Popular Resistance (Resistenza Popolare)
Popular Resistance (Resistenza Popolare) was founded in April 2024 with the goal of rebuilding, as quickly as possible, a Communist Party in Italy capable of meeting the demands of the current historical phase. To achieve this objective, we have established relations with various political groups and parties belonging to the class-struggle left. Meanwhile, the “dissident front” that emerged during the pandemic era has since dissolved, leaving the movement without political representation.
This should not lead us to forget the lessons learned during the pandemic. On the contrary, it allows us to attempt to recruit into our ranks the most advanced individuals and groups from that period—those capable of identifying the links between the contradictions that arose then and the ongoing Third World War, whose primary highlights remain the war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Our interpretation of these conflicts is based on a Leninist analysis updated to account for the historical developments of the last century. Our criterion is to support anti-imperialist movements and forces, as there is only one imperialism: the Western one, embodied by a narrow elite of a few thousand people whose power is centered in the US, NATO, and the EU, and which also controls hundreds of additional international bodies and strategic partners.
We stand with the anti-Zionist struggle of the Palestinian people and other Arab peoples, as well as with Russia’s cause—engaged in a new anti-fascist war against a country (Ukraine) where democracy ended in 2013 with a Western-backed coup. We vigorously challenge those who speak of “opposing imperialisms” in reference to Russia and China: this interpretation, even when justified with Leninist terminology and phraseology, denies the living dialectic that characterized Lenin’s method.
The concrete analysis of concrete conditions—which upholds principles without lapsing into dogmatism or mechanicism—has allowed us, in recent years, to make clear even in Italy that if there is any hope for the peoples of the world today, it lies in the work of the People’s Republic of China and the political leadership of the political powerhouse that is the Chinese Communist Party.
Nor do we forget the actively anti-imperialist and internationalist role played by the resisting peoples and Communist Parties of Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, and Laos, as well as the Resistance in Latin America, with the consolidation of socialist power in Venezuela. Our solidarity and support go to all peoples, nations, and parties that, in this historical phase, are working to destroy the “New World Order” launched 35 years ago by George Bush.
The current historical phase is defined not only by the ongoing Third World War but also by an increasingly marked qualitative transformation of “liberal” totalitarianism, which in the West is adopting unprecedented measures of censorship and repression against any anti-system force that gains mass traction. This is certainly not done out of respect for liberal democracy, but rather due to the pro-Russian and pro-peace stance of many opposition forces linked to nationalist far-right movements.
We must expose the instrumental and partially orchestrated nature of these far-right movements, which rarely go so far as to challenge the imperialist institutions of NATO and the EU. Yet it is crucial not to enable these repressive measures, which serve only to delay the rupture of the current precarious balance.
War and neoliberal rearmament policies are causing a sharp and rapid deterioration in the living and working conditions of the popular classes in our country, alongside growing attempts at social control, as seen in Italy with the “Security Decree” 1660. The intensification of repression and the rapid evolution of the international situation—including Trump’s rise and the apparent fracturing of relations with the EU—demand that we accelerate the construction of a political alternative capable of influencing ongoing processes. This means organizing a growing protest movement that has yet to find an adequate and cohesive political platform.
In this first year of work, we have identified significant ideological affinities on the fundamental strategic issues outlined in our Manifesto with three organizations (Costituente Comunista, Movimento per la Rinascita Comunista, and Patria Socialista). Together, we launched the Prospettiva Unitaria (Unitary Perspective) project with the shared goal of rebuilding the Party as quickly as possible.
After preparatory work spanning the first half of this year, we believe the conditions now exist to begin constructing the Party alongside the Movimento per la Rinascita Comunista by early 2026. At the same time, we will continue our united front efforts toward other organized groups and movements that share our stated objectives.
To this end, we have maintained positive and advanced relations with Patria Socialista and Costituente Comunista, and we will work to establish a tight political coordination structure that includes the healthy communist forces of this country.
We need a Party capable of establishing a new and necessary working method—one that can build up conflict, unify existing struggles, and simultaneously develop a political alternative that can also operate on the electoral front. It is worth remembering that in Italy communists have been excluded from representative institutions since 2006, amid a growing crisis in militant participation and political engagement.
