N° 20 INFORMATION BULLETIN (2011)

‘

12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers` Parties “The deepening systemic crisis of capitalism. The tasks of Communists in defence of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism” 3rd - 5th December 2010, Tshwane, South Africa

n

Many thanks to Workers’ Party of Ireland for providing the English edition

2 5 11 14 19 22 27 32 36 38 41 44 52 55 62 66 71 75 80 82 86 92 95 100 103 106 110 113 116 122 125 130 133 136 142 145

In this issue contributions by Workers’ Party of Bangladesh Workers’ Party of Belgium Brazilian Communist Party Communist Party of Brazil Communist Party of Britain Communist Party of Cuba AKEL, Cyprus Communist Party in Denmark Communist Party of Denmark Communist Party of Finland German Communist Party Communist Party of Greece Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party Communist Party of India Communist Party of India [Marxist] Iraqi Communist Party Communist Party of Ireland Workers’ Party of Ireland Party of the Italian Communists Communist Refoundation Party (Italy) Lebanese Communist Party Communist Party of Luxembourg Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) New Communist Party of Netherlands Communist Party of Norway Communist Party of Pakistan Palestinian Peoples’ Party Philippine Communist Party (PKP-1930) Portuguese Communist Party The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia South African Communist Party Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain Communist Party of Sri-Lanka Communist Party of Turkey Communist Party, USA Communist Party of Vietnam

‘ 148

Documents Tshwane Declaration

‘ 153 154 155 156 158 160

Solidarity statements Motion in Solidarity with Cuba Motion in Solidarity with Swazaland Motion in Solidarity with Western Sahara Resolution on the Cyprus Problem Resolution on the Middle East Solidarity with the Lebanese People against American-Israeli Conspiracies

‘

Parties that participated

‘

Redlinks

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

1

‘ AT THE VERY OUTSET, on behalf of the 2

Workers’ Party of Bangladesh ALI AHMED ENAMUL HAQUE

Workers’ Party of Bangladesh I would like to thank the South African Communist Party for hosting and organizing Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties. After Europe and Asia, this International Meeting is taking place in Africa for the first time, which we consider a glorious achievement of the South African Communist Party. I would at this moment, on behalf of Workers’ Party of Bangladesh take the opportunity to thank the Comrades, who participated in the 11th IMCWP in deciding to accept the request of Workers’ Party of Bangladesh to be a part of these international meetings. As a result this is the first formal participation on behalf of Workers’ Party of Bangladesh.

I EXTEND MY FRATERNAL GREETINGS to all the parties that have come to attend this 12th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, to discuss “The deepening systematic crisis of capitalism, the task of Communist in defense of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the antiimperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism.”

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the victory over Nazi-fascism - the most violent and brutal expression of the monopolistic domination in a capitalist system. These fascist forces appeared due to the deep crisis prevailing in the capitalistic system at that time. It led to the worst catastrophes in history, which was overcome by the determined action of valiant communist fighters, headed by the Third International and the Communist Party of the USSR under the leadership of Comrade J V Stalin, in alliance with other forces around the world. A different type of social alliance at that time saved human civilization from disaster.

After the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the world is once again at the verge of great jeopardy, due to the neo-liberal eco-

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Bangladesh

nomic policies implemented by different states, through their stooges, the Multi-national companies, the IMF, the World Bank and specially the financial companies such as Goldman Sachs investment and others. In recent days these very financial companies have targeted some least developing countries, Bangladesh among them, in order to exploit their natural resources and establish a monopoly in their markets.

ACCORDING TO THE UNDP HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT OF 2010, Bangladesh is a country, which comes 129 in the HDI ranking.

Its Multidimensional Poverty Index is 0.291, the percentage of its population in multidimensional poverty is 57.8 and the intensity of deprivation is 50.4, the population below income poverty line (PPP$1.25 a day is 49.6 and national poverty line is 40.0). Yet according to the stooges of neo-liberal policy – Goldman Sachs investment, after G-7 and the BRICs, Bangladesh is one of the countries belonging to the ‘Next Eleven’ (N-11). Accordingly, the World Bank, the IMF is devising the development policy for Bangladesh, and the ruling class in Bangladesh is developing a development policy for itself as per their dictation.

The per capita income according to the census of Ministry of Finance is US$700 i.e., PPP$ 1.92 per day which is higher than the UN poverty line. But according to our Government census in 2010, more than 65 million of our population lies beneath the poverty line and more than 0.5 million will be joining them in 2011. The World Bank wants to say that by 2021 Bangladesh can be a member of the medium income group countries. But according to the UN report nearly 80 million people of Bangladesh will come under the poverty line by 2011. According to a socio-economic class

pyramid of Bangladesh, taking into consideration a population of 150 million, only 4.1 million people are rich, 7.0 million are upper middle-class, 14.6 million people are mid middleclass, 25.4 million people are lower middle class and 98.9 million people are absolutely poor, whose per capita food intake is less than 2122 kilo-calories per day. These 98.9 million people are being denied the right to development in accord with the constitution of Bangladesh. This is happening due to the insurmountable income gap between the rich and the poor. The development policies, formulated by the World Bank, ADB, and the IMF are increasing the national income of our country no doubt, but at the same time there is an increase in levels of deprivation. The number of people in Bangladesh unemployed, in poverty, and living in slums dwellers is increasing by the day. According to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, a nongovernmental organization, over the last 27 years (1982-2009) the rate of inflation has been 275%, out of which in the last 5 years, it grew by 60%. The price of rice has risen by 90% in the past fife years, which has hit the poorest section of our society hard and as a result 70% of their income has to be spent on their food requirements alone. This disparity, on the other hand, has led to an increase the number of billionaires to quite a large extent.

In 1975 the numbers of billionaires were only 47 but as of 31st December 2009 it had increased to 23,310. According to the latest statistics of the Central Regularity Bank of Bangladesh, in the last 1 year it has increased by another 4,310, and in the past 4 decades there was a five-hundred-fold increase in the number of billionaires.

This euphoria of development put into operation by neo-liberal policy makers has tran-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

3

4

scended states, governments (irrespective of ideologies), the society, the community and the individual. Consumerism has become the main tenet of each and every individual and as a result this individualism is leading us to anarchy.

Developing countries are moving at a pace, not taking ecological parameters into consideration. In the case of Bangladesh, the government while meeting this pace is facing a crisis in the energy sector, which has led it to take steps towards inviting multi-national companies in excavating open-cast coal mines, which is highly detrimental to the environment of our country. The Workers’ Party of Bangladesh along with other communists of our country is waging a massive movement under the auspices of the “National Committee for Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral-Resources, Electricity and Ports” in this regard.

This pro-people movement is a deterrent force against the imperialists and their allies in Bangladesh.

At this moment, after the failure of the Copenhagen summit, the Mexico-Cancun Conference on Climate Change is taking place. At the 11 th IMCWP meeting our Danish comrades were elucidating our participation at the Copenhagen summit and as we know our comrades from Latin America, especially from Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile and Venezuela, were vocal there. But we failed to achieve anything tangible, which could save the human race or the planet we reside in. Communists should also take into consideration this issue and form social alliances in their countries and be vocal in these international summits.

Dear Comrades Last of all, I would like to state that in our Delhi Declaration of 11th International Meet-

ing of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, we reiterated that the current global recession is a systematic crisis of capitalism demonstrating its historic limits and need for its revolutionary overthrow. And in order to achieve this, communists should concentrate on organizing a relentless struggle, in the form of social alliances on different issues, depending on the respective perspective of its own country, tending towards a grand global alliance of the Working Class of the world, which once again will prove the inevitability of the slogan “Workers of all Countries Unite” as depicted in the Communist Manifesto.

Thanks for your kind attention.

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Bangladesh

‘

Workers’ Party of Belgium BAUDOUIN DECKERS

DEAR COMRADES, first of all I wish to thank the South African Communist Party for hosting this year our annual meeting.

I. DISCUSSING ON THE AFRICAN continent the issue of the crisis of the capitalist system is particularly appropriate for us, communists from all over the world. My very small country Belgium, for example, became one of the richest in the world by spoiling the richness of the central region of Africa, Congo, 80 times as big as Belgium itself. Horrible pages of our history show how capitalism had no problems with slaughtering millions of people when it comes to multiply its own profits. And we don’t believe that imperialism in the meantime has become more “civilized” …!

The first international crisis of capitalism erupted around 1873. It exacerbated the competition among the newly formed monopolies.

They were all looking for cheap natural resources, markets to dump their surpluses and opportunities to invest their ever growing capital. The rush started to entirely dominate the economically lesser developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The Belgian royal family was a major stockholder of the biggest Belgian holding, the “Société Générale”. Leopold II financed himself the colonial expedition of Henry Morton Stanley and by 1885, the king appropriated the richest region of Africa. From then onwards began the extremely brutal and cruel exploitation of the peoples of Congo. The “Société Générale” accumulated unbelievable amounts of capital through all kinds of ores and plantation products. This allowed her to set up in Belgium a vast empire of steel plants, shipbuilding yards, railway factories, all types of ferro- and non-ferro enterprises, etc.

IN 1908 THERE ENDED A LONG DEBATE IN THE BELGIAN parliament: should the Congo remain private property of the King, or should the State take over. The bourgeois parties

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

5

6

were divided. But the socialist party, headed

by Emile Vandervelde, a prominent leader of the Second International, took a firm stand: “as socialists, he said, we are for nationalisations. So, let Congo be nationalized”.

And so Congo became officially a Belgian colony.

It is not incidental that Vandervelde adopted this position. Eduard Bernstein, one of the major theoreticians of the Second International, was a strong defender of colonialism – under the pretext that it largely contributed to the improvement of the workers’ live … in the imperialist countries themselves, of course. He wrote that “… It is neither necessary that the occupation of tropical lands by Europeans should injure the natives in their enjoyment of life, nor has it hitherto usually been the case. Moreover, only a conditional right of savages to the land occupied by them can be recognised. The higher civilisation ultimately can claim a higher right. Not the conquest, but the cultivation, of the land gives the historical legal title to its use. That was and still is basically the approach of colonialism and neocolonialism by the social-democ1 racy.“ (yes, this last phrase still holds…! … taking into account that the meaning of the words ‘social-democracy’ has changed) Well, mister Bernstein, let’s speak about “enjoyment”.

Leopold II installed a real terror regime in Congo. Hands or feet of recalcitrant workers were cut off. Between 1880 and 1920, 5 to 10 million Congolese, i.e. 33% to 50% of the population, disappeared. They were murdered, died of hardship or fled to neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, our capitalists made a lot of money and they enjoyed that really! The average profit rate of all colonial enterprises to-

gether reached 30% in the period 1950-1955.

For the mining companies it was even 50 to 60%. And so, thanks to the plundering of central Africa and the exploitation of the Belgian working class, a powerful imperialist bourgeoisie was created.

Under the pressure of the Congolese people, but also from the Soviet Union and other countries, Belgium was pushed to recognize the independence of Congo and to organize elections. These were won in 1960 by the Congolese nationalist Patrice Emery Lumumba.

The Belgian bourgeoisie, with full support of the US Administration, did all that it could to defeat the nationalists and to prohibit that the Congo was lost for ever for their monopolies. And so, Patrice Lumumba was cowardly assassinated on the 17th January 1961.

The peoples of Africa have suffered unprecedented losses in human lives during more than five centuries of the slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism.

But in the course of their national liberation struggles, they also produced great revolutionaries and heroes as Patrice Lumumba and Pierre Mulele and countless others.

The debt, we - peoples of Europe - have 2 towards Africa is tremendous . We insist on remembering these black pages of our history, because they teach us so clearly how the power of capitalism is inextricably linked to the merciless exploitation of the workers, in our own country and even more in the oppressed nations of the South. That’s the basis to understand Lenin’s words and the call of the Second Congress of the Third International: “Workers and oppressed peoples and nations of the World, unite” – and to act consequently.

On behalf of my party I wish to pay tribute to the courage of the peoples of Africa. The

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Belgium

day will come that this African continent which gave birth to mankind - will recover the place which it deserves.

II. IF WE FULLY SUPPORT the national struggle of the peoples, oppressed by imperialism, we firmly oppose the inevitably reactionary nationalism within our own country. Just as wars of conquest by imperialism are a consequence of the crisis of capitalism, so is the nationalist move which at this very moment is jeopardizing the unity of my country and of the working class of Belgium.

The National Council of the WPB adopted recently an exhaustive resolution on this 3 topic.

Belgium is a small country of barely 10.5 million people. The north of the country is called “Flanders”, the language of the almost 6 million inhabitants - the Flemish people - is Dutch. The South of the country, inhabited by 3 million people, is called “Wallonia” and they speak French. The Brussels-Capital region is in the middle of the country; the 1.5 million inhabitants speak mostly French, but many also Dutch and of course many other languages are spoken by immigrants. A very small region in the east – annexed by Belgium after the First World War – speaks German.

It is true that for almost one century the Dutch language was discriminated against in education, in the courts, etc. by the French4 speaking elite . A “Flemish movement” developed to oppose the discrimination. But as bit by bit the problem of discrimination against the language was solved, a right wing took over the Flemish movement, insisting on independence – although there was nor is oppression of one nation by another foreign power. That nationalist move was from the beginning rightist and reactionary.

Up to the Second World War, Wallonia in the South was the most industrialized area.

But things changed in the sixties. A Flemish bourgeoisie started developing around the big Belgian and newly arrived foreign multinationals (American, German, French, etc…), in the fields of automobile assembly, petrol refineries, chemistry, electronics, services, transport, commerce, banks and insurance and others. These new bourgeois in the North gave the defence of their interests a “Flemish” flavour. Flemish nationalism became a means to corner entire sections of the financial means (and competences) of the state.

The last June 2010 elections revealed an impressive progression of nationalism in the Northern part of the country. Years of misleading and fallacious propaganda on «Belgium’s restraining effect on Flanders’ progress », on the «Walloon profiteers » etc. have taken their toll, and the minds of part of the population have been won over. Of course, the crisis, with its catastrophe of factory closures, increasing unemployment rates, heavy cuts in social security, education or public services, etc. produced a growing discontentment among the workers. Instead of looking upstream for those genuinely responsible, i.e. the big bourgeoisie, the millionaires and bankers, the Flemish nationalist politicians have focused all eyes on the easy scapegoat, 5 the Walloon neighbour Such nationalism is a lethal poison for the labour movement and for all progressive ideas.

We have to carry out a more thorough review of the links that exist between the crisis of capitalism from the late seventies onwards, the growing competition between capitalist groups and the offensive regionalism in various rich regions in Europe. The grouping of Flemish employers hopes it will be able to in-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

7

8

duce the population to accept a quick social regression in the name of competitiveness and of “Flanders as the foremost ranking region in Europe”. Europe led by a group of rich regions is an idea defended by the right wing of the German bourgeoisie which supports ethnic movements everywhere, in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. An homogeneous Germany facing states broken up into regions can only mean the German domination of Europe. That is their motivation.

The narrow nationalist separatist movements in the imperialist European countries can only be reactionary. They place narrow regional interests instead of the necessary class unity of the workers of the whole country against the central bourgeois rule – an unity thanks to which the working class had conquered some political and social rights in the past. Our starting point is to defend the principle of “proletarian internationalism”. What we are looking for is global economic development and the interests of all the workers.

Only socialism can make that possible. In the socialist state as we envisage it, strategic decisions in matters of the economy will be made by the entities elected by the people and not by the boards of directors of big capitalist groups. Thus, running the economic system in a scheduled manner is possible and will lead to a better balance between the regions of a country as far as standards of living and economic development are concerned. This is vital if we want to make nationalist quarrels impossible. This is what the Soviet Union was striving for since its inception. As early as 1917 the line of conduct of the Soviet Government had been an accelerated development of the backward regions of the USSR with regard to the average.

III. THE STRUCTURAL CAPITALIST CRISIS THAT STARTED AROUND 1973 cannot be solved – it is really a crisis of the system itself.

The economies of the USA, Europe and Japan don’t manage to overcome the recent sharp upsurge of that crisis in 2008. On the contrary, many economists are warning of an aggravation.

Leninism learns that actually there are only two possibilities. Either the revolution can overthrow imperialism, or imperialism goes to war. Reality shows that the second possibility is threatening more and more.

Even as a candidate for the president, Barack Obama declared clear and loud that his ambition was to restore and reinforce US leadership over the world. And he repeatedly underscored that the real, long term threat for that North American leadership is not Iraq, not Afghanistan nor Pakistan, not Al Qaeda and even not Iran. But China. He blamed Bush for having lost too much time with secondary targets, which also divided the allies, while China managed to continue to grow economically and politically. For Obama, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and others areas of US ongoing or possible intervention make only sense if they contribute explicitly, in one way or another, to contain, weaken or threaten China.

Not only because of the growing strength of the Asian giant itself. But because China objectively became more and more a lever for a growing economic independence of many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Whatever critics there may be on particular cases, globally there is no doubt that the economic relations of China with Asia, Africa and Latin America allowed tens of countries to develop more independently from western imperialism. Which inevitably means a weakening of the latter.

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Belgium

In Latin America, traditionally the US’s backyard, we have seen the relaunching of the IV th US fleet, the strengthening of US bases in Columbia, a coup d’Itat in Honduras and a coup attempt in Ecuador, while Cuba is still under growing pressure. The US cannot fulfil its ambition to recover and enlarge its dominance over the whole world, if it cannot control its so-called backyard…

The Pentagon has set up its “AFRICOM” – of course not to safeguard peace or to promote progress in Africa, but in order to safeguard its own narrow imperialist interests in this continent with such a richness and diversity of raw materials, oil, ores, etc.

But the main efforts are geared towards the weakening and encirclement of China.

The US is doing all it can to regain the status of “Asia’s natural ally”. It looks for all possible contradictions between China and its neighbours – going from border conflicts to complaints against some of China’s economic moves - aiming to isolate China in Asia. That was the purpose of the recent Asia-Pacific tour of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and other countries.

Already Washington has for example replaced Moscow as India’s biggest weapon supplier – what is not only big money for the military-industrial complex of the US, but what first of all allows the Pentagon to have its say in India’s military policy…

In the meantime the US is negotiating with several South-East Asian countries socalled logistical facilities for its navy…

If the US makes it appear as if it was re-establishing friendship with Asian countries, its only goal of course is to use them now in weakening its main enemy, in order to re-es-

tablish later on in an easier way its total dominance and exploitation over the entirety of Asia.

For China the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea are of primary strategic importance, as inevitable routes for oil import and trade in general.

Clearly, the US is preparing to block these routes and is looking for cooperation from neighbouring countries.

THE MILITARY GOALS OF THE US appear also clearly when we look at the Yellow Sea, bordering China and Korea. There is enough evidence to endorse the declarations of Pyongyang that it had nothing to do with the sinking of the Cheonan vessel last summer. As it is clear that the military manoeuvres of South Korea two weeks ago, in the immediate proximity of the disputed borderline, were a mere provocation, concocted by Washington and Seoul. We cannot but twice think on the Tonkin Gulf incident of 2 August 1964. Twice now the US takes these provoked incidents as pretext to hold large scale manoeuvres with the main battleships of its 7th fleet in the immediate proximity … of China. North Korea is not the final target – it’s China.

The worries of Beijing are perfectly comprehensible. Such manoeuvres allow the Pentagon to gather all kind of information, to exert pressure and to train for possible attacks on China, etc.

Probably there is no immediate threat for a US war against China. It cannot even win in Iraq or Afghanistan. But – unless someone believes that imperialism will commit suicide – Washington, as its economic relative decline continues, has no other option than militarisation and to prepare for large scale wars. The almost impossible conquest of China by land

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

9

10

increases the danger for the real use of weapons of mass destruction by the US. Whatever we may think about China’s political and economic system, we have the need to denounce the growing threats against it. If Washington and its allies succeeded in weakening China gravely, it is the South in its entirety and even large parts of the North that would suffer from it. In our opinion the Communist Parties of the region and of the whole world have the duty to strengthen their solidarity, cooperation and coordination.

