A historic World Congress: more of 40 countries we meet in Istanbul

16/12/2025

The Third World Congress of the International Socialist League has ended, with a successful result that exceeded all expectations. Since its foundation in 2019 the LIS has not stopped growing, It has spread to all continents and in this Congress it has taken an enormous leap, structuring itself in most of the central countries. In relation to the II Congress held in Barcelona, The number of countries where the LIS has a militant presence has almost doubled, with different degrees of development. With the participation of 72 delegates of 38 countries and 5 invited organizations, debates were developed and resolutions were adopted that we will promptly socialize to inform internationalist activism.

By Alejandro Bodart

In the European part of Istanbul, only city in the world built on two continents, ancient capital of three empires, steeped in ancient culture and history, we met more than 70 colleagues coming from different corners of the planet.

The first days of December began to arrive at the chosen place, specially prepared to accommodate and allow the operation of the Congress, the first delegations. The refusal of the Turkish authorities to allow visas to our African colleagues made it impossible for several delegates from Kenya and other countries in the region to attend., who anyway contributed a lot virtually. Nevertheless, The choice of location allowed delegations from some countries in South Asia and the rest of the Middle East to arrive., of almost impossible transit in the rest of the world.

Due to the repressive regimes of Putin and Lukashenko, that forces the left to move underground, Delegations from Russia and Belarus could not participate. The war also forced the virtual participation of our Ukrainian comrades, unable to leave the country due to current legislation. To the delegations that arrived from South America and Mesoamerica, of the Indian subcontinent, from the Middle East, Eastern and Central Europe and guests from Oceania and other countries, New additions to our stream from the United States were added, Italy, Germany, Britain, Portugal, Austria, Swiss, Sweden, Denmark, Panama and participants from Cuba, Palestine and Ecuador among many more.

All discussions, during the 6 days that the sessions lasted, from very early until late at night, They were dedicated to politically preparing our parties to intervene in the fights against the offensive that imperialism and the extreme right are unleashing against the workers and people of the world.. From Palestine to Ukraine, going through the rebellions that occurred in several Latin American countries, East Asia and Africa to the great mobilizations in the United States and Europe were part of the analyzes of our Congress, with delegations from parties and groups that have been an active part in most of these processes.

Socialism or Barbarism, the challenge of the stage

“Since 2008 The crisis of capitalism and its devastating consequences on humanity and nature deepen. The constant deterioration of the standard of living of workers and the attack on the social and democratic rights of the people is combined with an unprecedented advance in the destruction of the environment. Racism grows, machismo, homophobia and the attack on migrants. Wars have returned, pandemics, genocides and sectarian disputes. the far right, the repression and militarization of nations is promoted from the spheres of power in several countries. These are the only solutions that the bourgeoisies and imperialism propose to us.. If we do not stop them as soon as possible, they will lead us to barbarism and then, to extinction. Only the workers at the forefront of a national revolution, regional and global against this rotten system and a program that leads us to socialism can avoid this outcome. “Socialism or Barbarism and the regrouping of revolutionaries are our flags of struggle and organization.”This is how the document on the world situation that was approved begins.

To face the new world stage that we are going through and a situation of growing asymmetric polarization between a rising extreme right and the resistance of a mass movement that fights with its hands tied, due to the historical crisis of revolutionary leadership, The Congress was a school of theory, revolutionary politics and practice:

• Approved a document on the current situation and a programmatic manifesto that is a fundamental contribution to militancy and activism that aims to confront and defeat capitalism to achieve a society that, without oppression or exploitation, allows humanity to enjoy the beauty of life in peace and harmony with nature..
• He developed material to understand the ultimate causes of the world economic crisis and a Marxist response to confront it..
• He discussed the importance of national self-determination struggles in the current moment and a revolutionary response to the Palestinian genocide., the war in Ukraine, the uprisings in Kashmir, the struggle of the Sahrawi people and a campaign against the interference of the United States and its military threats in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
• She deepened the analysis of the socio-environmental crisis and gender problems, developing proposals to confront ecocide and the reactionary offensive of the right against women and dissidents..
• He addressed deeply, based on 3 alternative documents, the electoral question, the tactics and politics that revolutionaries must carry out in the century in which we live.
• It balanced the different experiences of Broad Anticapitalist constructions that have occurred so far this century and set parameters to intervene in processes of the same type that are developing again in different parts of the world..

A call to regroup the revolutionaries

Finally, a call was discussed and elaborated to regroup the revolutionary forces that act dispersedly in an increasingly convulsed world.. This initiative, will include a series of interviews with those forces with which we have had important coincidences in the main processes of the class struggle and a similar analysis of the confrontation between the United States, the rest of Western imperialism and the new imperialisms that dispute their hegemony. Continuing with all those who are willing to have a fair and constructive debate, regardless of the differences we may have and that it would be important to discuss openly and without preconceptions.

For our part, we will make available the experience that we have been doing in the different components of the LIS., who with patience and determination have managed to progress steadily from our foundation to date. Managing to overcome our initial peripheral presence in a few years until we became a current inserted not only in the semi-colonial world., but also in medium-developed and imperialist countries. All this while other currents of Trotskyism unfortunately exploded, they divided and retreated or at best they are stagnant.

Many of the difficulties we encounter in building our organizations respond to objective causes that we cannot minimize., among which the backwardness in the consciousness of our class and the structural changes that have been taking place since the 1990s stand out. 90. But also to the myopia that manifests itself in the refusal to leave behind models that, although they may have been useful in the past, have demonstrated their failure to act in the present..

Build a new international with enough strength to become a pole that helps build solid national vanguard parties, influence the course of the struggles that develop and can successfully dispute the leadership of the reformist forces, It is an urgent need. This will only be possible if sectarian self-proclamation is left behind., the dogmatism and skepticism that has led different organizations to opportunism.

If we revolutionaries become aware of the responsibility we have and make every effort to join forces and avoid new divisions, we can advance.. If we act together to take advantage of the opportunities and the crisis that is eating away at progressive forces, to social democracy and the remains of Stalinism and we learn to live together among those of us who come from different experiences, with the aim of going towards a new tradition, listening and learning from each other, it is possible to achieve. If we recover a healthy democratic centralism, where disagreement is not a reason for ruptures but rather a contribution to collective development, it will be possible to reverse the disintegration.

In this Congress, The LIS has incorporated organizations with which unity was unthinkable until very recently. We advance with the forces of the International Trotskyist Opposition and the different components of the League for the Fifth International. With the MAS of Portugal and colleagues from different origins in the United States and we are very close to the MRT of Ecuador. And we have not only joined forces with organizations and militants who claim Trotskyism, but also with cadres and activists who come from the crisis of the communist parties in Africa, as we had done before with young people in Lebanon.

A bold and offensive organization

At the proposal of the outgoing management, The Congress unanimously voted for a larger International Executive Committee that is more representative of the growth that the LIS is going through and for a group of colleagues to deal with cases that threaten our proletarian and party morality..

A commission to advance the construction of Youth in each of our countries. Commissions to continue developing and participating in socio-environmental and gender struggles. A bold training and propaganda plan, including youth camps on different continents. And periodic meetings of our forces in Europe and other regions to act unified in continental processes.

The resolutions and this organizational structure, together with the campaigns and initiatives to respond adequately to the reality of the class struggle, We are convinced that they will allow us to continue advancing in the next period.