Currently, the majority of the forces opposing the right-wing Meloni government (fully aligned with Atlanticism and the interests of capital) are being funneled into the local “center-left” bloc, dominated by representatives of the liberal bourgeoisie with social-imperialist tendencies.
We are fully aware that joining the so-called “broad camp” of the italian center-left is impossible for us, as the frail alliance of these forces (Democratic Party, Five Star Movement, and Green-Left Alliance) does not in the slightest question Italy’s membership in NATO and the EU.
Our work thus proceeds on two parallel tracks: building the Party while simultaneously constructing a broader front—an anti-imperialist alliance, an Italian Anti-Imperialist Front—bound by unity of analysis and political objectives. We need swift political unity in action to oppose the ongoing war and reclaim national and popular sovereignty, exit NATO and the EU and build a new democratic, popular, and anti-fascist Republic. A Republic that restores social and civil rights while pursuing Italy’s entry into BRICS, without excluding forms of cooperation with the West—but only under conditions negotiated as equals.
To communist forces, we must likewise propose the construction of a new, more inclusive party uniting all who share this minimum program, while emphasizing the need to work toward a socialist transformation of society. Where agreement on joint party-building is lacking, collaboration within the front remains possible while preserving organizational autonomy.
Our first concrete proposal is to organize a national demonstration in September 2025 centered on the themes of war and the society we envision.
The construction of the Party and the establishment of a new, necessary working method—grounded in the revival of Leninist organizational principles and the strategic use of populist communication—are dialectically linked processes. These will enable us to expand our critical mass, strengthen our territorial roots, and enhance our organizational capacity, credibility, and visibility.
The goal, therefore, is to build the Party by January 2026 on clear positions, defined by the following minimum program:
1. Withdraw Italy from the EU, the Euro, and NATO; achieve national and popular sovereignty.
2. Defend democratic and anti-fascist values while implementing the most progressive aspects of the Italian Constitution, aiming to improve certain provisions to advance toward a “Third People’s Republic.”
3. Oppose liberal and neoliberal economic policies, countering them with a revival of public industrial policy, technological and digital sovereignty, and planned economic strategies for energy and telecommunications.
4. Defend the working class—both public and private sector workers—including salaried employees, the unemployed, precarious workers, youth locked out of the labor market, disabled workers, those forced into undeclared and informal labor (lavoro nero), self-employed workers, and small professionals (real and nominal freelancers) from the middle and popular classes undergoing proletarianization. We address all who live by their labor without exploiting others.
5 Defend and revitalize public services in healthcare, education, transportation, and the broader sphere of “social goods.”
6. Strengthen ties with the rising multipolar world, building close international relations with all states and organizations (party-affiliated or not) that stand in firm opposition to Western imperialism, with particular emphasis on the role of the People’s Republic of China and its allies. Italy’s future lies in forging organic relations with BRICS.
7. Construct an Italian Anti-Imperialist Front, uniting all organized forces and movements—including non-communist ones—that share opposition to Western imperialism, grounded in explicitly anti-fascist and anti-racist principles.
Resistenza Popolare is prepared to dissolve itself to initiate a wider constituent process based on these points. We address first and foremost to workers who have lost faith in politics—those now disillusioned and embittered. Those who fight may lose; those who do not fight have already lost. Alone, we change nothing; united, we organize the Revolution.
We direct our call especially to other already-structured communist and anti-imperialist forces and organizations that, while divided structurally, find themselves in agreement on 95% of analyses and proposals. Let us focus on this common ground rather than the 5% that divides us. Let us build a permanent space for debate, dialogue, and political coordination. Divided, we are weak and ineffective. By uniting our forces into a single organization or stable coordination, we can achieve great things.
By consolidating our strength and rebuilding a credible political opposition in one of the Empire’s peripheries, we will render a great service to the Axis of Global Resistance against Imperialism.
We hope communist parties and anti-imperialist organizations worldwide will support this effort by sending messages and statements endorsing this project.
