On November 20th 2009, at an international meeting of left wing political parties in Caracas, Hugo Chavez appealed for the constitution of a Fifth international, defining it as a “realm where socialist parties, movements and tendencies will be able to devise and coordinate a common strategy against imperialism and for the overthrow of capitalism by socialism.”

 According to Chavez, given the crisis of capitalism and the dangers of war and destruction that this entails, the creation of such a new International is indispensable, if we want to respond to the expectations of peoples and in order to save “Mother Earth”.

Taking stock from lessons of the previous Internationals (which undeniably have played an important part in the development of the working class and revolutionary movements of the 19th and the 20th century, without, however, accomplishing their initial program as summarized in the famous formula “workers of all nations, unite”), he conceived of an organizational form “without manual or obligation and where differences are welcome,” an International allowing for exchange of information, the coordination of fights and for solidarities, for the development of a “socialism of the 21st century,” that is.

The idea of a Fifth International is not new…Mayakovski already used it in 1922 as a title of one of his most visionary poems…More recently, this idea has been referred to in different places, like by activists and intellectuals in France, for example the economist Samir Amin…Hugo Chavez’ initiative, proposing an international constitutional meeting already for coming April, gives to this idea a crucial impulsion.

The four previous Internationals have been born in Europe. If the Fifth is launched in Latin America, this expresses the actual changes in the world and the real movement of peoples.

We appeal to the organizations of the French and the European working class movements, to political groups related to Marxism or Socialism, to the anti-capitalist fight, we appeal to critical, progressive and revolutionary activists and intellectuals not to stay beside. The political thought must not lock up itself in euro centrism; neither should action be confined to the institutional voting game. In order to save the democratic future of humanity and the planet, we have to build another world and to resume internationalism. There is no other solution than to merge the fights in the North and in the South.

Our motive is not nostalgic (even if we know that imagining the future cannot dispense with the images and the dreams of the past)… It’s not just about respect for our history; above all it’s about the rising from the ashes of a real left, up to the problems and the hopes of today.

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