Comrades, we have the urgent task to reinforce the peace movement and the anti-imperialist movement worldwide and to strengthen the solidarity of the working class and the progressives of the North with the peoples and countries of the South. Our struggle for liberation from imperialism and for socialism is inextricably linked to our efforts to struggle for peace.

Thank you.

1. Eduard Bernstein, “Evolutionary Socialism”, (also known as “The Prerequisites for Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy”) (1899), Chap. III “The Tasks And Possibilities of Social Democracy”, part (d) The Most Pressing Problems of Social Democracy http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/work s/1899/evsoc/ch03-3.htm#d. (In the translation published in 1909 by NEW YORK, B. W. HUEBSCH, 1909: page 178179:http://ia311004.us.archive.org/3/items/cu319240023 11557/cu31924002311557.pdf ) 2. Today, the current Gross National Product of the Democratic Republic of Congo is 42 times smaller than that of Belgium with a population more than six times larger.

3. This document will soon be available on our website http://www.wpb.be 4. The elite spoke French, as well in Wallonia as in Brussels and in Flanders.

5. Wallonia had become poorer, with the closures of the coalmines, steel factories and other ‘old’ (basic) industries that had made it richer in the past. The unemployment rate became (much) higher in the South, more people needed medical care, etc.

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Belgium

‘ DEAR COMRADES: I’d like firstly to thank the

Brazilian Communist Party EDUARDO SERRA

South African Communist Party for the promotion of this event.

We ave living in a very difficult but also very rich moment in the class struggle. The world economic crisis, which is present all over the world, a crisis of accumulation and overproduction of capitalism as a whole, has reaffirmed the structural weakness of this system, as well as its centralizing and excluding nature. The policies proposed for overcoming the crisis, which aim at cutting public expenditure, reducing salaries and a continued assault on workers’ rights, are not consistent. In fact, they and contradictory and only contribute to deepening the crisis.

Many consequences of the way that this crisis is changing the global situation should be taken into account: the centrality of the USA economy as a world locomotive is decreasing, and an economic war has been going on concerning the exchange rates between the main world economic players. On the other hand, there workers have mobilizing in ever greater numbers for the defense of their rights in countries like Portugal, France, Greece and many others, with organized actions against unemployment and the anti-crisis measures taken by their governments.

In Brazil, we have seen a consolidation of a very exclusionary kind of bourgeois democracy, which imposes strong barriers to the organization of workers and to the action of parties which oppose the order. The media is composed of large strong private groups and is almost monopolistic. Brazilian capitalism is fully monopolistic, developed and internationally integrated, and so there’s no social basis for either social democratic nor national-liberation alliances or arrangements able to solve the problems of the population and guarantee social justice. There are very high degrees of income concentration, unemployment, poverty and despair. The fact that 50% percent of the population don’t have access

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

11

12

either to water or to sewage systems is a clear demonstration of the contradictions generated by the Brazilian capitalism.

As a result of the liberal policies adopted in the two latest decades, social areas such as health, social security and others have been destroyed or very much weakened. However, there has been some economic growth in the last few years, with a reduction in misery levels and a relative expansion of the internal market pushed by a strong fiscal policy aiming at the reduction of consumption prices for durable goods. This has brought about a relative expansion of the middle classes, also supported by personal and family access to easy and cheap credit. However, social inequality has increased, for, as we’ve said above, the profile of income concentration, in Brazil, is among the worst in the world.

Our party participated in this year’s general elections with its own candidates. We did our best, before the elections, to form a leftist front with other political forces of the revolutionary and socialist field, with the goal of better defining the anti-capitalistic and anti-imperialistic arena and to contribute, in the electoral sphere, to the formation of a broader front with parties and social movements, devoted to the construction of the socialist revolution in Brazil.

The parties of this field ran separately in the elections and got few votes. The reasons for this include the relatively small scale of these organizations, the polarization that occurred in the second round between the two political blocs of the current order, the restrictive nature of the electoral laws, the boycott of the big media against non-reformist parties, and, last but not least, the bourgeois hegemony which still prevails in Brazil, reinforced by the populist, compensatory policies

driven by president Lula during his two terms, as well as his personal charisma. However, we created roots and got recognition and respect among workers and got politically strengthened.

The victory of Dilma Roussef, of the workers party (PT), represents the continuity of both the economic model and the supporting political basis of Lula’s government. All official arrangements that have been made since the results came out indicate that there will be no change in the economic model, which will keep on following a liberal route which includes the formation of big Brazilian international companies associated with foreign groups.

The Brazilian economy is mainly based on the exports of commodities and depends, to a high degree, on the influx of foreign financial capital, which comes to Brazil attracted by the high interest rates offered by government bonds. There has also been a substantial influx of foreign direct investment, especially in the areas of oil exploitation and durable consumption goods, but indigenous industry, which has a solid basis in all sectors and some niches of high international competitiveness, has been losing space to imported goods due to the high value of our currency, the Real.

Dilma’s support base is an all-class alliance – which repeats the features of Lula’s basis –with bank owners, important industrial entrepreneurs, commodity exporters, parts of the middle classes and low income workers and, essentially, of workers living close to extreme poverty, who are kept alive by official anti-hunger programs. Lula has reduced the pace of privatization maintained by the former neoliberal governments, but has used new forms of privatization such as public-private partnerships, private exploitation of

IB 2011 n Brazilian Communist Party

roads, financial support to big banks, as well as the creation of “Social Organizations” to replace state institutions.

In the political sphere, the coalition headed by Dilma’s party includes conservative parties such as the PMDB – which takes after the neoliberal governments, the PP, a centerright party, and other conservative parties, besides important conservative leaders, some of whom took part in the military governments, and also the former president Collor, who was impeached in the early 90’s for corruption. Some parties with a leftist origin also compose the new government.

In her program, Dilma has indicated the continuity of some of the Lula’s policies – centered on the distribution of grants for the poorest layers of the population, a stronger presence of the state in oil exploitation and the banking area, and the continuity of a more independent foreign policy, which is also devoted to the defense of the interests of the big Brazilian companies abroad, as in the case of the big civil construction companies.

The candidate defeated in the second round, JosÈ Serra, of the PSDB, represented the interests of the most rightist sectors of the Brazilian bourgeoisie, the ones more directly connected to US interests and the ones that supported military rule (1964 – 1985).

During his campaign, Serra also got closer to ultraconservative religious groups. For this set of reasons, the PCB immediately declared its opposition to Dilma’s government.

In the field of social struggles, even having to perform under a bourgeois hegemony and still suffering the consequences of unemployment and the weakening of work relations, the trade union movement, as well as many social movements, have reassumed their place in the political scene, with strikes and

demonstrations. The PCB has been taking part in this effort to raise the degree and the focus of class struggle.

Given this situation, the PCB proposes the construction of an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist front to face the difficulties, to organize the workers to overcome bourgeois hegemony and to move forward with the revolutionary process in Brazil and in the world.

Last but not least, given the aggravation of the capitalist crisis and the increase of the temperature of the class struggle, we understand that the time has come for these important meetings to make a step forward towards the articulation of an International Communist Movement in what refers to the dispersal of information, the promotion of political and theoretical debates among us and also to the strengthening of proletarian internationalism.

Thank you!

Long live Socialism!

Long live Communism!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

13

‘ 14

Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) RICARDO ALEMÃO ABREU

DEAR COMRADES, first we would like to congratulate and heartily salute the South African Communist Party for the organization of this already successful 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties.

As we had the honor to organize the 10th Meeting in SÁo Paulo, in 2008, we are aware of the enormous political and logistic challenges involved in our yearly meeting.

For us Brazilians, being in Africa is being among brothers. Brazil and Africa have strong historical and cultural ties and Africans are among those who have contributed most to the formation of our nationality. There is an immense river called the Atlantic Ocean separating us from the African continent and facing our coast. Today we find ourselves in a moment when the relations between Brazil and Latin America with Africa are being renewed and the result of which could be a more active role played by our two continents in the defense of peace against imperialist wars, the right to economic and social development, and in fighting the current asymmetric and unfair international order.

At this moment, we would like to pay homage to the sensible and central role that the South African Communist Party played in the national liberation of South Africans and in the development of the National Democratic Revolution since 1994 based on the three-sided alliance among the Party, the African National Congress and COSATU – the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

The South African Communist Party has been a sensible voice in defending the more substantial advances in the National Democratic Revolution. We value especially your role in defending the interests of workers and the most impoverished strata of the South African population.

To the Communist Party of Brazil, (PCdoB), the experience of the South African Party in the fight for socialism under the cur-

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB)

rent conditions of South Africa has been an important reference. After all, the conditions under which the SACP and PCdoB operate are more similar than different: South Africa and Brazil are two large countries, with a capitalist economy and progressive governments led by broad political and social fronts. That makes our Party dedicate special attention to the experience of the South African comrades.

THE STRUCTURAL CRISIS OF CAPITALISM AGGRAVATES We have seen the international crisis of capitalism re-emerge in the last months, causing heavy impacts on the international situation. Erupting in 2007 in the central countries, with the United States as its center, the crisis has a structural and systemic character and exposes clearly the regressive trends of capitalism.

The crisis reaffirms the precision of the Marxist view of the nature and structure of capitalism. The recurring crisis helps to expose the myths that support its supposed character, which is concentrated almost exclusively on the financial aspect – even though the gigantic proportions of fictitious capital is one of the causes of its eruption. To the contrary, it is a crisis with many dimensions whose consequences greatly transcend the purely economic aspect.

The capitalist crisis manifests itself in different ways in the USA and in Europe, on the one hand, and socialist China and many developing countries showing signs of dynamism and improving their relative position in the international economy on the other hand.

The trend towards the decline of American imperialism accelerates. Among other

factors, it has led to a diminished relative participation of the US in the world GDP. The “currency exchange war” and trade war unleashed by the USA reflect such economic decline. In the political field, the resilient crisis of the United States contributes to increasing conservative and reactionary trends, as demonstrated by the growth of a far-right movement in that country.

The crisis strikes heavily also in Europe – and many countries adopted the remedy that further aggravates the patient’s conditions with greater neoliberalism and attacks against workers rights. The reappearance of the workers’ and students’ struggle in the European continent constitutes a positive factor.

The emergence of China is an outstanding factor as it builds an increasingly prosperous homeland based on the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

That structural crisis does not offer a progressive solution within the limits of capitalism. Only socialism will create the conditions to overcome that crisis of civilization. Along with China, Vietnam also develops the socialist economy and society. And Cuba resists victoriously the imperialist blockade and announces the upgrade of its socialist economic model.

The growing relative position of other great developing countries, such as Brazil, India and South Africa, is also a factor contributing to accelerate the current transition in the international situation.

Growing instability, however, characterizes the international situation. In its desperate search for hegemony, the United States tends to become increasingly aggressive.

The recent reformulation of NATO’s so-called “strategic concept” in the Lisbon summit,

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

15

16

held a few weeks ago, “officially” turning the whole world into a potential target of imperialist military aggressions, causes great concern to the peoples of the world. It is up to the sovereign peoples and nations of all continents to prepare for such scenario of constant threats to peace, of which the pressure on People’s Korea is an example.

For us Brazilians, and for the peoples of Western Africa, NATO’s attempts to turn the South Atlantic Ocean, a peaceful zone, into a “stage of operation” renovate our concerns.

They reinforce the threats to national sovereignty and independence of African and Latin American countries.

A PROGRESSIVE TREND MAKES ADVANCES IN LATIN AMERICA AND FACES THE COUNTER-OFFENSIVE OF THE RIGHT AND IMPERIALISM Latin America and the Caribbean, especially South America, follow the democratic, progressive, and anti-imperialist trend of the last years, becoming a room for resistance and alternatives, the most advanced of which proclaim the socialist objective. The Cuban Revolution is still perfecting socialism.

However, as that advanced trend in the Latin America consolidates, it is confronted with its counter-trend – the offensive of imperialism and right-wing forces inside each country.

Let us remember the extreme reaction of imperialist countries against Brazil, especially the United States, when the Tehran Agreement was signed by the governments of Brazil, Turkey and Iran, putting into question an acute issue of the imperialist policy: the attempt to establish absolute control of Middle East, expanding towards Central Asia

and, more specifically, restricting the developing countries’ right to make use of nuclear energy with peaceful ends.

Evident coups, as in the case of Honduras, or destabilizing internal actions, as in the recent cases of countries such as Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia, are still resources used by reactionary forces, despite their “democratic” discourse.

In the next months, right-wing forces coordinated by imperialism will try to forge right-wing candidacies to avert the victory of progressive forces in the elections in Peru and Argentina in 2011, and Mexico and Venezuela in 2012.

The open struggle between those two trends – one of which with a democratic, progressive and anti-imperialist trend and the other with a reactionary, anti-democratic, revanchist and authoritarian trend – characterizes the current situation in Latin America.

Therefore, our Party believes that the third victory of the current political and social forces leading the Brazilian government since 2002, with the election of president Dilma Rousseff, has an importance that goes beyond our national reality, having a strong impact in the Latin American and international stages.

In the Latin American stage, a third progressive government in Brazil will open the path to the acceleration of the integration of Latin America, a movement aiming at a continental union of nations that favor the most advanced causes in the international situation. In the regional level, Brazil will remain a factor contributing to contain right-wing and imperialist destabilizing threats against the most advanced experiences, especially those of Venezuela and the countries of the

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB)

Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and an important factor in supporting socialist Cuba.

THE PATRIOTIC, DEMOCRATIC AND PROGRESSIVE FRONT WINS THE ELECTIONS IN BRAZIL In the national stage, the Communist Party of Brazil believes that that third great victory of the Brazilian people has a strategic importance. PCdoB thinks that it is necessary to follow a new national development project that opens the way to the transition to socialism and constitutes a new civilizing leap in the historical trajectory of Brazilians, as stated by the Socialist Program approved in our last congress in 2009.

For our party, the government of president Dilma Rousseff must guarantee the continuity and the advance of the changes that president Lula initiated. The victory was achieved amid the confrontation against right-wing forces with the willing support of the “establishment� of financial capital and great oligopolies of the national and international media. Victory took place with broad support, especially from the workers and popular masses of our country.

The Communist Party of Brazil has followed an ascending trajectory in the last years as its militant contingent and its influence among the masses grow, a decisive factor in making PCdoB play a real role in the struggles for changes in our country so that the process of the Brazilian revolution advances.

REINFORCING UNITY AND COOPERATION AMONG COMMUNISTS AND A BROAD ANTI-IMPERIALIST FRONT OF INTERNATIONAL LEVEL We acknowledge the great importance of

the debate proposed in the motto of this Meeting with a view to deepen social alliances and reinforce the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, social progress and socialism.

Historically, Brazilian communists have always marked their tactical action with the search to broaden the front of those defending national sovereignty, democracy, economic and social development and socialism, trying to isolate the main enemy.

In the current historical period, characterized by the strategic defense of socialism, more than achieving a greater union among communists, it is necessary to build broad political and social fronts aiming at peace, national independence and social and economic progress.

According to the Communist Party of Brazil, one of the great lessons deriving from the first experiences of building socialism in the 20 th century is the idea that there is neither a single model of socialism nor a universal path to achieve political power.

Based on the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist theory and on the advanced national thinking of each specific social economic formation, each people and each revolutionary force will build its own path to socialism, building socialism according to its national reality.

Proletarian internationalism and broad international anti-imperialist alliances are fundamental to communists. While we value the need to improve relations of friendship and cooperation among communist, progressive and anti-imperialist political forces, we highlight the fact that the relation of exchange and cooperation among those forces must be based on equality, mutual respect (including respect for the political and pro-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

17

18

grammatic orientation of each party), not interfering on domestic issues.

Our Party supports and takes part in all forums and initiatives with those characteristics. We try to present our ideas in a brotherly fashion, showing respect and trying to learn from the experience accumulated by other peoples and parties.

In our reality in Latin America, aside from relations among communist and workers parties, the exchange and the union with anti-imperialist and left-wing political forces is fundamental, as in the case of the successful Latin American experience of the SÁo Paulo Forum, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. In the same spirit, we observed with great attention, taking part of the All Africa Left Network Forum (ALNEF) in two occasions, called by the South African Communist Party, with the participation of

tens of countries of the African continent.

Therefore, we think that as the 12th edition takes place, the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties is an immensely valuable stage that we must preserve as a rich environment where ideas, friendship, cooperation and the promotion of unity of action among communists of all parts of the world are exchanged. PCdoB’s main international commitment is with the communist and workers’ parties of the world.

The international situation is clearly deteriorating with a systemic, chronic and structural crisis of capitalism, growing instability and threats to peace. It demands that communists and other democratic, progressive and anti-imperialist forces join forces for peace, the sovereignty of nations, economic and social progress and socialism.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB)

‘ IN BRITAIN THE COMPREHENSIVE SPEND-

Communist Party of Britain MARY DAVIS

ING REVIEW constitutes the most vicious assault on public services and the Welfare State in British history.

The public finance deficit, such as it is, is being used as the cover for a programme of tax cuts and privatisation—to benefit the rich and big business.

The mass media and the City have colluded with the ConDem (Conservative-Liberal Democrat) government to launch an ideologically-driven offensive against the public sector, in the interests of monopoly capitalism.

They are pursuing an agenda designed by the European Commission and European Central Bank.

For women these changes represent the biggest reversal in opportunities since the end of the First World War. Women’s jobs will be hardest hit by public sector cuts. Of the £8.5bn being raised by cutting direct contributions to individuals, £5.7bn – two thirds – is coming from women, while £2.7bn is being raised from men. 300,000 women’s jobs in the public sector will go, with 65% of public sector jobs done by women. Women will also be more heavily affected by increases in public sector pension contributions.

Given the theme of this conference it is appropriate to remind ourselves of the relevance of the crisis of capitalism to half the human race: notably women. This was something that was recognised by communists in the early 20th century. A very advanced position was advocated by the Third Congress of the Communist International. Writing in July 1921 the theses could be describing our own era: ‘The capitalist economic system has entered a blind alley; there is no scope for the development of the productive forces within the framework of capitalism. The sharp decline in living standards of the working people, the inability of the bourgeoisie to restore production, the rise of speculation, the disinte-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

19

20

gration of production, unemployment, price fluctuations and the gap between prices and wages, lead everywhere to the inevitable sharpening of the class struggle. .... ...In the present period particularly, it is in the interests of the working class that women are drawn into the organised ranks of the proletariat ...’ Much more was said on women workers at this Congress: it repays careful reading. It is my view that in our day we, as communists have neglected this issue, but we simply cannot afford to both at the level of theory and practice.

Our foundation is an acceptance of a Marxist definition of class, but a gender and colour blind misapplication of Marxist theory has resulted in a partial understanding of class which has had profound repercussions in labour historiography and labour movement practice. It is particularly important that we acknowledge this given that this year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. We need a definition of class which is predicated upon an understanding of the relationship between class exploitation and oppression. We also need to sharpen our ability, already developed by our socialist feminist foremothers, in theory and practice to connect the hitherto separate spheres of class, race and gender in a manner that comprehends both their distinctiveness and inter-relationships. This is long overdue.

However, it is only through an understanding the primacy of class as an economic relationship to the dominant mode of production that the connections between class race and gender can be correctly understood.

The renegotiation of the gender division of labour was central to the process of industrialisation in Britain - the first industrial nation -

and to the formation of a working class. Since women were amongst the first factory workers, women led early industrial action, whether on an informal or formal basis and were amongst the first trade unionists. Gender remains central to the continual restructuring and renegotiation of capitalist relations over the past two centuries. This is true of Britain as it was many other capitalist countries.

A more fully worked out conception of historical materialism based on a clearer understanding of the nature of the working class and the relationship between exploitation and oppression, would have had (and can still have) significant implications for the way our theory has developed in a non colour or gender blind fashion.

The subjugation of women and black people has been historically connected with class society for so long that it has become the accepted natural order of things. The oppressive ideologies sustaining subservience are so culturally rooted that they has passed beyond naked statements of class rule and entered into the very fabric of our lives including language itself. As such these ideologies have become universalised and hence disembodied from their class origins. They have thus fulfilled the ultimate goal of ideology - namely to represent the interests of the dominant class as the interests of society as a whole.

