El Salvador: New Front in US-China Conflict

Organize for Communism in the Factories!

EL SALVADOR, August 29 – President Cerén of El Salvador officially announced the beginning of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese also hailed this development. The country is becoming another disputed terrain of sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry.

This measure goes beyond an electoral strategy (as stated by the right). It is no turn to the left by the fmln’s leaders are trying to tell their militants. China is an imperialist power. The decision to open diplomatic and economic relations with them is capitalism’s logic, logic that the fmln never intended to abandon.

The struggle between the Chinese and US bosses is the principal contradiction in world capitalism. In the constant quest to monopolize mar- kets and lower production costs, capitalists and their imperialist states seek the best geopolitical strategies to combat their rivals. The end result is war.

The next day, the US ambassador in El Salvador (Manes) called China’s expansion “alarming.”

“It is a strategic point and they are looking to grow here, not only economically, but also militarily,” he said.

His statements are both laughable and hypocritical. The US has been the empire that historically has dominated and massacred the Central American region.

But the Chinese interest is a reality. Chinese capitalists have offered to sell weapons to the Salvadoran army. Although the Minister of Defense has declared publicly that this is not possible, a relationship with China’s armed forces already exists.

Chinese capital has an interest in El Salvador’s La Union port. It’s useful to unload their con- tainers and change their plates for those of El Salvador to avoid paying Trump’s tariffs.

Special Economic Zones: Communist organizing is our only hope.

The most ambitious projects of the Salvadoran government and Chinese capital are the Exclu- sive Economic Zones (EEZ).

In July, the fmln economic cabinet proposed EEZ in 26 municipalities in the eastern part of the country. There, they intend to install a legal framework different from the rest of the country, eliminating many taxes and regulations. This is to encourage foreign capitalists to exploit the natural resources and the working class with complete freedom.

The fmln has presented this to its militants as a “development opportunity.” They justify the EEZ by saying that the capital would be mainly Chinese, not from the US. But this will only aid the capitalists!

Many find it inconceivable that a leftist party would propose a law so openly capitalist. But it’s not that the fmln and its leadership are “traitors” or “sellouts.” Their policies are consequences of the economic and philosophical pragmatism that has permeated the left worldwide. China’s Xi Jinping leads this ideologi- cal trend.

The electoral left, a remnant of the old communist movement, justifies these measures as “strengthening the productive forces” and creating “abundance” to advance socialism.

It is precisely this line of stages that has kept humanity from moving towards communism. Maintaining the social relations of capitalist production, the market economy and money— socialism is state capitalism.

A new way of producing and living here and now!

The communist work ICWP has developed in the maquilas is now even more important. Building ICWP among workers and students will win masses to fight for communist revolution.

Recently we discussed this situation. The men and women worker comrades know that they must play a fundamental role in raising aware- ness among the super-exploited masses that will work in the EEZ. Their experience will help us mobilize more workers for Communism and develop the leadership that each one can give.$ The social and environmental crisis con- fronting the vast majority of humanity makes urgent a revolutionary change in the way of producing and consuming everywhere. An economic and cultural revolution will be possible with the organization of a massive and international party, ICWP.

The working class today is larger than ever. In communism, we can use technology and industry to organize production to meet the most fundamental needs of the masses, not for the market. Workers will run production to meet our needs in the safest, healthiest way possible.

It is possible and urgent to break with the logic of capital in order to save the earth and the species that inhabit it. The capitalism we face re- quires a struggle like never before:

An international ICWP, international strikes, international sharing of knowledge and experiences, raising communist awareness among the masses to build collectives and including them in the fundamental discussions of the party and the new society.

It’s a fight against the clock. There’s no time to lose.

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