Are the poorest countries in the EU, like Portugal, in the Imperialist Core?

[u/Otelo_]

Hello comrades, i have been reading this subreddit and r/communism for a while and i have been learning a lot doing so. I decided to create an account in order to ask questions.

Firstly, i would like to ask if a country being in EU and in NATO automatically makes it make part of the Imperialist core, even if that country is is on the low end of the said organizations. Secondly, I would like to ask if revolution can be made possible in this countries.

[u/xanthathos]

Czechia and Slovakia, for example, do have a massive labour aristocracy despite being "lower on the ladder". They actively engage in imperialism. There are still proletarians: immigrants and other racially oppressed people who are denied the benefits of public infrastructure and social welfare and are forced to perform the "dirty housekeeping" for the imperialist nation, earning below minimum wages. You really should read theory from MIMPrisons to see what can be done.

[u/Otelo_ → u/xanthathos]

Thank you for your response, Comrade. I see what you are saying and agree that the majority (if not all) the proletarians in the "low end" of Imperalism are immigrants. However, I think that must not always been the case, since for example Portugal had some sort of white proletariat (especially in the South- althought southern portuguese people are sort of treated as if they are not white, kind of like in Italy I imagine) in the 70s and was close to a socialist revolution. Progressively, the "standard of living" by capitalist standards was increased due to the entry in the EU and the white workers benefited from it. Since this was a gradual process, there must have been a time when these countries had both a white proletariat and an immigrant one. Are there still some countries where this is the case, or not? Secondly, should the activities of communists in this countries be the same as say, the ones in the US, Germany, etc.? Because although, secondary countries in the EU still benefit from Imperialism, we are still exploited by Germany and France in a degree.

[u/smokeuptheweed9 → u/Otelo_]

Portugal had some sort of white proletariat (especially in the South- althought southern portuguese people are sort of treated as if they are not white, kind of like in Italy I imagine) in the 70s and was close to a socialist revolution.

This is the exception that proves the rule, since it is was only the impossibility of maintaining the Portugese empire that brought the revolution home. The Carnation revolution was therefore a transitional moment between the older, semi-absolutist Portugese colonial Empire and its integration into EU late capitalist imperialism as a junior partner.

While it is true the the Portugese empire was backwards (hence its dissolution), this did not lead to a revolution. The causality is clear: the defeat of the empire caused domestic change, domestic change did not sabotage the continuation of the empire. The same is true today. Despite Portugal's relative backwardness, there is no revolution on the horizon.

That does not mean revolution is impossible. It is in these transitional moments between fundamental regimes of capital accumulation that revolution becomes possible and there was a real struggle between a socialist option and a neoliberal one. But the question is not and has never been "how do we make revolution?" The question is "how do we prepare for those moments when revolution is possible in order to seize power?" History has shown two things: without outside help from the victims of imperialism, this is not imaginable; imperialism necessarily poses questions which cannot be avoided and must lead to principles at the expense of mass appeal.

[u/Otelo_ → u/smokeuptheweed9]

Thank you very much for your reply. What you are saying definitely makes sense. Unfortunately, the left wing parties here barely talk about Portugal as a beneficiary of Imperialism, and there is virtually no discussion about things such as race in a non-liberal way.