How else are we to explain the permeation of racist and sexist ideas within the working class and even within the socialist movement? And that the history of the working class/labour movement has airbrushed women out of existence despite their conspicuous presence There is an important connection between Marxist theory and practice; whether

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Britain

such practice involves historical scholarship or labour movement activism. The consequences of an inability to appreciate the role of women in the making and re-making of the working class have resulted in, until recently, the exclusion of oppressed groups from the mainstream of the labour movement. In this respect labour historians who ignore women are reflecting the innate sexism and patriarchy that has been the hallmark of the mainstream of many Labour Movements for much of their histories. But women have played a part in working class politics or trade union activity and certainly their role in the labour process itself was and continues to be vitally important. The exclusion of women from working class and labour history compounds the misunderstanding of class and class formation and has reinforced the theoretical confusion over such invented ideological constructs of the ‘family wage’ and the ‘male breadwinner’ which has insinuated itself into labour movement thinking since the mid 19th century. Such confusion explains the persistence even today of women’s unequal pay and the fact that many trade unions either opposed equal pay or failed to accord it a priority in their campaigning.

This is not to write off the entire labour movement over its entire history as a misogynistic backwater. Working class organisations do not proceed in a linear onward and upward fashion. They are always marked by peaks and troughs in activity, effectiveness, membership and ideological clarity. These ups and downs are not always crudely determined by economic circumstances but have a great deal to do with the prevailing level of political class consciousness – this is why it’s so vital for communists to take the lead as did Clara Zetkin in her day. In our day, of course we

must learn the lessons of those countries which have already started on this paththat’s why a conference of this nature is so important.

However, if class consciousness does not explicitly embrace the female half of the working class, such consciousness is but a chimera and we stand little chance of developing a strong, enduring and united movement of resistance to neo-liberalism, big business and imperialism.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

21

‘ 22

Communist Party of Cuba JULIO GARMENDIA

DEAR COMRADES, ONCE AGAIN WE COME TOGETHER for a common purpose and with a responsibility that strengthens and motivates us: the eternal commitment to defend the interests of our peoples and to struggle to transform today’s economic, political and social panorama while building a world of peace, justice and solidarity.

We would like to extend our thanks to the Communist Party of South Africa for all the efforts they have made to organize and put on this meeting, one which we deem to be of significant importance because of the historical moment in which it is being held and because it provides us with the opportunity to celebrate our encounter for the first time in Africa, thus permitting representatives of the African political forces, born from the liberation movements, to join us in the programme, thereby imbuing the event with new quality and importance.

At the same time, we express our thanks for the infinite and sincere solidarity we have always received from the African continent which welcomes us today and which has supported us in our principal political battles, against the Blockade, for the freedom of our Five Cuban Heroes, and at other no less important moments. Our gratitude extends to that Africa which has been faithful to the unit known as the Third World and which maintains the conviction that common challenges identify us.

In these latitudes, thousands of Cuban internationalists spilt their blood and made their important contribution towards the elimination of one of the most shameful regimes ever known to Man: apartheid. In the words of Comrade Fidel Castro, “apartheid is the capitalism and imperialism in its fascist form and entails the idea of superior and inferior races”.

We are particularly pleased to find ourselves here in South Africa, the land of Nelson Mandela, the unequivocal symbol of this con-

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Cuba

tinent’s struggles and of the struggles of all oppressed people in the Third World.

We recall the first time that this encounter took place in 1998. This was the beginning of an important political initiative which we have been able to strengthen into a necessary space and from which exchanges, discussions and strategies have arisen, permitting us to better understand one another and to interpret our realities with pragmatic and yet scientific criteria.

Meeting today in this hall are representatives of dozens of political parties which constitute an inestimable potential for defining priorities and solidifying actions that, depending on the scenarios where we are at work, require ideological maturity, sacrifice and above all essential criteria, that of working for the unity of Communists and their alliance with the workers’ movement, the proletariat class which the hegemonic powers are trying to wear down, silence, and present as being shapeless and lacking in ideology.

Unity has been decisive for the Cuban revolutionary project. Unity which we defend, and shall always defend, as the essential weapon it is, facing an enemy that would like to divide and confuse us with its multiple resources, including manipulation of the mass media. Unity as a strategy and a tactic, because we are convinced that without it, the Cuban Revolution would not have attained the victories our people enjoy today. That experience continues to be not only a reality, for us but also a challenge.

At the last Working Group that took place in Portugal, it was decided that the theme for this encounter would be: “The Deepening of the Systematic Capitalist Crisis. The Tasks of the Communists for the Defence of Sovereign-

ty, the Deepening of Social Alliances and the Strengthening of the Anti-Imperialist Front in the Struggle for Peace, Progress and Socialism”, and it is precisely for the overcoming of challenges that are presented to us that we must, today, be more united than ever, with each other and with our natural source: the workers.

We must also say that the events happening on the international scene, ever since that theme was selected, underline how appropriate the decision was. It is not our aim to analyze at this moment, its goals one by one, that would be impossible, but we can evaluate the interpretation and the lessons deriving from it.

In the first place, we would like to share with you something that, in our opinion, constitutes one of the greatest dangers confronting humankind, about which Comrade Fidel Castro has warned us on more than one occasion; we refer to the real possibility that the United States or one of its allies might unleash a war using nuclear weapons, that would put the very existence of humankind at risk.

We cannot ignore that economic interests, irresponsibility, the stubbornness of some power groups in the principal imperialist powers could cause a regional nuclear war that would become, without a doubt, a global nuclear conflict with catastrophic consequences.

The governments of the United States and Israel maintain their hostile policies and their interference in the domestic affairs of other nations, as is the case of Iran, and they continue to encourage other conflicts that are no less risky, such as that in the Korean Peninsula. Therefore it is a duty of the progressive and revolutionary forces throughout the world to

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

23

24

expose those war-mongering plans and demand respect for life and the planet on which we are living. Today, the struggle for peace must be the basic premise underpinning our political and ideological work.

We are under the obligation to demand of the governments on the planet that they comply with that responsibility, that of preserving humankind, and in the face of that demand we cannot be indifferent. We must be aware of the fact that if we do not stop a nuclear conflict in time, “tomorrow will always be too late”, as Fidel himself has stated. We, the Communists, must also contribute to this struggle.

ONLY A FEW WEEKS AGO, our country achieved a new victory at the United Nations where they approved, practically unanimously, the resolution entitled: “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

One hundred and eighty seven votes in favour, two opposed, United States and Israel, and three abstained, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. This demonstrated, yet again, that the US is isolated in the exercise of this genocidal and hostile brainchild that must cease, immediately and unilaterally.

We believe that this victory belongs to the Cuban people, but also to thousands, millions, of friends and comrades throughout the world who have taken on this battle as their own because they understand full well that the Blockade, besides being unfair and inhuman, has the purpose of destroying the Revolution and its example of resistance and national sovereignty.

From this forum we would like to express our gratitude for all the initiatives that many

of the parties present here today have developed in favour of freedom for our Five Cuban Heroes, antiterrorist activists, prisoners in US jails, symbols of integrity, courage and infinite faithfulness to their principles, above and beyond the pressures and blackmail applied to them and their relatives. This injustice must end.

Comrades, the current US government and its president, Barack Obama, despite his promises for change, have continued with the imperialist policy of his predecessors, underlining the aggressive nature of Washington policies in different parts of the world. In terms of Cuba, the Blockade remains intact, the Guantanamo Naval Base is occupied and turned into a prison where torture is carried out and our Five Heroes are still prisoners, while the clamour of international solidarity for their freedom is heard with ever greater strength.

WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE PRESENCE OF THE REPRESENTATIVES of the Communist and workers’ parties to refer to the process of updating the Cuban economic model which, as we know has inspired some questions, especially because of how our enemies have once again been manipulating the subject, in their attempts to discredit the Cuban Revolution and its historic leadership.

The process of transformations that has been initiated in our country deals with the historical moment through which the Revolution is living. They are a result, to a great extent, of the current international situation, and because of the needs and demands that we Cubans are facing according to our context and our realities.

Our Revolution is an authentic Revolution

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Cuba

and therefore our measures are authentic, not striving either to copy or imitate any model or country. We must also emphasize that these transformations have a name; they are Socialist transformations, since we can never distance ourselves from our principles; we are building and shall continue to build Socialism in Cuba, let no one doubt this.

The guidelines of economic and social policy which we, the Cubans, firstly discuss amongst ourselves, without pressure or interference from abroad and which we shall subsequently implement have the essential objective of achieving a more efficient and sustainable economy, with the principal purpose of preserving our sovereignty and independence at the same time as consolidating our triumphs in sectors as sensitive as education, health and culture. The changes that will be necessary shall be applied coherently and gradually and shall have the backing of our workers, none of whom shall be left without support or lack the opportunity to hold a decent job. We are not dealing with reforms or privatizations, as our enemies have tried to confuse the issue, but instead we are updating an economic model based on the principle of planning and not the market.

The climax of this entire democratic and participative process shall be the VI Congress of our Party held in the month of April, next year, coinciding with the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Victory, the first great military defeat of the United States of America and the proclamation of the Socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution.

Comrades, the world is living through crucial moments for its future operations, and thus our responsibility becomes that much greater, in contexts that are more difficult and hostile. The enemy possesses media power,

financial power, but it lacks the basic motivating factor to push forward: the peoples’ commitment.

The conservative right-wing moves forward. In Europe, to mention only one example, it is in power in twenty of the twenty-seven countries making up the European Union and it mercilessly applies its neoliberal policies of social, xenophobic and anti-immigration traits, showing no concern for the fate of millions of women, children and old people.

In Latin America, at the moment celebrating two hundred years from the birth of its emancipation, stamped by the struggle for independence in most of its countries, massive attempts to reverse the processes in progress are underway. The most recent action was the attempted coup dâ€™Ăˆtat in Ecuador against President Correa who had been democratically elected by the citizens of his country, while at the same time disputes and conflicts between governments and peoples in the area are being encouraged and the installation of Yankee military bases is being imposed.

Nevertheless, efforts at integration in the region are growing stronger. ALBA, MERCOSUR and CARICOM and others are being presented as real alternatives to the dominance over our nations and the exploitation of our wealth, to the attempt to ignore and displace our culture.

It shall be the inescapable duty of the Communists to involve the new generations in the battles we are fighting and in the committed struggles we shall have to develop in each one of our countries.

WE DO NOT WISH TO CONCLUDE WITHOUT REMEMBERING OUR RENEWED SOLIDARITY with the suffering people of Palestine, with the Saharahui people who are victims of new

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

25

26

repression, as well as with our Haitian brothers and sisters who are suffering a national tragedy as a result of the devastating earthquake in January and the current cholera epidemic that has taken the lives of some 1,500 of their citizens, while international aid is insufficient, late and more and more urgently needed.

The struggle awaiting us in the coming years shall not be any less arduous or difficult.

The confrontation of capital and labour, in its new forms, shall keep on being more and more present in our battles for workers’ rights. Marxist-Leninism shall continue to be the guiding light for the proletariat.

Long live Socialism!

Thank you very much.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Cuba

‘

AKEL, Cyprus PAVLOS KALOSINATOS

DEAR COMRADES, LET ME FIRST CONVEY to you the warmest cordial greetings of AKEL, its newly elected Central Committee and its entire membership. The 12th International Meeting of the Communists and Workers Parties is a very important event, and we would, therefore, like to thank the South African Communist Party for hosting this event and providing the means for its successful proceedings.

THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE STATUS QUO economists and politicians consider the current economic crisis exclusively as a monetary phenomenon that certainly is having a negative impact on “real economy”. They consider that the basic interventions needed relate to the regulation of money, regulation of the financial sphere of the economy. The financial sphere is in this very concept considered to be neutral with respect to the “real economy”.

However, we know that the current crisis, which commenced in the mortgage market of the USA in Summer 2007 and rapidly evolved into a general, global economic crisis, was not accidental.

The current economic crisis that the world is going through is a crisis, or to put it better, the crisis of the capitalist system at its imperialistic stage. We don’t know whether this crisis will be worse than the crisis of 1929/1930, as many economists have predicted. Whether this crisis will last for one, two or even ten years is also not known. But what we do certainly know is that this crisis is a crisis of the neoliberal regime of the accumulation of capital. This regime, which has the total liberalisation of markets at its core, including of course the financial markets, is once again exhibiting its systemic weaknesses. Once again the myth of the “invisible hand” of free and pure competition that supposedly leads to equilibrium is collapsing.

This economic crisis has social conse-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

27

28

quences. The crisis aggravates and accelerates the already terrible employment and social situation. Unemployment is increasing rapidly, income inequalities are widening, vulnerable groups are more than ever before exposed to unprecedented risks due to the deregulation and shrinkage of social welfare, while precariousness is what workers, especially younger and older workers are faced with in the labour market. The impacts of the crisis are particularly dramatic for vulnerable groups of the population such as women, migrants and disabled people.

There are also political implications to the economic crisis. Around the world the capitalist oligarchy is mobilising. Rescue plans are being designed and implemented. While in the last 30 years the state treasuries were empty when it came to the question of increasing social spending, suddenly governments can mobilise hundreds of billions of Euros and Dollars for the rescue of collapsed banks. Interestingly, in the USA and the UK the capitalist class had no inhibitions when it came to transgressing their own doctrine of shrinking state economic intervention and proceeded to nationalise banks. The conclusion we can draw form this is that the profits of the capitalist oligarchy are a private good, while their losses are socialised.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IS A STRUCTURAL CRISIS of the capitalist system. Capitalism is developing the productive forces and socialising production to the maximum. Whilst billions of people are working in production, regretfully the wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a small minority of people who through the setting up and operation of multinational conglomerates control the means of production. This fundamental con-

tradiction is the real root cause of capitalism’s economic crises. The imposition of the neo-liberal conservative model on a global scale led to the current economic crisis assuming unprecedented dimensions, undistinguished in its scope and breadth. Working people all over the world are paying the heavy cost of the crisis. Millions of jobs are being lost. On the pretext of tackling the crisis working people’s rights and gains are being curbed, whilst labour relations are also being undermined. The majority of governments unfortunately in seeking to overcome the crisis are aiming to put the burden of the crisis almost exclusively on the backs of the working people. As a result, the class struggle is intensifying. Millions of working people all over the world are struggling to defend their rights and gains. The most recent examples in Europe are the mass mobilisations of working people and large sections of the people in France against the increase in the retirement age and in Greece against the Memorandum and the huge burdens working people are being called upon to shoulder. A general strike was organised in Spain, demonstrations held in Britain and mass mobilisations organised in Portugal culminating in the recent general strike. These mobilisations highlight the powerful reaction of working people.

They categorically refute the apologists of capitalism and of the unfettered market who promised a society where prosperity would prevail for all, the same apologists who considered that we have reached the end of history and of the class struggle. The world economic crisis once more brings to the fore even more pressingly the idea of socialism; the need for the construction of a society that will be based on liberation from exploitation, social justice and social solidarity; a society that

IB 2011 n AKEL, Cyprus

will not cultivate the mentality of quick and easy enrichment.

CYPRUS HAS ALSO, with a delay of almost one year, been affected by the world economic crisis. It has to be said that the impact of the crisis on employment and production cannot be compared to other countries of the European Union. Unemployment has increased by 2,5% and the GDP has recorded a downturn of around 1,7%. We have been in the last period actively engaged in both struggling against the attempts from the side of the employers to dismiss workers and employees or deregulate labour relations, as well as intervening on political level as to how the crisis should be tackled.

The government of Demetris Christofias follows a social and economic policy in the people’s interests and has implemented specific measures that on the one hand seek to alleviate the impact of the crisis on working people and on the other hand to boost the economy and stimulate growth, by increasing public investments, through a huge housing scheme for low income families among other means. Furthermore, it has put an end to any attempts to impose privatisations and to undermine the gain of the cost-of-living allowance. It also lays special emphasis on increasing the purchasing power of vulnerable groups, such as pensioners, and other groups of people who are in need of public assistance.

Corresponding measures are being taken by the government to support employment in the tourist industry ,which was also affected by the crisis.

WHILE THE CRISIS AND ITS ANTI-PEOPLE POLICIES AND MEASURES are dominating the economic and social domain, imperialism

is attempting to further consolidate and expand its hegemony also in the political, military and geostrategic sphere.

I am referring to the NATO Summit that was held in Lisbon just a few days ago (19-20 November), where the new Strategic Concept 2020 of NATO was approved, reinforcing its role as world police officer representing the geostrategic and economic interests of imperialism. It is clear that NATO plans to do this by further undermining the United Nations and International Law. Furthermore we are faced with the militarisation of the European Union. Ten years after the official beginning of the elaboration of the European defence and security policy, and one year after the start of the enforcement of the Lisbon Treaty and having by now a legal cover, the EU is moving forward in shaping its imperialist profile by every possible means, in particular through the creation of various institutions aiming at constructing the military dimension of the EU so as to provide the Union with, as they say, all “the necessary tools to play its global role”.

THE CAUSES OF THE CRISIS ARE BOUND UP WITH THE NATURE of the capitalist system itself. The world economic crisis has once again unveiled the inhuman character of capitalism. The future of humanity cannot be a system which has as its primary goal the continuous concentration of wealth and the maximisation of profit, to the detriment of workers. Therefore, to overcome this system of exploitation cannot but be the strategic aim of our movement. And we will overcome this system with socialism.

Many mainstream politicians like mentioning that the “crisis is catastrophic, but it provides at the same time an opportunity”.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

29

30

Of course, when they refer to an “opportunity” they mean an “opportunity” for more labour flexibility, reduction of real wages, less state intervention, more social cuts. So, business as usual. Nothing changes in this regard.

But, indeed there is an “opportunity” arising out of the crisis. There is an opportunity for the labour movement, especially for its classoriented element. The crisis has the potential to lead to an increase in class awareness among workers. This is, of course will not happen automatically. The worsening of social and working conditions always produces frustration. But frustration is not always channelled into a coordinated struggle for defending and strengthening the rights of workers and for the improvement of their standard of living. How to channel this increasing frustration and disappointment among workers into coordinated and organised struggle, represents the most important challenge our movement is faced with today.

To this extend our movement must n Reinforce its ideological intervention within the labour movement, providing a class oriented perspective on the crisis in the context of the systemic crisis of capitalism at its imperialist stage; n Strengthen our presence at every level of work and struggle, whether it is at the work place, the enterprise, the branch or at the national and international level; n Promote unity in action at the grass roots level; n Be in a position to formulate and struggle for demands that address the problems and challenges that today’s workers and their families are confronted with; n Have a clear and realistic position aimed at facing attempts to burden the conse-

n

quences of the crisis on the shoulders of the working people.

Decisively oppose NATO and demand its dissolution as well as the closing of all military bases on foreign soil; the general prohibition of nuclear weapons and complete nuclear disarmament; a sharp reduction in military expenditure and weapons and the redirecting of resources for peaceful purposes such as education, health, R&D for peaceful purposes - and for humanity’s development and the protection of our planet and environment.

FOR US, THE PATH FOR OUR FUTURE STRUGGLES goes hand in hand with the unity of the forces of the Communist, Workers and progressive parties on a regional and international level. We should aim at the assumption of joint actions and policies when and where this is feasible and based on respect towards the particularities that characterise every party.

On our part, we shall continue to struggle for a peaceful solution of the Cyprus problem based on International Law and within the framework of the United Nations, aiming to the reunification of our country and people under a single state with a single sovereignty and international identity. We are struggling for the transformation of our country into a bridge of peace with the countries and peoples of the much suffering region of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Furthermore, we shall continue to resist any attempts to equate communism with fascism and the criminalisation of our ideology and symbols, because what is underway represents the heralding of anti-democratic and anti-people plans.

We shall continue to support the international class-based trade union movement, the

IB 2011 n AKEL, Cyprus

31

World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the World Peace Council (WPC), the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY). At this point we salute the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students, which will open its gates to the international youth and students movement in the coming days in South Africa and express our gratitude to our South African comrades for making it possible.

