From 22 to 24 May, the 2nd Congress of the Communist Front of Italy was held. The Assembly of Delegates unanimously approved the Theses submitted by the Central Committee, taking into account the discussion carried out in all the party’s grassroots organizations. The following Political Resolution was also adopted unanimously.
Faced with the reality of capitalism, the reasons for the communist prospect, for the construction of a society free from the exploitation of man by man and centred on the needs and aspirations of the workers, without the tragedy of wars and misery for the peoples, emerge with all their pressing relevance.
In the name of profit, the generalised attack on the rights and living and working conditions of the working class and the popular strata continues, while imperialist competition among the capitalists of the whole world threatens to drag the peoples into a generalized war on a scale unseen since the end of the Second World War.
The sharpening of imperialist competition has intensified the clash among the capitalist powers, a clash unfolding both on the economic and commercial level and, increasingly, on the military level, confirming that “war is the continuation of politics by other means”.
The imperialist wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the numerous conflict zones active across all continents, are not accidental events but structural expressions of the present phase. The confrontation between the United States and China is the defining feature of the imperialist rivalry in this period.
In this context, we can observe, on the one hand, the US–NATO–EU Euro-Atlantic bloc which, despite being marked by growing internal contradictions, particularly regarding the war in Ukraine, trade tariffs, the “green” transition and relations with Russia, seeks to preserve its hegemony within the imperialist pyramid by advancing along the path of rearmament and the development of war economy. NATO is pursuing the objective of raising military expenditure in all member states to 5% of GDP, further promoting the expansion of the alliance and intensifying preparations for a large-scale conflict.
The European Union is expanding existing funds and programs and creating new ones for military purposes, moving further toward consolidating war economy and military preparations while intensifying the attack on the rights of workers and peoples. Plans such as the so-called “military mobility” program, which the EU is implementing together with NATO, demonstrate the concrete danger of a generalized imperialist war into which capitalists are prepared to drag the workers and peoples of the continent.
On the other hand, an emerging Eurasian pole is consolidating around structures such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This pole is likewise marked by profound internal contradictions and divergent interests among the national bourgeoisies that compose it.
From the very first day, we have denounced the imperialist character of the war in Ukraine, which has pitted the US–EU–NATO bloc against Russia. The stake has always been control over Ukrainian territory and resources as elements for gaining an advantage in imperialist competition, entirely for the benefit of the monopolies of the capitalist powers involved, while workers and peoples in the countries concerned are forced to pay the price. This has come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of refugees. The attempt to reach a temporary compromise through US intervention and negotiations with Russia, even if successful, does not eliminate the general tendency toward the sharpening of imperialist antagonisms. Any temporary agreement inevitably opens the way to a new phase of intensified confrontation among the capitalist powers.
In the Middle East, the tragedy of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank carried out by Israel, with the support of the United States, NATO and the European Union, clearly reveals the barbarity of which the capitalist system is capable. We have always stood by the Palestinian people and supported their right to resist by all means. We reaffirm our support for the cause of the Palestinian people, for the right to an independent state within the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for the right of return of the refugees. We have denounced the complicity of the Meloni government which, in defense of the interests of Italian capital, continues to support the criminal actions of the terrorist state of Israel in open contradiction with the profound sentiment of international solidarity demonstrated by Italian workers in the mass mobilizations of last fall.
The military escalation between the US–Israel axis and Iran, culminating in June 2025 with the “Twelve-Day War” and resuming with new bombardments between February and March 2026, has brought the region to the brink of a generalized conflict, further extending the humanitarian catastrophe to Lebanon. The US–Israel plan for the creation of the economic and geopolitical space of the “New Middle East” is part of the competition surrounding the implementation of the “Cotton Route” (the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor, IMEC), in opposition to China’s “New Silk Road” and Iran’s own plans.
As always, we stand alongside the Cuban people in their steadfast struggle against imperialist aggression by the United States. We recognise the value of the Cuban Socialist Revolution and its great example of resistance under conditions of encirclement, despite the extremely serious consequences of the infamous Bloqueo that has strangled the island for decades. We express our full solidarity with Cuba, remain vigilant regarding the possible dangers, including the risk of open military aggression arising from the criminal actions of the Trump administration, and will do everything within our power to defend the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution and stand in solidarity with the people of the island.
More generally, we reaffirm the importance of the political and ideological struggle against the imperialist plans of the US, the EU and NATO, of which Italy is a fully integrated component to the benefit of Italian monopolies and against the needs and interests of the workers and the people. Consequently, we will strengthen our commitment to the struggle for Italy’s withdrawal from NATO and the EU and for the closure of all NATO and US military bases on Italian territory.
Ideological clarity regarding the tasks and nature of communist parties in the present phase and more in general is also of fundamental importance for the work we must carry out within the International Communist Movement. The imperialist war in Ukraine has opened new fractures within the deep ideological, political and organizational crisis of the International Communist Movement. In this framework, we consider it essential to defend the Leninist conception of imperialism, rejecting any view that identifies imperialism solely with the foreign policy of the United States and its allies and that considers other capitalist powers such as Russia and China to be “anti-imperialist”. The emergence of a so-called “multipolar world” is neither a guarantee of peace nor a positive development for the workers, but a development that intensifies imperialist competition and brings closer the prospect of a generalized conflict.
