I am A., Czerwoni, I am a Marxist-Leninist from Poland, and my task today is to tell you something about the new-imperialist character of the Polish state.

But let's start with the general data - Poland has recently recorded a tremendous growth in GDP. The Polish economy is growing the fastest among countries not only in the European Union, but also in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is evidenced by the data the OECD has compiled. GDP growth of 1.5% quarter-on-quarter, and 3.2% year-on-year resulted in Poland's top spot in the rankings. This trend is clearly visible since mid-2023. Of course, a much more important and reliable indicator of the economy's development is industrial production. For more than a year or so, Poland's industrial production has been achieving very slow growth along a line of fluctuating stagnation, characteristic of the monopoly era of capitalism. This growth followed a crisis in Polish industrial production that took place from early 2022 to spring 2023.

Let's go further. As Lenin taught us, one of the basic features of imperialism is: the export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance. And this is precisely the case with Poland as a new-imperialist country. According to UNCTAD data, as much as $10.4 billion was the total value of Polish direct investment abroad in 2023, which is a record value. Compared to 2022, this is an increase of 64%, while compared to 2021 it is a jump of as much as 228%. Polish companies have already invested a total of more than $38 billion in capital abroad. Polish companies are expanding not only into Europe - primarily Central and Eastern Europe - but also into the world. KGHM - one of the largest Polish state-owned companies, and one of the world's leading producers of copper and refined silver - produces in the United States, Canada, Chile, for example, and is present on 4 continents. According to data from early 2024, Poland has 50 global companies that produce medicines, construction products, chemicals, food, furniture, clothing, steel, machinery and automobiles. The process industries sector is dominant in capital exports, accounting for more than 40%.

Let’s move on. As Lenin taught, in the era of imperialism: the concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life. Among the 500 largest European monopolies of 2023, there are 8 Polish companies. Foremost among them are Polish fuel giant Orlen (in 44th place), Tauron, ENEA and PGE engaged in energy production, as well as the aforementioned copper and silver producer KGHM. I probably won't surprise you by telling you that these are state-owned or state-dominated companies. The 500 list also includes two Polish banks - PZU and PKO. The companies listed are of great importance to Poland's economy. For example, in 2023. Orlen, which owns hundreds of fuel stations outside of Poland - not only in Germany, but throughout Central and Eastern Europe - provided an inflow of 70 billion zlotys to the state budget, which meant that the corporation provided about 12% of the total revenue to the state budget. In the same year, Orlen posted a 28 billion zloty profit. Within the framework of Polish state ownership, another feature of imperialism mentioned by Lenin is taking place - the merging of bank capital with industrial capital, and the creation, on the basis of this “finance capital,” of a financial oligarchy.

Unfortunately, the newly-imperialist Polish state is also arming itself to the hilt. According to NATO estimates, defense spending in Poland will amount to 4.12% of GDP this year. This makes Poland the leader in terms of military expenditures among all NATO countries. The NATO average is 2.71%, the US spends 3.38% of its GDP on armaments. In nominal terms, Poland's armaments spending is estimated at 151.24 billion zlotys this year. Available estimates also show that ongoing and planned programs in 2022-2035 will consume more than 713 billion zlotys. The Polish state has the 3rd largest army in NATO, with 216,000 soldiers, which it wants to double to 400,000 over the next decade, meaning that the soldiers alone will make up 1% of Poland's current population. Analysts point to the increased share of Polish industry in order fulfillment, which will reach 39%, entailing increased investment by the Polish state in the arms industry.

Of course, the ever-increasing huge costs of armaments are and will constantly be passed on to the working masses. While the Polish state allocates huge sums of money for armaments, at the same time it cuts social benefits, keeps the salaries of employees of state-owned companies at the absolute minimum, and applies massive layoffs - for example, in Polish state railways and in polish post office. In addition, as of today, 40% of the Polish population is able to meet its subsistence needs only at the bare minimum, and 5% of Poles live at the level of extreme poverty.

In addition to military preparations for external aggression, the second basic feature of imperialism - internal reaction - is also perfectly evident in new-imperialist Poland. In the recent European parliamentary elections, the neo-fascist Confederation party, gained a frightening 12%. At the same time, the new-imperialist Polish government and parliament are turning ever more strongly toward militaristic fascism. Donald Tusk, currently Prime Minister of Poland, made a very disturbing statement at the congress of the European People's Party, on March 7 in Bucharest: “The times of peace and tranquillity are gone, the post-war era has passed. We are in the pre-war era.” Tusk is already preparing propaganda for forced conscription in the future: “the situation in which Europe, Ukraine and Poland find themselves requires the concentration of energy and maximum solidarity (...) of the entire Polish nation.” Truly, a textbook example of the bourgeoisie's class-abstract exhortation to the broad working masses to throw their lives to the slaughter in an imperialist war.

Under these difficult conditions, the Polish Marxist-Leninists face the very difficult task of organizing and mobilizing the working class as broadly as possible to rally its ranks against capitalist exploitation and imperialism. The working class, especially the industrial workers, must stand at the head of all progressive strata of the masses in Poland to halt the march of fascism and militarism. However, this will be unfeasible without a genuine workers' party. Its systematic building from the very foundations, out of the very prerequisites, is the most important task of Polish Marxist-Leninists at this time.

Down with imperialism! Long live international workers' solidarity! Long live socialism!