he media's 'Trump, Trump, Trump' obsession is attracting attention away from what imperialism is actually doing around the world', Liz Payne told the Communist Party executive committee last weekend.
The party's chair said that the major imperialist powers, led by the USA but also including Britain and France, were spreading conflict and terror in their vain efforts to solve a 'systemic crisis' of international capitalism by intensified domination, super-exploitation and a 'war economy'.
Reporting back from the recent meeting of the World Peace Council in Hanoi, Ms Payne pointed to the militarisation of the European Union and the build-up of US and Western military forces and bases in eastern Europe, the Baltic states, former Soviet republics, Africa, the Middle East and southern and eastern Asia.
'As the leading imperialist power, the USA now has an annual military budget of $611bn and rising - more than one-third of the global total, more than the next eight countries combined and almost nine times Russia's spending on arms', the CP chair remarked.
'Sanctions, ideological warfare, plots, coups, military threats and interventions are the tools of imperialist foreign policy from Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela to Ukraine, Syria and Korea', Ms Payne argued.
She condemned the 'unhelpful' declarations of US government support for anti-regime protestors in Iran, while expressing the Communist Party of Britain's long-standing solidarity with working class and progressive forces opposing the reactionary Tehran regime.
The CP executive urged support for the Day of Action called by Britain's Young Communist League for Saturday, February 10, when 'No to Fascism! Solidarity with the Communists!' protests will be held at Ukraine's London embassy, Edinburgh consulate and venues in Glasgow and Manchester.
Britain's Communists also urged the Labour Party to correct a 'potentially fatal weakness' in its manifesto by adopting an 'anti-war, anti-imperialist' foreign policy instead of one based on NATO, military aggression and nuclear weapons.
In relation to its own programme, Britain's Road to Socialism, the CP executive received the first draft of an updated edition and declared its intention to hold a series of public events to discuss it in the late spring and early summer.
The party's trade union organiser, Andy Bain, urged solidarity with striking railway workers opposed to driver-only trains and demanded action against the directors and accountants of bankrupt privateers Carillion, condemning the theft of pension funds and calling for outsourced public services to brought back in-house.
The Communist Party will be participating in the People's Assembly and Health Campaigns Together demonstrations on February 3 to defend the NHS, unveiling a new dedicated banner and distributing a special issue of its Unity! bulletin.