Our efforts in international activity must continue to reaffirm Marxist-Leninist principles and strengthening a revolutionary pole within the International Communist Movement. Our commitment within the European Communist Action, of which we are a co-founder, in the activity of the International Communist Review and in the development of bilateral relations with communist parties throughout the world is aimed at developing joint action with those parties that defend Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, fight opportunism and reformism, reject every kind of alliance with social-democratic or liberal parties and any prospect of managing capitalism, defend the scientific laws of socialist revolution, condemn imperialist war and refuse to place the workers’ movement at the service of one or another national bourgeoisie, establish ties and roots within the working class, participate actively in the workers’ and trade union movement, and do not separate the struggle against war and fascism from the struggle against capitalism, which is the source of both war and fascism.
On the national level, we cannot ignore that Italy is the world’s eighth largest economy and the fourth largest exporter. It is not an oppressed nation nor a state with limited sovereignty, but a fully fledged capitalist power that participates in imperialist competition on the basis of the interests of its own monopoly capital. The Meloni government is a consistent expression of this role. It has established itself as a reliable guarantor of Italy’s Euro-Atlantic alignment, has sent weapons to the Ukrainian regime, has ensured the adjustment of military spending to NATO standards and has become the most shameless defender of the State of Israel within the European Union.
At the same time, it is pursuing an autonomous positioning of Italian capital in Africa through the “Mattei Plan”, seeks to “play on every table” in the conflict among the rival blocs and defends the interests of Italian monopolies in crisis areas. The Meloni government has maintained complete continuity with the economic policies of previous governments, intensifying the attack on workers’ living conditions and advancing the repression of social conflict through a series of decrees that deepen the reactionary degeneration of the institutions of bourgeois democracy.
The government’s defeat in the constitutional referendum of March 2026, with voter participation on the rise and a broad victory for the No vote, particularly among young people and in working-class neighbourhoods, dealt a serious blow to the government. The mass mobilizations for Palestine in the autumn of 2025, the general strikes of 22 September and 3 October, and the demonstration of 4 October showed the capacity of the working class and the popular strata to challenge government policy. The Communist Front actively participated in that cycle of struggles and reaffirms its significance: the strength of the working class, if mobilized and organized around clear objectives, can truly become the driving force for overcoming this system that generates misery and war.
In light of this, the political, ideological and organisational consolidation achieved through our 2nd Congress acquires even greater importance. Laying the foundations for our Party to develop its work within the working class and among the popular strata and to become a point of reference for them is a fundamental objective. This is also necessary to prevent major moments of workers’ and popular mobilization from being channelled back into support for bourgeois politics or dissipated in discouragement and passivity. These are objectives that we pursue through our joint effort with the Communist Youth Front in the process of communist reconstruction. With this in mind, we must be prepared to expose the bourgeois character of the forces that make up the various center-left alliances and that are currently pushing the project of the so-called “broad camp” coalition.
Those parties, which implemented some of the worst anti-people measures when they were in government and which support rearmament and Italy’s involvement in NATO’s imperialist plans, serve the very same class interests defended by the Meloni government. The working class has no allies among the parties of the bourgeois camp. The centre-left parties’ history and responsibility in introducing numerous anti-people laws, from those that opened the way to labor precariousness to cuts in healthcare and education, clearly demonstrate this. The very idea that the capitalist system can be managed or made more humane is a chimera, a deception directed at the workers and the popular strata. Those same parties whose policies contributed to the rise of the right wing to government have no credibility as an alternative.
The strengthening of the Communist Front, for which this Congress has laid the foundations, is also aimed at increasing our capability for direct political intervention in order to counter any support for such projects as the “broad camp” coalition or any kind of social-democratic perspective. We must be capable of opposing, through political argumentation and political action, the concept of a “popular front” the broad camp coalition calls for, in words to defeat the right wing, but in reality for electoral goals, regardless of how it is amplified by the media. Making the communists an increasingly credible alternative in the eyes of workers and the popular strata is one of the challenges we must take on. We approach this with a clear understanding of our means, the current situation and the strength of our ideas.
Through our 2nd Congress, starting from a frank assessment of our limitations and a concrete evaluation of the means at our disposal, we have reaffirmed the revolutionary character of the Communist Front, identified the measures required to strengthen the ideological cohesion of the organization and reaffirmed the principles of the functioning and activity of a consistently revolutionary communist party. The work carried out during the preparation of the Congress has already produced an important recovery of energies and a renewed militant activation throughout our Party.
Building on this momentum and in accordance with the content of the theses we have discussed and adopted, we have identified clear ways to strengthen our capacity to build our presence in workplaces, the workers’ and labor union movement, within the entire working class and mass movements. To this end, we will work to intensify the struggle against the government’s anti-people policies while exposing the class character of the false alternatives offered by bipolarism, with the objective of regrouping the workers’ and popular forces around the Communist Front and increasing its capacity for action. We commit ourselves to the struggle against imperialist war, against NATO and the EU, coordinating our action with the other communist parties in the region and the framework of the European Communist Action, opposing the objectives of the Italian bourgeoisie and the parties that defend its interests, and organizing the struggle for the closure of US and NATO bases in our country. Together with the Communist Youth Front, we will develop a comprehensive framework of struggles and actions for increasing wages and pensions, against the rising cost of living, for better working conditions and the workers’ rights, for the abolition of anti-worker laws and the reduction in working time with no loss in pay, for exclusively public and free of charge healthcare, education, welfare and social security.
In line with these guidelines and our Program, we must be able to reach public- and private-sector employees, self-employed workers, the unemployed and gig workers, pensioners, immigrants, young people, students, small livestock breeders and agricultural producers, all those who suffer the consequences and contradictions of capitalism, for them to join the Communist Front in the struggle for the revolutionary alternative to capitalist barbarism, for socialism.