We shall continue to adhere to a consistent position of solidarity and support with struggling peoples. We shall continue to organise and participate in meetings of our Parties, aiming at our joint action and struggle for the defence of the rights of the people and the deepening of our understanding and cooperation.

Thank you very much!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ THE DEEPENING SYSTEMIC CRISIS OF CAPITALISM

32

Communist Party in Denmark BETTY FRYDENSBJERG CARLSSON

We hear it every day or week: the crisis will soon be over and the economy is recovering and slowly rising. But we also read the statistics on the decrease in consumption, and hear the government telling us, that consumption soon will rise, and we hear well paid economists in the media telling us that consumer confidence is growing, and all soon will be better. No it won’t. The truth about all this propaganda is that this growth in economy is made up of the rise of dividend for the Stock speculators, and profits in the big banks, all paid by the taxpayers. And yes the economic situation is fine for the wealthiest people. In our country this is even more so because of a new reform of income taxes with less income tax for the wealthiest people, and more tax on consumer goods such as food, heating, electricity, water, etcetera.. Now they propose a new tax on food. These taxes are a heavy burden for the majority who are not wealthy.

The reason behind the decline in consumption is that of course there is a limit also for the rich and well-to-do people - to how many cars, televisions or new bathrooms they will buy, and consumption by the rich cannot compensate for the decline in consumption by the majority of the people suffering from unemployment and stagnation in wages. The levels of private debt are enormous and there is a growing fear of buying on credit.

THE EU POLICY The result of this has been a serious fall in consumption, which as we all know will lead to overproduction and more unemployment.

For working people the crisis is rising and they are really experiencing a financial crisis. In Denmark, as well as in all other EU member countries, economic policy takes the form of huge cuts on public budgets and more privatization. The two only exceptions are the mili-

IB 2011 n Communist Party in Denmark

tary budget and the fee to the EU. These are both rising, especially the fee to the EU, which among other things is spent on subsidies and loans to member countries who are also members of the economic and monetary union. This is done so as to maintain the value of the common Euro currency, and to dictate the policy of the lending country. Denmark overruled the EMU (Euro) and therefore is exempted from this policy of subordination to the EU-dictated limit on the state budget in relation to the GNP. Yet we had the grotesque spectacle of our prime minister asking for a voluntary agreement to the EMU regulations at a meeting in the EU. After this he returned and declared that it was necessary to make huge cuts in the budgets in the regions and the municipalities as well as in the state budget, because this was a demand from the EU. Progressive people have gone to court accusing the state of breaking the constitution. This strategy is fine, but it has been tried before, and as we say, political struggles cannot be won in bourgeois courts. Nevertheless, resistance to our membership of the EU and resistance to joining the Euro is growing apace in Denmark and no government would dare to call for a new referendum on the Euro.

DENMARK In Denmark the system of unemployment insurance always has been organized through the Trade Unions, as they started the unemployment funds. Later the state contributed to the fee we pay the Trade Unions. In principle you should get up to 90 % of lost income, but in fact in the last 10 years pensioners have received 50 % on average. The problem with state support is that parliament makes the laws about unemployment support. During the last 15 years after _ a year during

which unemployment benefit is paid out you have had to work in order to receive further support. In this situation people work – usually in the public sector - but instead of receiving proper wages, they receive unemployment benefit at a much lower level. As we say, you get back your own job, but work for half the wages. This summer the bourgeois government decided to cut the support period from 4 to 2 years. Another problem is that the ideological war waged by capitalists through the boom period has had the effect that the Trade Unions have lost about 20 % of their members, from an organization - rate of 90 % to 70 %. This is weakening the Trade Unions, but those 20 % of workers who believed in the propaganda that there always will be jobs for those who really want to work, are now just as unemployed as the organized workers, but they are without money. They cannot even get social support if their spouse has a job or is in receipt of unemployment benefit, or if they have a car, a summerhouse or a house or apartment, even when the banks are the real owners of these properties because of loans.

Over the last year a steadily increasing number of people therefore have had to leave their homes because they cannot pay the bank or as tenants cannot pay the rent due to unemployment. We now clearly see the contradiction of capitalism: homeless people and many empty, unsold homes. Our party is discussing the possibility of reorganising “Red Help”, which we had in the 1930s. Then people were also put out of their homes and our organisation Red Help” took them in again, Similarly, in the 1970s we also had empty new built houses, and we moved pensioners living in old-fashioned slums into these modern flats, where they claimed that they could only pay a rent of 15 % of their pension. The

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

33

34

authorities didn’t dare to send the police to these old people to get them out. At that time we won and got legislation saying that pensioners shall only pay 15 % of their pension in rent while the rest would be paid through state support. This legislation has since been scrapped...

The big cuts on education in all its forms are mobilizing the younger generation. Education in our country is (still) free and everybody can get state support while they are studying. Now they will reduce the support in a way that means that if you are working while studying and finish your studies later than planned, this support will stop. If you are a student from abroad, or if you live with your parents, you can’t get anything. There are big protests against this reform which will keep working class youth out of studies and 80 % of Danes support the protests.

Unfortunately the Trade Unions are not active in this– with exceptions of course, particularly in the public sector and building worker Unions. The industrial workers are paralysed, fearing unemployment. Thousands and thousands of industrial workers are getting sacked because industries are closing down and moving to countries where the wages are lower, the working conditions worse and the social costs lower. The latest company closing and moving is Vesta, the first company in the world to mass-produce wind-mills. 3000 workers have been sacked.

This company has received a lot of money from the taxpayers to develop production and now it leaves the bill for unemployment support to the state.

The agents of capital can establish companies wherever they want. Those are the rules of capitalism, but we demand, that when they leave our country, they should pay back

all economic grants they have received from the taxpayers and pay the bill for the costs of the people they make unemployed. Workers have to move around for jobs, and our task as communists is to stay united in solidarity and not to participate in the capitalist strategy of “divide and rule”.

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NATO FOR PEACE While there have been cuts to all services benefiting the people are, the amount of money paid out to NATO and war is rising. The decisions at the NATO summit will cost billions. NATO’s retirement strategy does not mean retiring from Afghanistan. There will be about fifty permanent bases in Afghanistan, securing US and NATO interests. The missile shield in Europe is provocative and extremely expensive. Wars will go on. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs has announced that next stops are Somalia and Sudan. Our slogan to the people is: shall we pay for weapons and war, or for life and welfare?

The huge mass demonstrations against NATO during the summit in Portugal were not mentioned by the Danish media at all. As you probably know, the General Secretary of NATO is the former bourgeois Prime minister in Denmark. Maybe that is the reason why the Summit got all the media attention NATO could wish for. Nevertheless, as last weekend was the 9th anniversary of the government ruling together with the extreme right wing nationalist party, the media asked the population in an opinion poll what the was worst thing that the governing coalition had done during this time. A big majority of respondents answered that the absolute worst decisions related to Denmark’s involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The next worst decisions related

IB 2011 n Communist Party in Denmark

35

to the government’s privatization programmes.

The scandals which arose when some of the interpreters and later wikileaks exposed the torture of prisoners of war has already cost a Minister of Defence (war) and the highest chief in the Danish military their jobs. The struggle against war and militarism, and the struggle for a better and socially secure life for all are entirely bound up with the struggle for international solidarity with broad alliances and the struggle for socialism.

Capitalism is the problem – Socialism is the solution.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 36

Communist Party of Denmark (DKP) HENRIK STAMER HEDIN

LAST YEAR IN DELHI we spoke of the crisis of capitalism that has now been with us for a couple of years. I want to resume where I was cut short last year.

In Denmark, as elsewhere, the crisis has led to bank crashes, mass sackings, and elimination of jobs in industry, and last year it was announced that the country’s last great shipyard is to be closed down in the space of three years. Official, heavily embellished unemployment numbers have exceeded a hundred thousand. Real numbers are at least double that, by a population of five million, mass unemployment thus being back after a short break.

Nobody seems to have any solution or alternative to this development. The right-wing government certainly has none; the Socialist opposition has none; even the Left has no real viable alternative able to convince the masses. They all talk of growth, of revitalizing growth, of creating conditions for growth. But they have no remedy except more of the same neoliberal medicine that paved the way for the worst economic crisis in generations. Instead they convince themselves that recovery is already under way and that now it is time to tighten our belts, cut down on public spending and raise taxes – which will, of course, only make things worse. The Left knows this, of course, but offers no alternative except asserting that it is not necessary to make savings on people’s needs, on welfare and health, and pointing to other sources of revenue. Taxing big companies and multinationals and oil is a proper thing to do and certainly better than cutting down on public spending, but it is not the alternative to the systemic crisis of capitalism. It does not question the state’s need for money – which, of course, originates from the billions spent on support for nearbankrupt banks.

Not only do the political forces see no alternative: Among the masses too, in the general populace, there is no awareness that an

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Denmark (DKP)

alternative to capitalism and its neoliberal interpretation exists – and if it does, it will have to be an even more savage version of the capitalism we know. In this sense, on this level of subjectivity, it is hard to see a systemic crisis of capitalism, and this goes not only for Denmark, but also for the countries where unrest and uprising have seized the masses – Greece and Ireland, e.g. People may want a different policy, a new government perhaps, but nowhere is the alternative to capitalism as such put on the agenda. Yet we know that the systemic crisis of capitalism is an objective fact, and we know that socialism is the alternative to capitalism. This chasm between subjective and objective truth is our challenge.

The Communist Party of Denmark, at its National Committee plenary of February last year, reacted to this challenge by issuing an appeal “To progressive forces in Denmark”, The crisis calls for activity and alternatives. In this document, the other workers’ parties, the trade unions, and other popular forces are called upon to join in a “common effort” for “new initiatives capable of adding dynamism and renewed life to the task of developing democratic and socialist alternatives to the capitalist structures gone bankrupt”. The appeal was renewed this January and resulted in a joint meeting in April hosted by the Food Workers’ Union and attended by the Communist parties, of which there are 4 in Denmark, all counted, as well as by individuals of the broader Left. Our aim is to set up a joint committee with the purpose of convening some time next year an open conference on the crisis of capitalism and the socialist alternative.

It is our hope that in this way we can succeed in getting together a new, broad force critical towards capitalism and capitalist solutions,

thus creating a new consensus of the Left and a new agenda of Danish politics.

This initiative, which is still in its infant stage, arises out of the need to put an antimonopolistic, anti-capitalistic alternative into words convincing to the masses of today with the experience of people of today – not the experience of the October Revolution or of the victorious struggle against fascism, but the experience of the European Counterrevolution. The movement created by us is still much too narrow, and it takes place on a national level. A much wider movement is needed, wider socially and wider politically and wider in the sense that it must be expanded to a regional or even global level. The systemic crisis of capitalism is global; the threats that the masses are facing are basically the same everywhere. A united global struggle is needed. This will be the challenge of tomorrow.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

37

‘ AMANDLA - LONG LIVE THE INTERNATION38

Communist Party of Finland JUHA PEKKA VÄISÄNEN

AL COLLABORATION! I bring this meeting two greetings from Finland and the Communist Party of Finland. I want to take up especially two political struggles.

GREETINGS. ONE IS A SOLIDARITY ACTION and the other is from a political protest against the ruling right wing government. I hope that my greetings inspire us to do a bit more in our political initiatives and make us ask what we, as parties, could do more together.

I wish to thank all comrades in the South African Communist Party for preparing this international platform for our important change of ideas.

First greetings come from the massive stone stairs of the Finnish Parliament House where we communists carried out a political provocation as a form of public demonstration.

We (CPF) ordered a truck load of red moving boxes to the front of the Parliament House in Helsinki. We offered the corrupted political elite help to move out of the parliament. The right wing government has offered us cuts in labor budgets, cuts in education, cuts in healthcare etc. The corrupted elite has proposed a huge increase in the military budget to fit NATO standards. With this action we said “enough”!

At the same time when we were ready with the red boxes Finnish top leaders were attending the NATO summit in Lisbon. Our red protest said that Finland should not be present at any NATO meetings and Finnish and other foreign troops should be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan. In the partyãs press release we underlined that in this political situation a moving box is a much better option than a sink box. The NATO led ISAF - operation has clearly shown that no peace process can take place as

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Finland

long as foreign troops are in Afghanistan.

The second greetings come from a solidarity event held in a public library in Helsinki. 29th November is United Nations International Day for Solidarity with the Palestinians. In the event Finnish psychology activists shared their experiences of working in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The need for a free and independent Palestinian state was expressed. A cultural event connected new people and activists together, deepened knowledge of the Palestinian situation and gave new powers to us who struggle with the people constructing an independent Palestinian state and peace in the region.

COMMUNISTS’ PLAN OF ACTION These two political actions could have been done anywhere. Solidarity could have been expressed with the Cuban Miami 5, the Western-Sahara issue or with any other humiliated and persecuted subject. More red protests could also have been done because repressive politics can be found almost everywhere. I am sure that all parties present at this meeting can share experiences of similar actions. These Finnish occurrences are not special cases and they donãt need to be underlined. Anti-NATO demonstrations, resistance to right wing politics, and solidarity are simply in our collective communist and workers parties’ plan of action agreed in New Delhi a year ago. For our future plans it is very important to share experiences and hear examples of actions well done so that we can learn and strengthen our struggle for socialism and communism.

We still have a lot to do. Capitalism has shown how insolent the system is. In good

days there is no money for social security investments and workers’ mouths are closed because the only wise thing to do is to save for future bad days. When the bad days arrive savings must be used to save the system. Right wing politics guarantee that business and banks get their profits and options.

The role of the state in capitalism is only to function as first aid when big businesses make their transfers of income and to adjust the system to make it more and more profitable for international monopolies.

The majority of the people have experienced the cruelties of the “all for sale” system. Capitalism does not guarantee social security. Today Europe is attacked by cuts and people are thrown into poverty with no vision of new work or any guarantee of social security. Students are expected to graduate sooner with less public support and workers are expected to work longer days and longer careers with less salary.

The current situation has created a larger front demanding a radical change. Nobody is safe in this current hunt for neoliberal markets. In Europe we have experienced massive demonstrations organized by all European labor unions. People have shown that there is resistance.

RADICAL ANTI CAPITALIST FRONT The Communist Party of Finland works to construct a radical, anti capitalist, redgreen front. It is contradictory that Finnish parliamentary left parties have abandoned anti-capitalist priorities despite the growing resistance and dissatisfaction about current politics. Parties attuned to capitalism have become blind to peoples’ needs and they have even agreed with the Euro-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

39

40

pean Unionãs anti-democratic structures and illusory freedoms. The Euro has not guaranteed stability in the European Union.

Capitalism has shown that it is even stronger than the Euro. The greedy capitalist system has never aimed to create sustainable social welfare. This has been an aim only in the filthy lies of the bourgeoisie.

Our tasks for the next year must grow from a clear and logical thinking based on Marxist analysis and grass root experiences. Regional meetings among our parties play an important role. The CP of Finland is happy to inform you that there will be a meeting of the Northern polar cap countries in Kemi, Finland this summer. We find the collaboration among the Scandinavian communist parties also very fruitful and we wish to develop it. Work in the European left party has also been an important European wide political platform for Finnish communists and we want to develop this network, open to all communist, socialist and red-green parties in Europe to strengthen the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle.

are struggling with same political issues as us all over the world.

We should think how to create some campaign materials to make us more united in some of our basic campaigns, like the right to work, anti capitalism or anti NATO campaigns. It could be a collective leaflet or a poster where every party could add its own local information.

Planning protests and campaigns is important and brings criticism of repression into the streets and among people. I believe that all future revolutions start at the grass roots level. I want to be there where socialism is constructed from basic human needs growing from the root. I want to work for revolution with people who are aware of their rights and dreams.

I want to be part of a radical team where democracy means a real participation in social issues, where we support workers’ self determination, where we aim at active citizens’ society and respect people’s basic rights.

LONG LIVE SOLIDARITY! LONG LIVE COMMUNISM! LONG LIVE INTERNATIONALISM!

NEW PLANS AND NEW ENERGY At the beginning of my speech I mentioned two public happenings, both from our collective action plan. During this meeting a new plan of action will be prepared. I wish to keep all of this year’s political topics in the working list and add some new ideas to it too. It makes the everyday political work easier and more credible once you can say that it is not only the Communist Party of Finland that is campaigning, for example, against NATO. There are a huge number of other communist and workers’ parties that

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Finland

‘

German Communist Party HEINZ STEHR

DEAR COMRADES, THIS MEETING TAKING PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AFRICA is of special importance without doubt. The African continent has been the victim of imperialism and of today‘s neoliberal crisis more than every other continent. The fact that the demands of the United Nations millennium summit in the year 2000 have not been fulfilled and that the balance sheet which has just been published is so negative hits most of all the people of this continent. We, the German Communist Party, wish the comrades of the SACP and the common struggle with the ANC and COSATO the best possible success. We are certain that first of all progressive people of this continent look at South Africa and expect impulses for the carrying through of progressive politics from this country. May this meeting further the attractiveness of communist ideas and politics!

THE DKP HAS ON ITS 19th CONGRESS ELECTED comrade Bettina Jfirgensen as its new chairperson. A document to decide upon was the Political Resolution.

As we meet here, there are many activities of the social movement and the peace, ecology and antifascist movements taking place in the Federal Republic of Germany, too. Hundreds of thousands of people are active in the different movements. The autumn of 2010 is called a ‘hot autumn‘. We as members of the DKP participate in these movements, promoting our own points of view. We think it is essential for the analysis to point out that the international financial markets dictate the national economic politics. We face a cyclic crisis as well as a crisis of the neoliberal regime of growth dominated by finance. Both forms of crisis overlap and cause each other.

This crisis is different from former crises also because different processes of crisis, the crises of finance, the economy, energy, climate and nutrition, the crises of politics and of democracy, the ongoing crisis in the Middle

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

41

42

East, the failure of the USA and Nato war in Afghanistan and in Iraq influence and intensify each other. And there is also a process of large scale migration especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this situation capital favours reactionary solutions. There will be fundamental changes in the social relationships, in production, in the exercise of capital‘s power, in the relationship between work and capital and in the international balance of power. Capital wants restrictive changes to secure its power by more reactionary methods than before.

Within EU-Europe, EU commissions and governments carry on their programmes of liberalization and privatization in spite of the catastrophic results. At the same time the imperialist states and their big companies try to dominate the world market and to secure control of the energy raw material resources, if necessary by wars of aggression. The participation of the German army in worldwide actions of war shows that the German government is the driving force behind the militarization of the EU and strives to increase its influence in world politics. Reactionary developments towards an authoritarian state manifest themselves even today in the growing limitations of basic rights, for example the right of assembly.

Next to the fight for social rights in this situation, the struggle for democracy and peace gathers a special importance. The historic alternative ‘Socialism or Barbarism‘ (Rosa Luxemburg, 1915) is more explosive than ever in the period lying ahead of us. In this situation the DKP orientates on common resistance and works for the building of civil alliances transcending the differences between different parties and movements.

We envisage dangers coming from the cri-

sis of parliamentarianism and of the respective parties, but also chances. There is the danger of a growing right-wing development.

About 25 % of the adult population tend to reactionary positions. At the same time a consciousness for progressive solutions and progressive social aims is developing. Now the main task is to strengthen the resistance against the right-wing development. In this process alternatives and perspectives should also be promoted. We not only orientate towards the struggle of resistance but also towards the fight for a change of politics. In this situation we think that internationalism and solidarity in a new quality is possible and necessary. This was also shown by the EU-wide Day of Action of the European Trade Union Federation with the big demonstration at the 29th of September in Brussels. But this is also shown by struggles in factories of multinational companies taking place linked up with each other.

