By Booker Omole, General Secretary CPMK
April 26th, 2025
Comrades,
I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the brilliant work that the working committee of the Fourth Theoretical Conference has been able to achieve since it was mandated one and a half months ago by the Central Organising Committee of our great Party. I would also like to affirm correctly that it is not the working committee alone planning for the Theocon, but the entire Party organising and executing the theoretical conference, hence the need for this preparatory assembly.
The working committee, composed of comrades from both the NDFP and CPMK, have done an excellent job. I can stand before you today and confirm that the international conference scheduled for May 23–24, culminating in Africa Liberation Day on May 25, shall take place with enormous success. For the first time in the history of the communist movement in our country, we shall host more than 50 international comrades and an additional 50 CPMK cadres, carefully chosen from the Party ranks. Today’s event has been coordinated and executed by the Pio Gama Pinto Institute, with the working committee at its core. The conference concept paper has been sufficiently discussed in respective Party units, reflecting collective thinking.
Let me now bring clarity to some of the organisations and terms. CPMK is the vanguard of the Kenyan working class, the advanced detachment and general staff of our workers. The CPP is CPMK’s equivalent in the Philippines. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is the revolutionary united front organisation of the Filipino people, fighting for national freedom and democratic rights. It is the most consolidated revolutionary front organisation of the Filipino people and the CPP. At this moment, I would like to say that it would not be an exaggeration to declare before this assembly that the CPP and CPMK are fraternal parties. This means we have reached a level of congruence in terms of thought, though not yet full. We shall continue to deepen our relationship.
The theme of this conference, in its short form, is “Comprador and Bureaucrat Capitalists in the Neocolonies.” Expanded, as enriched by the Party, it reads: “Understanding Comprador and Bureaucrat Capitalism in the Neocolonies in Advancing the Struggle for National Liberation and Against Imperialism.” I know there have been strong debates in the Party seeking to clarify the terms comprador and bureaucrat capitalists. I will now dedicate the next three paragraphs to elucidate further.
Comprador capitalism is the economic arm of imperial control. It thrives on collaboration. Local agents act as intermediaries, managing subsidiaries of transnational corporations and ensuring the uninterrupted flow of capital. These compradors need not be politicians, their power is economic, not legislative. Their task is simple: extract profit and integrate local economies into the global capitalist order. They are not builders of national industry. They are not concerned with self-reliance. They exist to drain wealth and deliver it to their masters abroad.
Bureaucratic capitalism is comprador capitalism’s political counterpart. The imperialists do not merely exploit a nation’s resources; they must also control its state machinery. To this end, they install bureaucratic capitalists, rented agents occupying the highest positions in government. Their role is to ensure that the state remains an instrument of imperialist interests. They oversee policies, regulate industries, and enforce laws, but never in service of the people. Their primary task is to safeguard foreign capital. They do not govern, they manage imperialism’s affairs.
In Kenya, the line between comprador and bureaucratic capitalism is blurred. Those who own and manage subsidiaries of multinational corporations also hold key government positions. They are both economic intermediaries and political managers. This dual role allows them to serve imperialism in every sphere. They oversee the economy, direct state policy, and suppress resistance. For revolutionaries, this is a critical point in class analysis. The enemy is not divided. The same individuals who control business also command the state. They are not just collaborators, they are the custodians of imperialism in Kenya.
The Party has published a pamphlet titled Comprador and Bureaucratic Capitalism in Kenya: The Twin Agents of Imperialism. I urge comrades to read this document closely to deepen our understanding as we prepare for Theocon.
Let me now contextualise the theme. CPMK is not a debating club; we do not meet merely to exchange ideas or contemplate theories. All our theoretical analysis, including that which will be developed in this Theocon, must guide the Party’s collective action in advancing the Kenyan revolution. In our internal Party struggles, the aim is the unity of thought that informs collective, disciplined action.
Comrades, we are carrying out our Kenyan revolution in the era of imperialism. Previous Theoretical Conferences have delved deeply into the subject of imperialism and war. I wish to reiterate that the CPMK correctly identifies US imperialism as the principal enemy, not just of the Kenyan people, but of the global working class today. Yet we cannot speak of imperialism in the abstract; we must study its concrete manifestations in Kenya. I shall return to this central question shortly. Without a comprehensive understanding of Kenyan society, our revolution cannot advance.
