minsk . Representatives from 50 countries participated. A Manifesto for the unification of the peoples of the world, ” Protect Humanity from Fascism! ” was adopted.

The assessments and conclusions of the Minsk Manifesto received broad support. In April 2025, 164 delegations arrived in Moscow for the Second International Anti-Fascist Forum . They represented 91 countries. Six months later, we held the International Anti-Fascist Media Forum , where we discussed issues of coordinating the information policy of left-wing forces.

The shared approaches of our parties and movements help us join together in the struggle for peace. We stand in solidarity with the peoples who have fallen victim to aggression. We demand an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people . Together, we say: ” Hands off a free Cuba and its historic choice !” We insist on the immediate release of the Venezuelan president from US custody.

Back in January, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation created the Public Committee for the Freeing of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores . It is actively working and expanding its activities. We demand freedom for Eugenia Gutsul in Moldova, Vardan Ghukasyan in Armenia, and for all political prisoners who suffered for the ideals of justice and friendship between peoples.

This forum is another step toward unity in the fight against global reaction. Imperialism has shed the last vestiges of its peacemaking veneer. On our stunningly beautiful planet, it sows terrible poverty and state terrorism, war and death. Our shared task is to boldly expose the essence of big capital’s policies. Unite leftist forces, put forward our alternative, and persistently pursue our goals.

We bear a tremendous responsibility. Progressive forces need common tactics and strategy. We need a clear roadmap for the fight against imperialism and neocolonialism, neofascism and state terrorism.

The path of struggle will be thorny. We must walk it and win! This is a great task of truly historic proportions!

Let us be worthy of our ideological choice!

Let us be worthy of our great predecessors!

Together – forward, to achieve the bright ideals of peace and friendship among peoples, justice, progress and socialism!