The DKP strives for a new quality of international cooperation. The struggle with imperialism and neoliberalism on the international level and the fight for alternatives demands new efforts of the communists, too, to strengthen the cooperation between themselves as well as with other left progressive forces and the working class movement. That is one reason for the participation of the DKP in the European Left Party with observer status. The proposal of the DKP is that it is necessary to build networks which make possible a different quality of the cooperation of the communist movement on an equal basis. In these social struggles we fight for the strengthening of the DKP, especially by winning new young members. We contribute to the development of a social debate about social alternatives. We communists enhance

IB 2011 n German Communist Party

43

this debate with our views about a future socialist society, which must be achieved together. A society based on the political power of the working class in alliance with other working people, a society in which the most important means of production, the financial institutes and the natural resources are nationalized and controlled publicly, a society in which there is no poverty. A society which develops according to plan in order to secure that what is produced by society is used for the benefit of the people and for the protection of the natural preconditions of our existence. Only a society like this will be in a position to create a new, just world order for the peaceful co-operation of the peoples of this earth, free from exploitation, oppression, fascism and war.

Dear Comrades, I am sure that we can give new impulses for the strengthening of our communist movement with our meeting here in Johannesburg. Let us fight together for a different world. This world is possible and necessary.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 44

Communist Party of Greece GIORGOS MARINOS

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SOUTH AFRICAN CP for hosting the international meeting and for the hospitality they have provided us.

We send militant greetings to the communist men and women of Africa, to the anti-imperialist movements, to the people of the continent who have experienced capitalism in all its barbarity. We salute the fact that the International Meeting of the CWP is being held on the African continent for the first time.

We salute the delegations of the workers’ and communist parties and we thank them for the solidarity that they have expressed with the struggles of the KKE, PAME and the working class of our country.

The developments have raised the level of what is required of us and the workings of the International Meeting of the CPs must be distinguished by the serious responsibility which the communists have in relation to the working class, the peoples, who face the fierce assault of capital and its political representatives, an assault which under the conditions of the capitalist crisis has become more intense and dangerous.

We are not any run of the mill political force, we are Communist Parties, and we have a specific mission - to organize the struggle of the working class, the class struggle, with the aim of overthrowing the exploitative system in every country and the construction of a new socialist-communist society.

For this reason we are obliged to collectively elaborate our experience from the struggle and to utilize it to take the strategy and tactics of the international communist movement a step forward, so that it corresponds to the needs of the class struggle.

The capitalist crisis continues and deepens. Despite the assistance of the bourgeois states and the imperialist organizations which have supported the monopoly businesses

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Greece

with billions of dollars, the contradictions of the system cannot be checked.

The recession of 2009 continued into this year, and in many capitalist states will continue into 2011. The assessments concerning an anaemic recovery and the creation of the preconditions for a new crisis place massive responsibilities on our shoulders.

Internationally, unemployment has exceeded every precedent.

The number of unemployed has surpassed 23 million in the EU member states, without including the millions of workers who are on part-time or temporary contracts.

The importance for the communists to have a common viewpoint concerning the causes of the crisis remains and indeed has been reinforced, precisely because a fierce ideological-political battle is being waged over this issue which is related to the direction and the future of the class struggle.

The bourgeois forces which defend capitalism claim that the crisis was caused by “management” policies, the lack of control over the financial system, the overspending of the bourgeois state, the lack of transparency in the exercise of economic policies.

The forces of social democracy and opportunism operate within this “administrative” logic and limit their criticism to neo-liberalism, seeking the solution through the development of the system itself, the regulation of the market. They foster illusions concerning capitalism “with a human face” in order to deceive the workers.

Unfortunately identical or similar positions are influencing the ranks of the communist movement and causing serious damage.

They shift the causes from the exploitative relations of production, the laws and con-

tradictions of capitalism, to the bourgeois administrative policies and their various “mixtures”.

Marxist-Leninist analysis leads to the safe conclusion which stresses that the causes of the crisis can be found in the heart of the system, in the conditions of capitalist production, in its anarchy, its uneven development, the sharpening of its basic contradiction, the contradiction between the social character of production and labour on the one hand and the individual-capitalist form of appropriation on the other, because the means of production are found in the hands of the capitalists.

The development of the crisis proves that it is a crisis of the over-accumulation of capital which had been concentrated in the recent period from the exploitation of the labour force, under the conditions of capitalist economic growth.

This is the situation which we are experiencing in Greece today.

The slowing down of the economy which was apparent in 2008 developed in 2009 into economic recession and the reduction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2 %, which continued into 2010 with a further reduction of 4% and will continue in 2011.

We are referring to a reduction of industrial production (manufacturing, Energy, Transport, Telecommunications) and in other sectors and branches of the economy, such as tourism and retail, which in combination with the anti-people policies of the social democratic and liberal governments provokes an increase in unemployment and more generally the worsening of the living conditions of the working class, of the small and medium farmers, of the small tradesmen, craftsmen and traders.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

45

46

The liberal government of ND which was in power until October 2009 and afterwards the social democratic government of PASOK, supported by the reactionary and racist LAOS party, took harsh anti-people measures using as pretexts the deficit and the public debt which is a large proportion of the GDP. The social democratic government signed an agreement, a memorandum, with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the “Troika”, in order to ensure a loan of 110 billion Euros for the needs of the capitalists.

The memorandum legislates for amongst other things the reduction of wages and pensions, the abolition of industry-level collective bargaining agreements, the overturning of labour and social security rights, privatizations, and reactionary changes in the Health sector, in Welfare and in Education.

This situation triggered intense popular discontent and large mobilizations in which the KKE and PAME, the class-oriented trade union movement, played the leading role.

From December 2009 up to the present day there have been 13 general strikes, dozens of occupations of ministries and other state buildings, a variety of sectoral and other struggles with the participation of hundreds of thousands of workers.

The message of the KKE “Peoples of Europe, Rise up” which was issued from the Acropolis monument was of special importance.

We can draw valuable conclusions from the rich experience we have gained in this period.

Firstly, the anti-people measures are not the product of this period. They are measures that had been decided on in the European

Union and other international imperialist organizations, with the participation of the Greek and other bourgeois governments in previous years, within the framework of the capitalist restructurings in order to reduce the cost of the labour force, to strengthen competitiveness and to increase the profitability of the large corporations. The view that the EU, an inter-state imperialist union, could allegedly prevent the outbreak of the capitalist crisis has been shown to be extremely dangerous. It has also been proved that this is not related only to the specific situation in Greece. The developments in Ireland and Portugal reveal that the outbreak of the crisis has a general character.

These measures which have now been imposed during the crisis are not temporary but permanent in character and will be reinforced further according to the needs of capital if the resistance does not become more powerful.

The following conclusion is beyond any doubt: As long as state power and the means of production are found in the hands of the capitalists, development will strengthen their position and increase the profits of capital.

Either with restrictive or with expansionist public finance policies, with the extension of the renegotiation of the debt, the contradictions will sharpen, the peoples will be called on to cover the costs of the crisis.

Secondly, the social democratic government of PASOK has taken on the basic responsibility for the measures, but the liberal ND party and the other bourgeois parties essentially agree with them.

The opportunist forces (SYN/SYRIZA) sow confusion, make excuses for the European

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Greece

Union (EU), that interstate imperialist union, and focus their criticism on the role of the International Monetary fund. It is also important to point out that in these conditions the peoples who are struggling with the communists in the vanguard must be clear that the anti-worker measures of the EU and IMF are not being imposed on the bourgeois governments against their will and their interests. On the contrary, these measures have the full support of the domestic plutocracy because they ensure the continuance of their profitability both in the crisis and also in the period of recovery. In addition their implementation does not constitute a new form of occupation as some forces claim, in essence denying the guilt of the bourgeois classes of their countries and their governments.

Employer-led and government-led trade unionism has criminal responsibilities. It controls the administrations of the two general confederations (in the public and private sector) and has the majority in a large number of trade unions, utilizing both state mechanisms and the intervention of the employers.

These forces have supported the European one-way street for years, the strategy of capital, and they implement the line of class collaboration.

Thirdly, the KKE and the class-oriented movement are the consistent forces which stand at the people’s side and organize the struggle in the face of serious difficulties and anti-communist attacks.

The KKE promptly informed and prepared the workers concerning the crisis and the anti-worker, anti-people assault. It made it clear that the workers were not responsible for the crisis, the debt and the deficit but that the forces of capital and the policies which

serve its interests are responsible, condensing this political position into the slogan “The plutocracy must pay for the crisis.”

The KKE and PAME play the vanguard role in the daily struggles and fight against the imperialist European Union, the bourgeois and opportunist parties, the subjugated reformist forces in the trade union movement.

They focus their attention on the unity of the working class and the social alliance, on rallying working class and popular forces in a line and with aims that come into conflict with capitalist path of development. In the direction of a path of development which has as its criterion the satisfaction of the contemporary needs of the people, popular power and the people’s economy, socialism.

A very important element is the coordination of the struggle of PAME and the other militant rallies of the small farmers, small tradesmen, craftsmen and traders, the militant women’s movement, the militant movement of students on the basis of a common framework of struggle which contributes to the mobilization of more popular forces, to the construction of the social alliance.

This combination of ideological, political and mass struggle contributed to the increase in the influence of the KKE, PAME and the other militant rallies, and this was expressed in the recent elections for the local and regional government bodies through the significant strengthening of “People’s Rally”, the list which the KKE supports.

Sources of strength for our party are its programmatic positions which were enriched at the 18th congress through the decision concerning the “Assessments and Conclusions on Socialist Construction in the 20thCentury”.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

47

48

A source of strength for our party is its faith in the class struggle, its commitment to the socialist revolution for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of socialism.

This struggle determines the ideological-political and organizational work of the party, its activity in the working class, popular strata and the youth.

It has been proved in practice that the revolutionary line of struggle which the KKE follows does not narrow mass work but strengthens it. It raises the expectations of the workers, it provides a way out and a prospect for the future, it contributes to shifts in the correlation of forces.

We must confirm and reinforce our principles because this will strengthen the efforts to deal with the crisis which affects the communist movement.

Our experience teaches us that revolutionary struggle is predicated on the fight against opportunism, which expresses the impact of bourgeois ideology on the labour movement, and is a tool in the hands of the system, an obstacle to the radicalization of popular forces, a vehicle for subjugation and compromise, as the history of eurocommunism and its more recent expressions have proved.

Opportunism wears many masks.

For this reason there must be strict criteria in order to discover what lies behind the term “left” and the self-proclaimed left parties and initiatives.

Life shows that the strategy and tactics of a series of forces that call themselves “leftwing” are an obstacle to the anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist struggle.

We are in opposition to the European Left Party, in which Die Linke from Germany plays

a leading role, because it defends the imperialist European Union, and is dependent on it.

Through its social democratic strategy of managing the system which it promotes with the assistance of capitalism and its participation in the slanderous campaign against the USSR and socialism which was constructed in the 20th century, from an anti-communist and anti-historical position, it spreads confusion amongst the workers, and impedes the development of political class consciousness.

Similar parties outside of the ELP do the same, such as the Left party of Sweden which has utilized the foundation “International Left forum” (VIF) to intervene in a liquidationist fashion for the social-democratization of CPs. In the opinion of the KKE the ideologicalpolitical conflict with these forces must be strengthened, their role must be exposed, taking into account that these forces, together with the mechanisms of the socialist international intervene, in combination with state mechanisms and interstate bodies, corrosively within the ranks of the communist movement, operating as a factor which prolongs its crisis.

In addition the theses concerning “21st century socialism” are dangerous for the communist movement. These positions are advanced by petty bourgeois forces in Latin America, in opposition to scientific socialism.

This is an opportunist ideological construct which distorts all the principles and laws of socialism-communism, impedes the development of class struggle and causes confusion within the working class.

The necessity of socialist revolution, the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a new communist socio-economic formation, is not determined by the correla-

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Greece

tion of forces at any given historical moment but by the historical requirement for the solution of the basic contradiction between capital and labour, the abolition of exploitation of man by man, the abolition of classes.

For this reason the painful overthrow of socialism in the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, and indeed all the counterrevolutionary changes which were caused by opportunist corrosion, do not change the character of our epoch as the era of the transition from capitalism to socialism.

The first duty is the acquisition of state power by the working class in order to create, through the conscious activity of the vanguard class and its party, a new socio-economic base through the social ownership of the means of production and central planning.

In order for all classes to be abolished not only must the exploiters be overthrown, not only must their ownership be abolished but every form of private ownership of the means of production.

This Leninist direction is of special importance in the struggle of the communists, it protects us from mistakes and deviations.

The replacement of the principles of Marxism-Leninism by revisionist approaches in the name of national peculiarities has done great damage to the communist movement.

We are talking about strategic issues, about the central direction of our struggle and not national peculiarity can negate the need for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, the need for working class state power, for the socialization of the means of production and central planning.

No national peculiarity can justify the position concerning “socialism with a capi-

talist market”. It is one thing to make a necessary temporary retreat in adverse conditions (such as the NEP in Lenin’s time), and quite another to accept capitalist laws and categories as tools for socialist construction, as is happening today in China.

The Communist formation has its own laws. Socialism with capitalist relations of production has never existed, and will never exist.

The struggle of the peoples will become more effective to the extent which the front against imperialism and the imperialist unions is strengthened, to the extent which the conflict is intensified against the theory of the so-called “multi-polar world” that hides the essence of imperialism-monopoly capitalism.

It is one thing to utilize inter-imperialist contradictions to assist the anti-imperialist struggle and quite another to idealize the stance of old or new, up and coming or not, imperialist states and unions (EU, OSCE, Shanghai pact etc) which are opposed to the USA on behalf of their own monopoly groups in order to win a larger share of the markets.

This is not only true of the European Union and Japan. It is also true of Brazil, India, Russia and indeed of China, where capitalist relations of production are now predominant. China’s capitalist monopoly groups are active in every continent and at the political level it promotes a strategy of cooperation with the Socialist International, which plays a key role in capital’s assault.

The opposition to the uneven relations which characterize the imperialist system, the opposition to the strong presence of transnational capital in certain states must acquire a deeper anti-imperialist-antimonopoly content, by fighting against posi-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

49

50

tions which lead to an alliance with sections of domestic capital and the political forces which represent their interests.

The independent ideological, political, and organizational work of the CPs and an alliance policy which is suited to a revolutionary force are basic principles which when violated lead to the alteration of the CPs’ communist characteristics, to their degeneration.

We have a great deal of work to do and many difficult duties to undertake. The coordination of our activity is necessary and we must insist on the implementation of the goals which the international meetings of the Communist and Workers’ Parties decide on.

Firstly, It is certain that the capitalist crisis will continue and consequently there is a clear need to promote the duty for the organization of the working class - popular struggle in every country in order to prevent the antipeople measures, to rally more popular forces around anti-monopoly goals, so that the bonds between the Communist Parties and the working class, the youth and the popular strata are strengthened, as well as their organization in the workplaces, so that new trade unions are won to a class-oriented line, so that party organizations are built in the factories and more generally in the workplaces, and of course so that strong communist youth organizations are developed.

The KKE implements with consistency the decisions which are contained in the joint statements of the international meetings, takes initiatives to organize regional and thematic meetings and persists concerning the question of the common activity of the CPs of Europe and the Balkans where ideological and organizational fragmentation have led to a large-scale retreat.

We will continue on this road in the next period, working in parallel to strengthen the initiative of the theoretical journals of sister Marxist-Leninist parties to publish together with us the “International Communist Review”. As a party we persist in our view that a discrete Marxist-Leninist pole must be formed which will assist the communist movement in dealing with its crisis.

Secondly: The sharpening of inter-imperialist competition and the difficulties the capitalist system has in dealing with the crisis, intensify imperialist aggression and increase the dangers of a new cycle of regional conflicts in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, in the Korean peninsula, in Iran, in the Caucasus, in the Balkans and other areas.

These dangers are intensifying if we take into account the new NATO strategy, this dangerous tool of imperialism, which allows for interventions, wars, under the guise of a wide variety of pretexts, such as “terrorism», «extremism” “climate change”, “waves of immigration”.

The conditions, the correlation of forces have changed and this is apparent in international relations, in the international organizations, such as the UN. Today international law which had been shaped by the conflict between socialism and capitalism does not exist. It has been replaced by a law which serves the interests of the imperialists, and for this reason any talk of a “new global architecture” or the “democratization of international relations” has no basis in reality.

In light of this situation, communists must play a leading role in order to inform the people and develop the anti-imperialist struggle, in order to open a strong front against the bourgeois governments which participate in the imperialist plans, to strengthen a fighting

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Greece

movement for disengagement from NATO and the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The greatest possible international solidarity with states and peoples which are threatened by imperialism must be expressed, and the so-called “anti-missile shield” of NATO-USA must not be installed.

We must strengthen our support for socialist Cuba, as well as for the struggles of the Palestinian people and the peoples of the Middle East, which resist and do not submit to the plans of the USA and Israel.

We must demand a just solution to the Cyprus problem, with the withdrawal of all the occupation forces. The Cyprus problem is above all an International issue of the invasion and occupation of 37% of an independent member-state of the UN by the Turkish army, with the active assistance of the USA and NATO. Thirdly, anticommunism is continuing to intensify, with at its centre the anti-historical identification of communism with fascist and Nazi brutality. The Council of Europe, the European Union and the other imperialist organizations promote harsh measures in order to restrict the activity of the CPs and to squeeze their finances. Reactionary changes to the political systems are being pushed forward; bourgeois state power is being reinforced with new repressive mechanisms.

CPs remain illegal and are persecuted in the states of Eastern and Central Europe, in Asia, Africa and in other regions. Communist parties, revolutionary and anti-imperialist movements in Latin America are being targeted under the pretext of the war against “terrorism”; the forms of struggle and resistance which the people choose are being criminalized.

We have a serious responsibility and obligation to fight for, in a coordinated manner, the legalization of the CPs and anti-imperialist forces and to defend the history of the communist movement and massive contribution of the Soviet Union and the socialism which was constructed in the 20th century.

Fourthly, the situation demands that we give more support to the international antiimperialist organizations, that we contribute to the strengthening of the WFTU, which has made important progress and will hold its 16th congress in April 2011 in Athens.

We must contribute to the strengthening of the WPC, WFDY, which will hold the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students here in a few days and the WIDF. We must strengthen their anti-imperialist character.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

51

‘ 52

Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party GYULA THÜRMER,

DEAR COMRADES! On behalf of the Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party I thank the South African Communist Party for organising our meeting.

AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS IS NEEDED, very much needed. The future of the communist movement in many respects depends on our ability to give correct answers to the new situation caused by the capitalist world crisis.

DURING OUR LAST TWO MEETINGS, in Sao Paulo and in Delhi, we deeply analysed the current crisis of capitalism. We declared that there is no other solution than socialism. It means, comrades, a very serious thing: we should overthrow capitalism.

We can speak about some very positive developments. We should highly appreciate the heroic fight of the Greek workers, the consequent struggle of the Greek communists.

We should put great importance on the processes of class struggle in Portugal. We should see the radicalisation of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela.

But we should answer ourselves: can we overthrow capitalism today? No, comrades, we can not. We could not awake yet the working people of our country. The class struggle has not spread yet from Greece, Portugal and Venezuela to other countries of the world, not even in Europe.

There are at least two reasons. The capitalist forces launched a much more intensive counter-attack than we expected. They could not solve the crisis but they could mobilize their resources. Let us look at the last intervention in Ireland. They use the war in Afghanistan to paralyse any opposition in our countries by the myth of terrorism. They also successfully criminalize the historic path of the communist parties and the former socialist countries.

As far as the communist parties of the world are concerned we should say clearly

IB 2011 n Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party

that we could not launch a real revolutionary attack. n Our actions against capitalism are strong in words but rather mild in practice. n Capital is taking strong, joint actions against us, with sophisticated methods.

And, in contrast, we are not unified. The coordination of our actions is very limited. n Our methods are out-dated. Our language is antiquated, if you like, archaic.

Comrades, if we want to make revolution we should start with a revolution in our minds. n We should strengthen our unity on a principled basis. n For this reason we should strengthen our fight against all forms of opportunism and revisionism. We should speak in a new but Marxist way about the history of socialism.