It is essential to view this Theocon as a continuation of the resolutions adopted during the Second National Congress. That Congress correctly noted that workers’ and communist parties in Africa must define the character of their struggles with clarity and link their national struggles to the global struggle against imperialism. This was a major obstacle, but CPMK has overcome it by correctly defining the Kenyan struggle as a National Democratic Revolution (NDR), more precisely, a National Democratic Revolution of a new type, or a National Democratic Revolution with a socialist perspective. Viva NDR!
Our Congress resolutions made it clear that without a vanguard Party, the NDR cannot be achieved. The CPMK is that vanguard. It must also be emphasised that the NDR is not an end in itself; it is a transitional stage toward the most urgent and immediate task, socialist construction. The resolutions also outlined the Party’s organisational levels: the vanguard level (CPMK), based on Marxism-Leninism; the alliance level (Pan-African Socialism Alliance – PASA), rooted in anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist principles; and the coalition level (National Coordination Committee of the People’s Assembly – NCCPA), formed around the general programme of the United Front.
I wish to commend the surge in mental production and robust debates within the Party. Since the Congress, under the firm leadership of the Central Organising Committee and the Politburo, the Party has produced several key documents: the concept of NDR (in two parts), the Social Class Analysis of Kenyan Society, and the Concept of the National United Front. All cadres must internalise these materials while advancing the NDR. The Party is also finalising the General Programme of the United Front, an extension of the Party’s Minimum Programme. In essence, the NDR is the unity of action to defeat the primary enemy. It must mobilise the broadest possible democratic forces within Kenyan society to defeat the enemy.
Returning to the earlier question of how imperialism manifests in Kenya: the basic revolutionary alliance for advancing the NDR is the basic unity of the Kenyan working class and the peasantry. The NDR also seeks to win over the middle forces, the petite bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie, to the people’s camp. To correctly state that imperialism is the principal contradiction is to also recognise its specific manifestations in Kenya, namely feudalism, comprador and bureaucrat capitalism, and landlordism.
Our class analysis defines Kenya as a semi-feudal society, especially when assessing the dominant modes of production. Politically, Kenya is a neocolony. It transitioned from direct British colonial rule to indirect imperial rule. Imperialist powers have rented a section of the Kenyan elite to serve their interests. This rented crowd, symbolised by Ruto in government and Raila in the opposition, forms the local comprador and bureaucratic alliance. Imperialism has stunted capitalist development, reducing Kenya to a petty commodity society. The majority still live in the rural hinterlands, trapped in backwardness and feudal exploitation.
A recurring question within the Party is whether Kenya is a capitalist economy and whether it will ever achieve full capitalist development. The answer is clear: as long as imperialism dictates Kenya’s fate, capitalist industrialisation is impossible. Institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO ensure that Kenya remains underdeveloped, deindustrialised, and dependent, a client state of imperialism. While capitalist relations do exist in Kenya, our theoretical summation must emphasise that feudal relations are more dominant. Thus, like other neocolonies, Kenya is best defined as a semi-feudal economy.
In conclusion, the theme “Understanding Comprador and Bureaucrat Capitalism in the Neocolonies in Advancing the Struggle for National Liberation and Against Imperialism” is crucial both for the national dimension of the Kenyan revolution and for forging global anti-imperialist unity. CPMK is not only the vanguard Party of the Kenyan working class, it is also an internationalist Party confronting neoliberal globalisation and advancing its alternative: socialist globalisation, based on solidarity and mutual respect.
Finally, comrades, let me remind you that we are emerging from the first wave of the Party’s rectification programme, which successfully uprooted opportunism and revisionism propagated by the gang of two, Mwandawiro Mganga and Benedict Wachira, in their attempt to atomise the Party. I urge all cadres to remain vigilant as we prepare for the second wave of rectification. We must be ready to launch a fierce ideological struggle against all erroneous ideas. We have witnessed the emergence of Trotskyist and ultra-leftist deviations. These must be defeated. The Party has published Combatting Trotskyism: The Time Is Now, Not Later! I urge all comrades to study it carefully.
Another threat is the cult of Raila, promoted by certain bourgeois intellectuals who misidentify him as a leader of the NDR. A third danger is the proliferation of NGO ideology, which seeks to pacify and lumpenise the Kenyan working class under imperialist direction. These issues will be further debated.
I now invite Comrade Winnie Obiero, representative of the Working Committee, to read the Theocon Concept Note for plenary discussion. I declare today that Theocon is not a single-day event, it is the culmination of an entire Party process.
Forward to the Fourth International Theoretical Conference!
Long live the NDR!
Long live CPMK!
Long live CPP!
Dignity or Death! We Shall Win!