If we do not understand what is the difference between Lenin, Stalin, on the one hand, and Bukharin, Chruschtschow, Gorbachev on the other hand, we cannot fight against modern revisionism. If we do not understand the nature of bourgeois democracy, we will always have illusions about our participation in the modern bourgeois parliaments. If we do not have the necessary political courage to call a spade a spade we will never be able to explain to our working masses what is going on in China, Vietnam, and Cuba. Revisionism, reformism, you can call it as you want, is the greatest danger for our parties. We should fight together.

We recommend preparing together the 55th anniversary the 20th Congress of CPSU and that of the Hungarian counter-revolution in 2011 and especially the 60th anniversary of these events in 2016. We should collect and analyse new documents and estimate these events in a new way. We ask the Working

Group to put this proposal into our final document.

LET ME SPEAK ABOUT THE HUNGARIAN EXPERIENCES. Hungarian capitalism is in crisis. The Hungarian capitalist class is scared of the crisis. More precisely, it’s scared of the possibility that what’s happening in Athens and Lisbon is going to happen in Budapest. If the Hungarian capitalist class will be forced to drastically reduce the salaries, dismiss masses of state employees, all hell will break loose in Budapest. It would be worse than in Greece, because Hungarian capitalism is weaker than the Greek. If a revolutionary change would start in Budapest, it would affect the neighbouring countries like a domino. That is the question for the capitalists and for us, too.

Hungarian capital and its foreign partners have recognized this, that’s why they’re using a specific recipe. Have a conservative party!

This party shall say what the people want to hear! Promise 1 million workplaces, European salaries! Garnish the whole thing with nationalism and anti-communism, and the solution is ready. This is what we have in Hungary today. The Fidesz, as a right-wing capitalist party won the elections with left-wing slogans, mostly with our slogans.

What can we do? We are sure that the problems of capitalism could only be solved by liquidating capitalism, on the path of revolution. The poverty and bitterness of people are so widespread in Hungary that in such a situation anything is possible. Though it’s true that to-day most of the masses are still passive. The solidarity of workers is weak. And it’s also true that it’s not a revolutionary situation yet. But who knows what will happen tomorrow. The HCWP should be ready for the revolutionary fight.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

53

54

What do we do? We renew the party. We want to develop the party into a disciplined fighting organisation. On the coming congress of the party we want to elect many young men and women in the Central Committee.

We go to factory gates. We go to the streets. We strengthen our relation with the new alternative trade unions which do want to fight against capitalism.

We go to civil organisations, we protest against eviction, fight against sending Hungarian soldiers to Afghanistan.

We prepare a new program to overcome the capitalist crisis. We will remain a MarxistLeninist party but we want to change our language and build down some of the out-dated mystified theses of our movement.

We know that within a reasonable time we won’t be able to get to the parliament. We should fight on the streets, among the people.

And if we want to use it effectively we have to rebuild the party, teach the party new methods.

With one word: we work. We don’t wait for miracles. We use what we have: our mind, honour, work.

IB 2011 n Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party

‘ THE DEEPENING CRISIS OF WORLD

IMPERIALISM, AND NEED FOR BROAD ANTI-IMPERIALIST UNITY

Communist Party of India SUDHAKAR REDDY

First of all, please accept my greetings on behalf of the Communist Party of India (CPI) to all those participating in this important conference of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, hosted by the great South African Communist Party. It is only fitting that the SACP is hosting it, as it is a party which has gone through many stormy and bitter struggles in its history against apartheid and other grotesque forms of imperialism and colonialism in the course of its glorious history, full of ups and downs, battles of all kinds and varied and successful experiences, including the parliamentary democratic one at present as well as armed and underground one in the past. It has played a great role in uniting all the democratic forces of the country. It has played a crucial role in cooperating with forces of liberty led by the great Nelson Mandela.

All this is a great inspiration for us in India.

WE ARE MEETING HERE AT THE RIGHT TIME, which is also very crucial for the people of the world. It is not just symbolic that the theme of the conference is related to the deepening crisis of capitalism and imperialism, the need for social alliances and united fronts against world imperialism, and the role of this struggle for peace, democracy and socialism. We have gathered here to chart out the path and role of us Communists in these historic times, for the Communists are and should be the foremost in these struggles.

The theme of the conference, therefore, is closely related with the very lives of the peoples all over the world.

The world imperialist economy went into a deep economic crisis beginning in mid-2008.

The crisis continues unabated. One crisis is not over, and another takes place, overlapping the previous one. This is a typical feature

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

55

56

of the present day. The bourgeois economists connected with the west and its leaders expected that the crisis would be over soon and finance capital-led development would regain its easy and even-paced movement. Imperialist development has never been free from crises and crashes and collapses, and had never been easy and even-paced. But the present crisis has several features hitherto unknown or not so prominent. It shows not only the dominance of finance capital over the rest of the economy, including the productive one.

It also shows the brittle and weak nature of this very financial dominance. Therefore, the people have all the potential and prospects to fight back the present crisis.

It is perhaps for the first time that finance capital has become so isolated and cut off from its productive base and fallen into such a deep crisis. When we met last in world conference held in New Delhi, we had agreed that it was a systemic crisis. Our analysis has been confirmed since. The crisis, which began in the leading imperialist country of the United States, has spread far and wide, and has been expressed in the crises with epicenters in Greece, Portugal, France and then in Ireland and elsewhere. The crises waves continue to rock the world imperialist system. The whole of Europe has been shaken by the sudden crisis in Greece. The governments of the Western Europe have rushed to ‘bail-out’ the Greek economy, lest it should affect them and sink them. This again is the result of the financial burden on the whole economy and of the growing interconnection and globalization of the European and world economy, exacerbated by the misuse of the new technological and communication systems by the finance and the imperialist circles.

The latest in the series is the economic

shake up in Ireland. The financial crisis there has reached a stage where the European Union/IMF have announced a bail-out of about a 100 billion euros. Besides, Britain has announced 7 billion pounds in a separate separate loan. Britain has a huge stake in Ireland; at the same time the leading west European countries fear the Irish crisis will engulf their own economies.

Ireland had to announce an austerity plan, which includes reduction of the minimum wage, cuts in public service staff, reduction in pensions and other anti-people measures as well several financial ones. Such are the measures generally used by the imperialist circles to meet their crises: they shift their losses and problems onto the mass of the people.

Among the interesting factors and sources of the financial crisis is that a handful of the financial and other banks grow bigger than even a country’s economy several times over. The banks lend vast amounts of cash to purchase shares in other banks. Generally, the only collateral for those loans are the shares themselves. Thus, when one bank fails, large portions of the collateral become worthless. The banks start to run out of cash, and they then turn to the government and the central banks and institutions for help or ‘bail-out’.

This is what is happening in many of the advanced imperialist countries.

We are witnessing a strange phenomenon today, where the leading western imperialist countries and groupings like the US and EU have to intervene and ‘bail-out’ sinking economies, because they are directly related to their own economies. It is not in favor of the people that they intervene, but for the large financial interests. The crisis grows unabated.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of India

GROWING PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT Europe and other parts of the world are witnessing a growing mass struggle against the imperialist and financial circles on the problems of unemployment, subsidies, cuts in public spending, democratic rights, against the growing grip of the MNCs on the economy, social and individual lives, and the partial or total decimation of social security. Europe is witnessing the kind of people’s mass actions, with which we are so familiar in India. Mass historic actions have taken place in France in recent weeks and months one after another, shutting down vast sectors of industry and services. Mass demonstrations broke out spontaneously and rallies were held in an organised manner in the European cities and capitals. Among the unique features of these movements is their massive and continuous character. A unique rally took place at the headquarters of the European Union (EU) in Brussels recently with the participation of various sections of people drawn from different countries. Mass people’s actions continue to rock European cities. This reflects the rising levels of mass movement against the domination by the monopolist governments, the bureaucracy, the MNCs, finance capital and big and monopoly business.

THE INDIAN SITUATION The policies of globalization and liberalization are being followed actively in our country, leading to a serious situation on the economic, and consequently on the social and political fronts. The government of India has been following a course of growth-led development. The rate of growth of the Indian economy is quite high, as also in China. And this certainly has some advantages. It contrasts with the western capitalist countries, and this fact

has been of some help in times of the recent crisis. This is because we have a strong public sector, to save, which our Party is fighting very hard to do. The struggle to save and strengthen the state and the public sector is among the key planks of our mass movements and political-economic course.

Yet the growth-led economy hides within it the growing contradictions of the capitalist path of development. The advantages of this growth are hardly reaching the mass of the people. Peasants are forced to commit suicide on a large scale, unable to free themselves from the heavy debts they are incurring. The rate of growth in the agricultural sector is much lower and tardy. It is unable to create jobs, and as result, there is a growing mass migration of the rural poor and marginalized peasants, creating further crisis and panic in the urban market as well as overall employment market.

Sensex and stock market health is often presented by the government and the official circles as a sign of the good health of the Indian economy, but that is not true. Firstly, the sensex do not necessarily reflect the real state of the economy. And secondly, even the stock market is not in good health, always. The increase, even doubling, of the sensex in the last few years has largely been the result of a surge in speculation. This speculation is partly driven by the FII inflows consisting mainly of the hedge funds and such other flows. They have used routes such as participatory notes to enter the Indian market.

Quite often, mistakenly and deliberately, the wealth is measured by market values and market capitalization. This may not provide a real picture of the state of affairs. Paper money and its transactions, particularly that

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

57

58

represented by the stock market, does not always represent the condition of the productive side of the economy. Speculation and stock market often hides the real economy and exacerbates the crisis that has already set in.

As a result the markets fell heavily in 2008 and after. Market capitalization fell by 46% in the first half of 2008. The contradiction of the system is brought out by the single fact that even when the sensex crossed the 21000 mark, every 30 minutes a farmer was committing suicide in some place or the other in the country. The two extreme poles reflect the growing tensions in the economy, polity and society.

The problem in India is not that we have already been taken over completely by imperialist, monopoly and finance capital. What we are seriously concerned with is the weakkneed policies of the present government.

That threatens the existing structure and pillars of the economy built after the country’s freedom. Our party has been fighting for the creation and strengthening of a powerful state/public sector as the axis for the building of the country’s independent economy, which would curb the monopolies and solve the problems of the people. That way the people would have a strong base for raising their demands and problems, and trying to solve them.

The path of liberalization and globalization followed in the last two decades have widened the gulf between the rich and the poor and exacerbated all the contradictions.

What we are concerned about is the threat to the public sector and the relatively independent path built around it. A course of disinvestment is being followed, started by the previous rightwing political coalition and still

continued in some form by the present one.

We want the public sector not only to stay there but also to be strengthened.

India has a huge labour force, and therefore the problems related to employment/unemployment are also massive. The labour force in 1993-94 was estimated to be a little more than 345 million, which rose to nearly 430 million in 2004-05. The corresponding workforce was 327 million and more than 401 million respectively. Every year an additional of 12 million people join the labor force.

The difference between the labor force and the work force shows the extent of open unemployment. Open unemployment in 1993-94 was 18.18 million persons and in 2004-05 it rose to 28.75 million persons.

Thus the unemployment rate hovers around 8%. The general trend of policies is anti-labor, with the industrial and labor machinery failing badly, and the judicial system too taking an anti-labor stance.

The economic, and employment and price crisis are not confined to the working class alone but affect the entire working population including the middle classes, better-off consumers and professionals, who too are growingly dissatisfied with the government policies.

It is natural, and dangerous, that the rightwing reactionary forces take advantage of these critical situations and anti-people policies to foster communal-fascism, casteism and separatism, and to grow at the cost of the faulty government policies. Thus, we in India are facing twin dangers from right reaction and imperialism, helped by the thoughtless, neoliberal and big business oriented capitalist course full of contradictions, with little thought for the welfare of the people.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of India

UNITED PEOPLE’S ACTION The Communist Party of India (CPI) has been consistently struggling against the antipeople policies of the ruling circles and for left and democratic alternative policies. It has launched mass struggles in various states all over the country on people’s issues in the last few years. We have organized demonstrations, general strikes, processions, shut downs or the ‘bandhs’ as we term them, and nation-wide mobilizations including the ‘Delhi March’ in which people from all over the country gather in the national capital to raise their demands and protest against anti-people policies. ‘Dharnas’ (picketings) are also organized in the state headquarters and other places in large numbers.

The CPI is at the forefront of these struggles and is the main mass mobilizer. At the same time, we are also trying to organize joint struggles along with other left and democratic forces and parties. In recent times, several struggles, marches and all India strikes and actions have been organized together with the CPI (M), RSP, AIFB and other left parties as well as with progressive and democratic nonleft organizations. Joint trade unions actions have broken out all over the country and in the national capital, led by the AITUC and other national and regional TU centres, in which even the trade unions belonging to the national bourgeois parties have taken part.

In the midst of these struggles, the left and democratic front governments in W. Bengal, Kerala etc have been a source of hope.

The CPI and other left parties have strong bastions of bases in many of the Indian states.

So, we think that in order to fight the present crisis and to raise people’s demands, it is necessary to create a broad front of various forces fighting for a wide range of demands. At

the same time, it is necessary to create through mass joint movements, a powerful show of mass unity against finance capital, the MNCs and the monopolist policies and forces. In particular it is essential, and the present time is ripe, to create broad-based anti-imperialist unity in order to bring about structural changes within the country as well as to strengthen the rising people’s movement all over the world.

ANTI-IMPERIALIST FRONT: THE NEED OF THE PRESENT SITUATION The present-day world presents a favorable situation for the unity in principle and action of the various sections and classes of peoples of the whole world. Qualitatively new developments are taking place in different regions and countries, which show the rising consciousness of the masses who are coming into action. A whole lot of changes have taken hold of Latin America. A vast arena of kaleidoscopic changes has appeared in that great continent. In fact, it is a continental shift against imperialism, US imperialism in particular, wherein the entire masses and countries are taking clear-cut positions against the globalization and liberalization imposed by the US. Almost a dozen countries have moved to the left and adopted democratic positions using democratic institutions and mass movements, with the standing armies respecting the democratic verdicts. It is an entirely new transformation that needs to be studied. It is a living example of the formation of broad anti-imperialist fronts.

In Europe, a key centre of world imperialism, not only have mass movements of the broadest kinds appeared, but also the representation of the left, progressives and democrats in the legislatures have strength-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

59

60

ened. New sections and classes are joining the mass upsurge on scales not seen in recent years. Mass movements in France, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, Belgium etc have become a source of inspiration for us, and a source of hope. The European Union has become a centre of battles of the masses on unemployment and other questions. In fact the problems go much deeper to the structural questions related to the forcible imposition of the financial capitalist system and policies.

Vast transformations are taking place in the African and the Asian continents, where the masses have begun asserting themselves in the broadest possible unity. South Africa itself is a source of inspiration and a lesson in using methods aimed at bringing about the unity of the peoples and organizations.

In Nepal, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan etc mass activities of various kinds are taking place.

ROLE OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD TODAY The developing countries are a crucial component of the worldwide changes that are taking place today. Things have drastically changed over the decades, and the developing countries have begun asserting themselves as never before. They are no more the objects of history but now its subjects. They are no more the downtrodden and the poor helpless outcasts; today they are asserting themselves politically, socially and economically. The developing countries are today emerging as crucial economic actors, and that is a crucial change.

The developing countries are emerging as an important factor in the world economy and politics, and this is among the most notable changes in the contemporary world. They are

no more only the sources of raw materials and grounds for colonial and imperialist investment. For the first time, they have become influential factor in the world economy, which world imperialism has to take into account.

This is crucial for the worldwide anti-imperialist struggle and front.

The countries of the BRIC, South Africa and others maintain high rates of growth, at least two to three, even four times those of the advanced capitalist countries. China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa and other developing countries have a major share of the world economy in terms of production and sales. These countries now pose a growing threat to the domination of the imperialist countries over the world economy, so much so that the US president has to go around the developing countries virtually pleading for jobs for Americans. Exports from the developing countries in several items and commodities today pose a major threat to the domination of the big business of the advanced imperialist countries. Some of the developing countries have even mooted the idea of floating a new international currency at a par with those of the advanced countries.

Thus the developing countries have begun to play an influential role in the world economy as productive and manufacturing centres, in addition to other contributions. This has contributed to a certain change in the balance of forces. US imperialism is not always able to have its way. Even the imperialist circles are forced to recognize the constructive and important role and impact of the fast growing developing countries like China, India, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam and others. There is a lot of potential in this for the future.

Events show that while the high rates of growth have to be restructured within each

IB 2011 n Communist Party of India

61

country in favour of the people to solve the people’s and the country’s problems, such rates at the same time can be used to oppose imperialist economic and political domination at a global level.

If the developing countries come together on the basic problems of the world, the antiimperialist struggle at a world level can be strengthened in the course of which an antiimperialist front can emerge.

In our opinion, the present situation contains lots of potential for forging a viable broad and united anti-imperialist alternative at the international level.

With greetings and best wishes, thank you very much for your kind attention.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

62

Communist Party of India (Marxist) SITARAM YECHURY

DEAR COMRADES, At the very outset let me thank the South African Communist Party (SACP) for hosting the 12th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties for the first time in the continent of Africa – taking the event to all the continents on the globe – and making such splendid arrangements.

IN THE 11th IMCWP HELD IN NEW DELHI, INDIA, we had characterised the current global recession as a ‘systemic crisis of capitalism demonstrating its historic limits’ and ‘no amount of reform could rid the world of this crisis’. The ensuing period has vindicated this understanding. In spite of the brave claims by many countries that the ‘worst part of the crisis is past them’, each coming day is exposing the shallowness of this claim. The world is now very familiar with bailout packages for resurrecting financial giants that collapsed in the wake of a collapse of their own making. The reckless creation of new financial animals and mind boggling intermeshing of these to generate higher profits led to large scale bankruptcies. As is the logic of capitalism, the governments rescued the corporate giants by building up a mounting debt of their own. The Washington Post states: “The problem is not official profligacy but private bank lending to fuel a burst housing bubble; bailing out those banks is what broke the Irish government”.

The governments that bailed out these corporations are now caught in the vortex of mounting debt. If corporate insolvency heralded the global meltdown and recession in 2008, in 2010 it is this sovereign insolvency that is threatening to snowball into a deeper crisis. Thus, what had started as the crisis due to the insolvency of some corporations has now emerged as fully fledged sovereign insolvency. Sovereign insolvencies were bound to occur given the manner in which capitalism chose to recover from the current recession.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The bailout packages – conservatively estimated at over $10 trillion – came from the taxpayers. While they suffered, the governments also became bankrupt. This global crisis has sharply brought forth the main contradiction of capitalism – between its social nature of production and individual capitalist appropriation. Nothing explains this phenomenon more succinctly than the rising corporate profits on one hand and poverty, hunger and destitution on the other. It is reported that in the United States, the epicentre of the crisis, corporations recorded a 11.2% growth in their profits, which is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago. On the other hand, the poverty rate in the US rose to 14.3% last year, the highest level in more than 50 years.

This indeed is a worldwide phenomenon.

Inequalities have increased both between countries and within the countries. Globally, 200 more people entered the billionaires list.

The figure now stands at 1,011 and their aggregate capital has expanded by over 50%, $3.6 trillion during this crisis. On the other hand, millions have lost their jobs, their livelihoods and joined the billions in poverty.

Around one billion people are suffering from hunger. The ILO estimates that worldwide, unemployment reached 210 millions in mid 2010, which is 70% above its pre-crisis level in high income countries (excluding Europe), and 30% higher in Europe. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, released recently by the UNDP states: “Newly updated estimates from the World Bank suggest that the global economic crisis will leave an additional 50 million people in extreme poverty in 2009 and some 64 million by the end of 2010 relative to a no-crisis scenario, principally in sub

Saharan Africa and Eastern and South Eastern Asia. Moreover, the effects of the crisis are likely to persist: poverty rates will be slightly higher in 2015 and even beyond, to 2020, than they would have been had the world economy grown steadily at its pre-crisis pace”. Instead of undertaking poverty alleviation measures and increasing the purchasing power of people, the governments are trying to manage their finances and prevent insolvencies by drastically cutting down on expenditure and significantly increasing their revenues. The former means that the living standards of the majority of the working people is bound to deteriorate because there will be more cuts in the social benefit expenditures.

The IMF sponsored ‘austerity’ packages introduced in many of the European countries are part of these efforts and these have resulted in drastic cuts to the social welfare budgets. The IMF, which has given loans to many countries, imposed several conditions and had directed the governments to rein in their fiscal deficit. It had urged the governments not to succumb to the protests demanding the reversal of austerity measures.

Moreover, it had asked them to get the annual budget approved by it before introducing it in their respective parliaments. This is nothing but a brazen attack on the sovereignty of the respective countries. The proposal to impose sanctions on countries that breached the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact by the unelected EU commission is also part of this design. Such deflationary policies are also required to be followed by these governments in order to stabilise currencies and consequent potential inflation. This is absolutely necessary to satisfy the confidence of the FIIs, which in turn is absolutely necessary for these countries in order to prevent imminent

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

63

64

sovereign insolvencies. This is capitalism’s most familiar story. In order to retain, if not enhance profits, the degree of exploitation of the working people is intensified. In the Delhi Declaration, we have stated, “dominant imperialist powers would seek their way out of the crisis by putting greater burdens on the working people” and “by seeking to penetrate and dominate the markets of developing countries”. Similarly, there are efforts to coerce the developing countries to accept the various conditions and agreements that are detrimental to their interests.

The Doha round of WTO negotiations, various Free Trade Agreements between the imperialist powers and the third world countries, the ongoing negotiations at the climate change summit, are all attempts to prise open the markets of the third world countries. As a result, various sectors like agriculture, banks, insurance, education, industries, retail trade are sought to be opened up to serve the interests of the multinational corporations. These measures would ruin the lives of the toiling people, adversely affect the economies of the developing countries, and spiral them into further deep crisis. That imperialism is not averse to use even the military option to ensure its economic domination is made clear through the recent NATO summit held in Lisbon. The US had increased its defence budget even during this crisis – though dithering to allocate money for job creation – and is pressurising its allies not to cut their defence expenditure. Across the world, the US is increasing its military bases, reactivating its navy fleets and increasing its arms sales. It continues to flex its military muscle. It has increased its military presence in Afghanistan and, thanks to its new AfPak policy, the war is spilling to the entire region. The US is going

to retain significant personnel in Iraq, despite its commitment to troops withdrawal. It continues to meddle in the affairs of the Middle East in order to ensure its control over the resource rich region. The sword of Damocles thus continues to hang over world peace.

There is a catch 22 situation for global capitalism today. In order to appease finance capital by stabilising the currency and preventing inflation, countries are forced to reduce deficits and impose higher taxes. This in turn means lower governmental expenditures (as higher tax revenue goes to finance deficit) depressing domestic demand and consequently depressing growth. This also means lesser resources in the hands of the governments to continue with stimulus packages.

This further adds to depressing economic growth. Such an economic slow-down further discourages finance capital. This is the vicious cycle of capitalism and its crisis. The only way out is to struggle for a systemic change. A positive feature today is that people are seeing through the neoliberal ideology and are not taking things lying down, but coming out in struggles. Many countries in Europe have witnessed huge protest demonstrations. Most of these struggles are of course defensive in nature and to safeguard their hard-won benefits. It is the duty of the communist and workers’ parties to give a political character to these basically economic struggles and convert them into a political offensive against the capitalist system.

The political representatives of Capital try to conceal the irresolvable contradiction between capital and labour that lies at the heart of the crisis. This contradiction has to be exposed and brought to the fore. An extensive ideological campaign exposing the limits of capitalist system and its inherent crisis ridden

IB 2011 n Communist Party of India (Marxist)

65

character has to be carried out. Along with it, the struggle for political alternative to capitalism, socialism, has to be strengthened. A broad alliance of all the exploited led by the working class has to be built. Communist and Workers’ parties, guided by the principles of scientific socialism – Marxism-Leninism – and with a ‘concrete understanding of the concrete conditions’ should lead these efforts.

Socialism is the only way out of the crisis ridden, inequality prone, inhuman capitalist system.

Long live Marxism-Leninism.

Socialism is the future and the future is ours.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 66

Iraqi Communist Party AZET SADIK

DEAR COMRADES, I convey to you the wholehearted greetings of the Iraqi Communists, and their best wishes for the success of the 12thInternational Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, so as to contribute to developing the role of our movement in building a global front against neo-liberal globalisation and imperialism, for peace, democracy, social progress and socialism.

We express our thanks to the fraternal Communist Party of South Africa for hosting this International Meeting, which will also provide the opportunity to reiterate our solidarity with the peoples of Africa and their progressive movements in their struggles for liberation, peace, democracy, and social and economic development, to build a better world, free of exploitation, dependence, oppression, poverty, hunger and social and economic backwardness.

We also seize this opportunity to express, from this international forum, our gratitude for the international solidarity extended to the Iraqi people, democratic forces and Communist Party in the ongoing struggle, under extremely difficult and complex conditions, to end the occupation, restore full national sovereignty and independence and build a unified democratic and federal Iraq.

THE DESTRUCTIVE CONSEQUENCES of the ongoing global financial crisis of the capitalist economies give the main theme of this International Meeting renewed dimensions and greater relevance. This situation makes it more essential for our movement, with its communist and workers’ parties, in addition to the broad range of social forces and strata on the international level, that have been harmed by the hegemony of globalized capitalism with its neo-liberal model, to develop effective forms of organization and action for their struggle on the international level against this globalized capitalist onslaught.

As already pointed out at the 11th Interna-

IB 2011 n Iraqi Communist Party

tional Meeting, held in New Delhi late last year, there is a consensus that the current crisis is an expression of the internal contradictions of globalized capitalism. One of its main features is the dominance of the financial character (financilisation) of the capitalist economy, the free movement of capital across borders and the removal of all national regulations controlling it. This has led to an enormous expansion of speculative activities, at the expense of productive activities, and the diminished relative weight of the real economy and reduced national sovereignty.

All this has been associated with high levels of unemployment, sharp polarization in wealth and income distribution, and the fragmentation of the social fabric of society. This fragmentation will intensify with the failure of the economies of capitalist countries to sustain their social welfare systems, coupled with vicious attack on welfare, and transference of the burden of the crisis onto tax-payers, who have been forced to pay hundreds of billions of dollars to save bankrupt financial institutions. The latest such example is Ireland, with more economies in Europe threatened with a similar fate.

It is important to note that on the level of consciousness and ideas, the crisis has provided a fertile ground for the revival of extreme reactionary ideas (racism, chauvinism, extreme religious ideologies..). All this has led to intensified contradictions and conflicts, with dominant capitalist forces resorting to blatant violence and local wars to suppress the forces opposed to them.

The contradictions of globalized capitalism have driven a broad and expanding spectrum of social forces to oppose it. Not only the working class and middle strata are involved, but also some capitalist strata are drawn into

this opposition. The “cultural� dimension has also acquired a growing importance, as many social and political forces have become involved in the struggle driven by the need to defend their ethnic or religious identity.

This complex scene has opened up a big potential for developing protest movements with an anti-capitalist content. But there are also ideological and political challenges that face the efforts to achieve the necessary alliances and unite the diverse demands into a coherent current that is opposed to imperialism and, at the same time, advocates a progressive political, economic and social project.

One of the biggest among these challenges and difficulties is the need to combine the fight for national liberation, independence and the removal of the hegemony of globalized capitalism with the struggles for democracy, both social and political. Disregarding any of these two closely interconnected aspects of struggle will lead to a serious imbalance and contradictory alignments. The struggle against imperialism must therefore be closely combined with the fight for democracy and peace.

It is also important to note the diverse nature of the forces and strata whose interests clash with those of globalized monopoly capitalism and its political power, and the relative weakness of social solidarity as a result of the changes brought about by modern technologies of production, make it necessary to create a variety of flexible forms of alliances and a variety of causes for which joint struggles are waged.

One other issue which also needs to be addressed in analysis is the relationship between the class struggle and other struggles.

The progressive dimension of these other

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

67

68

struggles should be determined by their social content.

It is not be possible here go into more detail about these important issues. But it is important to stress that the global financial crisis has marked the failure of the extreme neoliberal model of capitalism which had been dominant for more than two decades. This has opened up new prospects with promising potential for the resurgence and expansion of the struggles waged by forces that are not only opposed to globalism but to capitalism itself.

The most important conclusion to be drawn from the current global crisis is that the world will never be the same as it was before it arose. A new balance of forces is expected to emerge despite all the obstacles and resistance put up by globalized capitalism, thus opening up new opportunities and providing possibilities for change and building a better world.

THE CURRENT INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE has shown, more than ever before, the need to develop Left alternatives and united action of progressive forces against war, neoliberalism and imperialism, as well as combating far right and reactionary tendencies at the international level, and promoting socialist ideas and goals. This is closely interconnected with strengthening international solidarity against the warmongering policies of imperialism and the onslaught of capitalist globalization, and providing genuine support for ongoing struggles all over the world for peace, freedom, democracy and social progress.

The recent Meeting of the Arab Left, held in Beirut (22-23 October 2010), stressed the need for the Left forces in the region to regain

their role and develop a realistic program of national-social liberation, based on a struggle for democratic change, employing legitimate means of struggle and taking into consideration the specifics of each country. Tackling the deep crises that are caused by the policies of Arab regimes and their subservience to global neo-liberal capitalism, especially poverty and unemployment, requires developing concrete proposals for a program of economic revival and social development, including comprehensive development as an alternative to the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Achieving these objectives requires activating the role of the Left in the social movement and developing a critical political vision towards the existing regimes. The principal aim of any distinctive program for change adopted by the Left should be the setting up of a national democratic regime, with a socialist perspective, that constitutes an alternative to subservient regimes. In this context, the forces of the Left need to mobilize the workers, peasants and progressive intellectuals into a mass movement to achieve real democratic change. Major tasks for such a movement include the fight for both, closely interconnected, aspects of democracy: political and social. Democracy, and building a state of law and institutions based on the principles of citizenship, is a firm guarantee against sectarian divisions. In this respect, it is of utmost importance for the Left to uphold and defend human rights and fundamental democratic and trade union rights, especially women’s rights, as part and parcel of the big national issues.

IN ADDITION to the destructive consequences of the deepening systemic crisis of

IB 2011 n Iraqi Communist Party

globalized capitalism, there are also grave dangers to world peace. Over the past two decades, the unipolar world order led by the US has resulted in grave violations of international legitimacy and the resort to war and aggression (as was the case in the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003). As part of its attempts to impose its hegemony on the world, it has not hesitated to ignite the flames of “local” wars. Here again, the fight for peace and against the warmongering policies of imperialism is closely interconnected with the struggle for political democracy and social progress.

IN THIS CONTEXT, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ. SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS AFTER THE US WAR on Iraq, the collapse of the dictatorial regime, and occupation, the struggle to end the foreign military presence continues to be closely interconnected with the struggle to rebuild the new Iraqi state and determine both its content and character.

Under these complex and difficult conditions, a ferocious battle is continuing, not only over power and wealth, but also over formulating the political, economic, social and cultural orientation, that will determine the features of the new Iraqi state that will emerge. It can be said that national, democratic and social tasks combine and interact. Therefore, along with the task of ending the occupation and its legacy, restoring full national sovereignty and independence, we have the tasks of eliminating the legacy of decades of fascist-type dictatorship, restructuring the Iraqi economy and rebuilding the state on a democratic federal basis. International and regional factors interfere, making the struggle

even more complex and intensified. Our party has put forward its own vision, encapsulated in the Patriotic Democratic Project, that aims at building a modern democratic state; a state based on law and institutions and the principles of citizenship, ensuring democracy and social justice, as opposed to sectarian projects and a return to dictatorship, whether nationalist or religious.

THE POLITICAL VACUUM that followed the Iraqi elections in March 2010, and continued for 8 months, helped anti-people forces to escalate criminal terrorist acts. Such heinous acts took place on 10th May 2010 in Baghdad, Hilla and Basra with at least 110 people killed in a series of bombings and armed attacks. In the city of Hilla, south of the capital, 40 workers were killed and 250 others were wounded when three car bombs exploded outside a textile factory, targeting workers as they were leaving the factory. These atrocities and their perpetrators must be strongly and unequivocally condemned by fraternal communist and workers parties, as well as all progressive and peace-loving forces.

Those barbaric attacks that targeted Iraqi workers exposed once again the true antipeople nature of the so-called “resistance” that claims to be fighting the occupation. It is made up of the most reactionary Islamists, remnants of Saddam’s Baathist fascist-type regime and organized criminal gangs . Among their principal objectives is stirring up sectarian sedition, destroying national unity, and sabotaging the country’s infrastructure. They have rendered, and continue to render, a free service to the American occupation by providing pretexts for its continuation and impeding the speedy eviction of foreign forces, achiev-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

69

70

ing their complete withdrawal and eliminating the consequences of occupation..

OUR PARTY, THE LEADING FORCE OF THE LEFT in Iraq, is currently engaged in relentless efforts to achieve unity in action of the democratic forces, and to transform the Democratic Current into an effective principal force in the ongoing intensified struggle over the future of Iraq. This vision requires greater efforts to involve the trade union movement and democratic organizations, especially those of women, youth, students and other civil society organizations, in mass struggles to defend human and democratic rights of workers and people. During recent weeks, conferences of democratic forces have been held in several provinces, as part of a process that will culminate in a national conference to be held in Baghdad.

Iraqi Communists are determined to strengthen their links to the broadest popular layers, including workers, peasants, students and intellectuals, and all popular strata that aspire for freedom and democracy, taking up their demands, and defending their role in deciding our country’s destiny.

In the difficult struggle that lies ahead, we look forward to active and concrete solidarity from fraternal parties. This will acquire greater significance in the coming months, as Iraq prepares to end the US military presence by the end of 2011, continuing the struggle to eliminate the legacy of occupation thus restoring its national sovereignty and independence. We hope that this might lead to the defeat of sectarianism and anti-people forces, and build a unified democratic and federal Iraq.

Our Party has unlimited confidence in the Iraqi people and their ability to continue their

struggle, despite all difficulties and obstacles, to defeat terrorism and sectarianism, eliminate the legacy of dictatorship and American occupation, restore full national sovereignty, lay the foundations for a state based on institutions, justice and law, and build a unified federal democratic Iraq.

IB 2011 n Iraqi Communist Party

‘

Communist Party of Ireland SEAN EDWARDS

IT IS A WONDERFUL OCCASION for us to be holding this meeting in South Africa, once the land of Apartheid, which was an insult to all of humanity. We applaud the heroic struggle of its people and the noble role of the SACP in that struggle. None of the problems of South Africa today can take away from the historic importance of the defeat of Apartheid. Many of the parties represented here today were involved in solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle. It follows that we have an obligation to oppose today’s apartheid suffered by the people of Palestine.

Let us declare our solidarity with the oppressed people of HaitÓ, who have never been forgiven for being the slaves who liberated themselves, whose president, kidnapped and deposed by the US and France, now lives in exile here in South Africa. We reaffirm our solidarity with Cuba, who keep the flame of socialism and freedom burning right beside the centre of imperialism. Remember it was Cuban soldiers who inflicted the first defeat on the Apartheid regime, from which it never recovered. We should use this gathering to reaffirm our solidarity with each other and with all who struggle against Imperialism, for human rights and dignity, for liberation, and for Socialism.

THE CRISIS IN IRELAND AND IN EUROPE The world economic crisis in in its third year and no solution has been found. The solution sought involves saving finance capital and imposing hardship on the working people through the socialisation of the privately accumulated debt of banks and developers, and the redistribution of wealth from working people to the state and banking institutions across Europe.

Many economists advocate Keynesian methods to stimulate demand, to get the “real” economy moving again, but the governments remain committed to neo-liberal solutions, pouring money into the black hole of

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

71

72

the banking system, without ever finding enough money. Neither do the Keynesians have a solution, because they ignore the fact the ‘real economy’ itself has suffered a crisis of overproduction and over accumulation for decades. Indeed it is this crisis in the real economy and the need for investment opportunities for accumulated capital that gave rise to the spectacular growth of finance capital over the last 30 years and with this came the bubbles and bursts of which this is only the latest.

The Irish crisis resembles the world crisis in miniature, though it is not miniature to us, and its possible repercussions worry our masters in Brussels and Frankfurt. When the bankers approached the government in September 2008, seeking help with their liquidity problems our political leaders agreed immediately - after all, they were friends - and guaranteed all deposits and bonds.

The CPI from the first day of the crisis advocated that the banks be allowed to fail and a national development bank be established in their place, enabling an independent economic policy, based primarily on our own national resources.

We also advocated that the state reclaim ownership of these resources, including our oil and gas, handed over to multinational oil companies, and our sea fisheries, given away to the EU. These policies would necessitate the return of fiscal powers from the EU. The state has done the opposite, assuming the banks’ debts but failing to save the banks, and leading the country to economic catastrophe. At every stage it sought and gained EU approval for its actions, in effect acting in the interests of the dominant powers of the EU, and not in the interests of the Irish people.

It soon became clear that all three major banks were on the verge of bankruptcy. All available resources were marshalled to save the Irish banks, and draconian cuts were made in health, education and social services.

But the hole was too big and they could not save the Irish banks, nor even their own skins.

With their mendacity and incompetence exposed, the government is on the brink of collapse, and the hidden hand of the EU Commission and the European Central Bank is forced to come out into the open, and, along with the IMF, openly take control of the Irish economy. These institutions are managing our economy in detail, checking up on the implementation of their policies every month.

THIS HAS COME AS A GREAT SHOCK TO THE IRISH PEOPLE, TO SUDDENLY SEE OUR HARD-WON INDEPENDENCE TAKEN AWAY. Up to now there has been very little resistance to the government’s attacks on working people – thanks largely to the weakness of the trade union leadership who, tamed by decades of “social partnership” sought to avoid any confrontation with the government.

Nevertheless a march called for November 27th, occurring after the officials of the EU and IMF had arrived, attracted 100,000 people. The traditional fighting spirit of the Irish working class may yet be mobilised. The Greek and Portuguese workers have shown us the way.

The problem has moved from saving the Irish banks to saving the major German, British and French banks. The political decisions of the EU have been directed precisely to that end, in dealing with financial crises in Latvia, Greece, Ireland or Portugal. The measures taken involve bleeding the working peo-

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Ireland

ple to pay the debts accumulated by their bankers or their governments, and bring the governance of their countries firmly under the control of the EU institutions.

In its external relations the EU, like the USA, has consistently sought to impose these economic policies on poorer countries, with disastrous results. Now we can see more clearly that within the EU, the centre dominates and exploits the periphery in a form of internal neo-colonialism. This is an inevitable development of the EU and part of its reason for existence. It is also a potential political weakness, especially as the peripheral nations begin to reassert themselves.

The dominant powers within the EU are by no means assured of achieving their aims, they may not succeed even in saving their own banks, or subduing the working class.

The EU’s fellow imperial power, its ally and rival, the USA also called in the IMF to consolidate its dominance in its back yard, in Latin America, dictating terms to compliant governments in, for example, Venezuela and Bolivia. This was at a time when the imperialists were at their most confident and sure of being able to enforce their will. It met a resistance which has become a continent-wide struggle and inflicted major defeats on US imperialism.

THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT We have to acknowledge that the world economic crisis caught the communist parties and the left in general unprepared, although we predicted it. It is not the working class but the capitalist class which has taken advantage of the crisis to advance its aims. Cutting wages and dismantling social services are things it wants to do anyway. As Warren Buffet said in 2006 “There’s class warfare, all right,

but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

The working class is now waging an increasingly fierce defensive struggle against an intensified attack, in Greece, Portugal France and Spain. Our Greek and Portuguese comrades have shown what a difference a strong, determined and principled Communist party can make. However, to prove Warren Buffet wrong, to actually go from defence to the offensive, we have to build up our strength and build the unity of popular and anti-imperialist forces, and we can only do that through struggle.

Some of these forces are a long way from being socialist, but find themselves in opposition to the state or to big business, and confronting the predatory nature of capitalism, of imperialism. We can see that the crisis is deepening and we can expect to see more and more people and forces coming into conflict with the state and monopoly capital.

The anti-working class offensive is narrowing the opportunities for reformism and class collaboration. Communists are saying to working class forces such as trade unions that their choice is either to resist or surrender, as social partnership deals are no longer on offer. The social democratic parties advocate surrender, as do many of the trade union leadership associated with them. The Irish Labour Party actually accepts the intervention of the EU/IMF management team and promises, when in government, to implement its policies. Social democrats have often proved better than the conservative parties at implementing neo-liberal policies.

The EU/IMF assault on working people is also an assault on national democracy and sovereignty. As James Connolly stated long ago “Only the Irish working class remains as

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

73

74

the incorruptible inheritors of the fight for freedom in Ireland.� and it is up to the working class, not only in Ireland, to act in defence of the national interests, not as nationalists but as internationalists.

There are many different interests coming into conflict with monopoly capitalism. Some of these are very far indeed from being socialist let alone communist, but are activated by the present situation. This poses challenges to us as communists trying to build a united campaign, and involve more of the people in their struggle, in defence of living standards, in defence of democracy , national sovereignty and ultimately for Socialism, which, as we have to show them, is the only solution, the only way forward for mankind.

IB 2011 n

Communist Party of Ireland

‘

Workers’ Party of Ireland GERRY GRAINGER

DEAR COMRADES, I wish to convey the best wishes of the Workers’ Party of Ireland to the SACP and fraternal parties and to thank the SACP for the organisation of this meeting and the accommodation and working conditions provided.

Last week, on Saturday, 28 November 2010 more than 100,000 Irish people took to the streets of Dublin in protest against the austerity plan proposed by the Irish Government and imposed by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The economic sovereignty of the Irish state is under open attack.

In July this year the Irish government established the Review Group on State Assets and Liabilities. The purpose of this Group was not to protect the assets of the Irish state or to secure the interests of the Irish working class. This Review had a pre-determined outcome. The sole purpose of the review was to provide a political fig leaf for a policy which had already been decided.

The terms of reference of the review were to “consider the potential for asset disposals in the public sector, including commercial state bodies, [and] to draw up a list of possible asset disposals”.

The terms of reference alone made clear that the Irish government was planning the wholesale privatisation and /or asset stripping of the public resources of Ireland. This was confirmed by the composition of the review body. Colm McCarthy who was nominated as Chair of the Review Group had in 2009 been part of a body, the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, which published a report on government spending. This Report recommended massive cuts in public service jobs and a 5% decrease in welfare benefits. In a speech in Scotland in January 2010, McCarthy admitted that the purpose of such a body was largely to influence public opinion and he stated that following a budget proposing cuts in October

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

75

76

2008 which were met by public protest and had to be reversed, the Irish Government set up the “arms-length” body in a “highly political exercise which was ‘Bord Snip’ … and nothing wrong with that, with the intention of preparing not just technocratic proposals but also public opinion for a better crafted set of budgetary measures in … 2009”.

The development of state enterprises in Ireland, unlike the situation in Britain, for example, arose out of economic necessity rather than political principle.

In Ireland the decision to create Bord na MÛna, Aer Lingus or the ESB arose not out of government ideological conviction but from economic necessity because the private sector either could not or would not take up the challenge. The creation of the ACC and the ICC arose from the same economic imperative. An Bord G·is and CIE were created specifically to clear up the disasters created by the collapse of the private sector in those fields. There was no private company or consortium in the private sector prepared to take on or take over these sectors and the state was forced to act.

All our publicly owned companies, including those mentioned here, represent a real and long term investment by the Irish people in creating necessary and viable industries and services. The building of these companies took both vision and sacrifice by earlier generations of Irish workers. These national assets are under attack. Neo-liberalism and privatization have failed but still the capitalist class prescribe the same medicine - except, of course, that while previously this class opposed state intervention they now demand that the state bails them out on the backs and labour of the workers.

The current global crisis is not, of course, as the media likes to portray, the result of the

actions of a few corrupt individuals. It is a systemic crisis which emerges from the workings of the capitalist system and its internal contradictions. Of course, Ireland’s ruling class was a beneficiary of the rising surpluses being enjoyed by the US ruling class in the 1990s.

Ireland represented a good deal for American capital for a number of reasons. It had low corporate taxes (rates of corporation tax were dramatically reduced from 40 percent for the first half of the 1990s to 12.5 percent and lower in some instances), wage control expressed through a partnership process, active state involvement in attracting overseas jobs and was the recipient of EU structural funds.

While the largely unregulated financial economy was booming in the days of the socalled “Celtic Tiger” not everybody in Ireland was living the dream. In fact, the gap between rich and poor widened to one of the worst in the world. As one commentator noted “In the last three years of the boom (2004 to 2007) alone, the richest 400 people in Ireland added Ä41 billion to their combined personal wealth.

Yet, somehow, Irish people went on believing that they lived in a relatively classless society”.

The capitalist class, the government and bourgeois opposition, supported by the commercial media which was a willing participant in spreading the message of neo-liberalism, now promote the myth that that “we’re all in this together” and are attempting to construct an artificial all-class consensus, undermine the fightback and to place worker against worker. The commercial media throughout the crisis has offered an open platform to virulent anti-state, anti-worker ideologues, propagandists and champions of private profit.

Simultaneously, the political sovereignty

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Ireland

and independence of the Irish state is being attacked and undermined. The erosion of an independent Irish foreign policy and Irish neutrality takes place daily. The creation of an EU diplomatic service, the decision of the Irish government to permit Shannon Airport to be used by the US in its wars of aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the unlawful “rendition” of prisoners for torture and inhuman treatment are a blatant insult to the Irish people. The US military has a permanent presence in Shannon Airport and it has cost the Irish people approximately 10 million Euro over the last few years to protect it.

The driving force behind these wars is the US/EU/NATO military industrial complex and the Irish bourgeois parties are determined that Ireland should play a role in these imperial ambitions which are a disaster for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq and which impoverish the people of Ireland, Europe and the US. NATO is an aggressive military alliance representing the extension of US military power and acting exclusively in the interests of imperialism. The history of NATO cannot be separated from the history of imperialism and war. During the Cold War NATO was a military instrument of imperialism amounting to a permanent threat to the peoples of the world who were building socialism. NATO promotes the militarisation of Europe, the continuation of the arms race and increases the threat of war and nuclear terror. NATO, throughout its history, and today, has been responsible for war, terror, death and destruction, most recently in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Ireland the pro-imperialist bourgeois parties desire the integration of Ireland into US/EU/NATO structures. In 1999 the Helsinki European Council agreed “Headline Goals” re-

quiring Member States to contribute to an EU military capability to deploy a Rapid Reaction Force outside the EU. By 2003 the EU Battle Groups’ concept was launched to speed up delivery of the larger Rapid Reaction Force and the EU also decided in 2003 to launch a new Headline Goal for 2010 which proposed that member states “be able by 2010 to respond with rapid and decisive action applying a fully coherent approach to the whole spectrum of crisis management operations covered by the Treaty of the European Union”.

The European Council has also demanded that the member states’ military forces have a high degree of inter-operability at “technical, procedural and conceptual levels” and that a “commonality of security culture should also be promoted” and favours EU-NATO permanent arrangements which “enhance the operational capability of the EU and provide the framework for the strategic partnership between the EU and NATO in crisis management” stating that the operational doctrines of the EU’s military forces will be “in coherence with NATO”. Given the sheer number of EU member states that are members of NATO, Ireland, a country which is theoretically neutral, is bound closer into a military alliance which has a huge nuclear arsenal.

Irish soldiers and police must be withdrawn from Afghanistan or anywhere they are placed under these procedures. Irish involvement with the EU Battle Groups and the European Defence Agency must cease. The US military must be removed from Shannon Airport with immediate effect.

Imperialism continues to pose a danger to peace, freedom, the independence and territorial sovereignty of nations and the rights of peoples to freely decide their future. Direct imperialist intervention remains a hostile re-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

77

78

ality. The coup d’etat organised in Honduras with the active participation of powerful forces in the US, the staging of a coup d’etat in Ecuador against the legitimate and constitutional government of President Correa, the threats against Venezuela, the continued hostilities against Cuba and the provocations against the DPRK are clear evidence of this.

The goals of international solidarity, peace and friendship remain of fundamental importance. We congratulate and applaud the initiatives of the World Peace Council in its consistent and unrelenting endeavours for world peace. World peace, social and economic justice and the well-being of present and future generations will only be secured when imperialism is defeated.

Socialism is alive and creative. It is the rational social organisation of society for the benefit of the people. Socialism means peace, equality, a revolution in social relations, international solidarity, and a new international order. It means no less than the transformation of the world.

The October Revolution invested the workers’ movement with a revolutionary consciousness and objective, the function of educating, organising and mobilising the mass of the working people in the struggle against capital and the task of building a new society.

It placed workers at the centre of political change.

It is the task of the Communist and Workers’ Parties to continue to assert the dynamic of socialism as a viable alternative world vision. It is necessary to develop working class consciousness and organisation on a mass basis.

It remains the task of the revolutionary parties to preserve the core values and principles of Marxism and Leninism, to apply those

principles to present conditions in a creative manner, preserving but also encompassing the peoples’ struggles around issues such as gender, race, the environment, peace and democracy. Our parties must be centrally involved in the progressive struggles of workers, urban and rural, women, youth and students.

We must challenge the prevailing ascendancy of bourgeois ideology at all levels of political, economic, social and cultural life. We must confront and defeat hostile anti-communist propaganda from whatever source it emanates and to stand in solidarity with Communist and Workers’ parties under attack. We must actively defend the socialist project and mount a co-ordinated ideological counter-attack.

The fightback is possible. We need only look to the recent successes and victories of our comrades in the Communist Party of Greece. The workers of Ireland and the workers of the world have not abandoned their aspiration for a better life, for a world free from exploitation, inequality, injustice and war.

Workers retain the hope for a society which meets their material needs but which is constructed on principles of fairness and equality.

It is the task of the Communist and Workers’ Parties to ensure that in the course of the class struggle the working class movement goes beyond trade union consciousness demanding improved conditions within the existing capitalist system and demands the abolition of the capitalist system itself.

In Ireland the struggle for peace, progress and socialism will continue. We will continue to expose the interests of the capitalist class, to defend and expand workers’ rights, to resist the so-called “austerity” measures, to attack the increasing intervention of the EU and IMF

IB 2011 n Workers’ Party of Ireland

79

in Irish life, to assert our rights to political and economic sovereignty and independence.

James Connolly, the great Socialist leader and hero of the Irish working class, stated: “The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour. They cannot be dissevered. Ireland seeks freedom. Labour seeks that an Ireland free should be the sole mistress of her own destiny, supreme owner of all material things within and upon her soil …”

This is a struggle we have in common with our comrades throughout Europe and the world.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 80

Party of the Italian Communists MUSOLINO MAURIZIO

THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS, that has been deeply affecting the main world capitalist economies for many months, manifests itself as a systemic crisis of the international, system. The reorganization of the world financial system is indeed not the only element at stake: at risk is also a development that today must come to terms with the new socio-economic protagonists, China, India and Brazil.

This crisis can be both an opportunity for the communist organizations and the other progressive forces but, at the same time, a huge danger in terms of its potential antidemocratic consequences. And this is also true for those European countries in which the rights and conquests obtained decades ago, which seemed to be achieved once and forever, are now under siege. This is especially true for those nations that had seemed safe from authoritarian drifts.

International capitalism is struggling to survive; and as usual it has been reorganizing itself by letting those poor peoples already exploited by uneven development pay for its crisis. But it has also another ambitious aim: to redraw the borders and renegotiate the rules in order to question all the rights acquired through the straggles led in the Sixties and Seventies by the working class.

Imperialism shows its face: labour must twist into a sort of neo-slavery, the worker must be totally obedient to the desires of the master.

All the measures undertaken by Europe and the United States to stop migrations follow this direction. Migrants are welcomed only if their labour can be translated into surplus value, and labour must be completely deregulated to allow for this new slavery. It is also in the attempt of opposing left wing forces and denying them their visibility that rules are redrawn. For example, may years ago in Italy different electoral laws were changed in order to prevent communists and the left forces having an institutional repre-

IB 2011 n Party of the Italian Communists

sentation.. I want to make this clear: to sit in parliament mustn’t be the end of our political action, but a way to obtain that necessary visibility to give representation to the claims of labour and of the education system, two fields nowadays neglected by the Italian government policies.

But there is another aspect I want to consider, which is included in the reorganization of capital: the geopolitical strategies. Capitalism is aimed at the exploitation of armed conflicts as means to undermine and overcome peoples all over the world. This is especially true in the African continent. For decades Africa has been indeed despoiled of its raw materials and wealth by an aggressive capitalism that has systematically and concretely extended colonialism through regional microconflicts. The same strategy has been applied by capitalism in other geographical areas, and in this context I only mention the military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, assaults intended to cut into pieces those national states and their peoples.

The zionist occupation of Palestine is another example of neo-colonialism: and since I find myself speaking in South Africa, I cannot ignore how important it is to resist this occupation by boycotting the state of Israel culturally and economically, since the same straggle was decisive and successful in the fight against the awful and unjust policy of apartheid. To boycott means to hit capitalism at its heart: the world marketplace.

The current world scenario gives communists a great responsibility, that is, to reconfigure the conflict between labour and capital in new, modern forms, and to make these forms clear for our people. In this, we have recently seen some important examples: for example, in the recent wave of social conflicts in

Greece comrades of the KKE led impressive demonstrations. At the same time, we must struggle to strengthen those experiences that, in Latin America especially, have been giving support to the global progressive movement. Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil are useful not only for the future of South America, but for the whole world too.

I want finally to say that we are facing an important challenge, since our enemies are strong and willing to do anything. But it is a challenge we must accept: we cannot and will not stand back.

To turn our face away today, not to oppose these injustices or not to fight against imperialism would mean to betray the expectations of millions of women and men: we would never be excused for such treachery.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

81

‘ 82

Communist Refoundation Party (Italy) FRANCESCO MARINGIO

0

MR. CHAIRMAN, FELLOW DELEGATES: It’s an honour for me to be delegated by the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy to attend this important International Meeting. First of all I would like to thank, on behalf of the Refoundation Communist Party of Italy, the South African Communist Party for organizing this important meeting, which is held for the first time in Africa. An event that takes place prior to the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students that will stress even more the importance of young people’s struggle to the defeat of imperialism, and to achieve a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation. I also greet all the fraternal delegations who are attending this meeting and express my conviction that this 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties will be successful.

1. The new international scenario is defined by contradictory trends. On the one hand, the countries with a mature capitalism are experiencing a deep economic crisis that will profoundly change the political balance of the world in the next years. On the other hand there is the rise of non imperialists economies and countries led by democratic governments, liberals or socialists that break U.S. unilateralism and imperialism, and instead tend towards the development of anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist struggles in many important parts of the world.

The world has rapidly changed since 1989. In the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR no one seemed able to stop the rise of U.S. as the only undisputed worldwide power.

And it is not by chance that the three major works, that will become the zenith of the neocons philosophy, are: “The End of History” by Francis Fukuyama (who theorizes the domain of liberal democracy, after the collapse of the USSR), “The Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntington (that interpret history as the result of a conflict between civilizations, not be-

IB 2011 n Communist Refoundation Party (Italy)

tween social classes) and “The Grand Chessboard” by Brezinski, a geopolitical manual par excellence of the world and politics in the era of American supremacy.

Yet, fortunately, the world has changed in a remarkably short period of time. At all latitudes, we have seen a major reversal of power relations. In Latin America (where we experience the construction of the socialism of the XXI Century), in South Africa (which after having freed itself from colonialism and apartheid, today experiences the protagonism of a democratic process and progressive revolution), the Asian countries (where most of the world population live and the continent’s political balance is the expression of non-aligned governments – India - or is led by communist parties in power - China, Vietnam, Laos). In Europe, where the struggle for the transformation of society is more difficult and long-term, we can not forget the role of the communist parties and social organisations in the organization of the working class and in social conflict.

According to some studies by the major banks in the U.S., the upcoming scenario looks like this. While today the G7 countries control 41% the GDP of the world, and the BRIC economies control 26%, by mid-century the G7 countries will decline to 25% and the BRIC economies will rise to 50%, almost double. If you add up the economies of the countries in the sphere of influence of BRIC economies, the weight would increase to 65% (two thirds). And if we subtract from this 65% countries notaligned with the imperialist triad (U.S., EU, Japan), then 35% would be expressed by China and the socialist-oriented countries.

These figures tell us that an entire world is now devastated by an earthquake and that

the ideological system which was based on the “end of history” is completely finished. A study made by Goldman Sachs in 2003 says: “In 2050 we could find ourselves in a world dramatically different from the current one, where the top 10 economies will be very different from today”. This case-study clearly speaks of a post-western world in which the dollar loses the primacy of international currency, and on this, Joseph Stiglitz recently spoke about the birth of a new world “outside the rules of the Washington Consensus.”

But we would be misleading if we think that the solution is just around the corner.

This crisis of hegemony, interlinked with the explosion of this devastating economic crisis, can have, especially in the EU, different results. On the one hand, it can lead to the opening of a new phase that sets the conditions for the defeat of the more aggressive sections of the capitalist class while enduring the resumption of a policy defined by public intervention in the economy and planning, workoriented and not towards capital. But we cannot disregard different and opposing results.

Europe is facing the rise of racist and xenophobic organizations, the rise of authoritarian measures, the limitation of democratic freedoms, and the resumption of a pervasive and dangerous, anti-communist campaign in the heart of Europe.

2. The ongoing crisis in the mature capitalist countries is not “the final crisis of capitalism,” but its importance should not be underestimated. This crisis marks the end of a long cycle of capital accumulation, which began in the late sixties and early seventies, when the postwar period of great economic growth came to an end. It is important to recall, briefly, that in 1971 the United States decreed the end of the gold-exchange standard

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

83

84

and the dollar became a currency absolutely trustable. In 1973, during the oil crisis, the dollar becomes a “world currency”, despite the fact that the US trade balance has been in deficit since 1976.

Underlying the current crisis there is excess: a massive overproduction of goods and capital, combined with the unregulated use of finance and credit. In 2007 a phase was closed: one in which finance and debt could hide an inadequate appreciation of capital in capitalist countries. So the current crisis is the result of two processes: the reduction in the profit rate in the mature capitalist countries and the crisis of the US accumulation system.

The “state aid” given to economy was useless: in January 2010 the U.S. had spent more than 2.5 trillion dollars to save their financial institutions, the Unite Kingdom 700 billion pounds. The result is the transformation of a private debt into public debt and a further reduction of the role of the state economy.

3. The general context of the 21st century, then, is a global competition for hegemony, where EU, U.S. and Japan perceive the risk of a decline. It is this context that raises the push for war, headed by the U.S., which tried to win the global military competition on the ground, a field where they were supposed to be the strongest. At the end of November the Atlantic Alliance Summit was held in Lisbon to adopt the new Strategic Concept. The last one was adopted after the collapse of the USSR and shortly before the start of the Iraq war. It represents an attempt to design new international relations focusing on the Atlantic axis, and calls for greater involvement of EU countries.

The latter, henceforth, will be increasingly called upon to deal with the various U.S. war scenarios in the world and, above all, they will be called to increase their military spending.

NATO continues to be the main instrument of political-military global domination by the imperialist powers. During the Lisbon Summit, there was the attempt to bring to life what Diana Johnson calls a new imperialist condominium, as a response to the deep crisis that U.S. hegemony is experiencing in this part of the century.

For these reasons, an historic battle, and a priority for all anti-imperialist forces of the world is to win the struggle for peace and disarmament, making the most aggressive sectors of U.S. imperialism step back. Within this framework a bigger space opens for the affirmation and growth of the progressive forces and countries that pursue models of socialist development or other alternatives to neoliberalism.

4. In the new global context a dynamic driving force comes from all peoples and countries that are pursuing a “national” project that goes objectively in the opposite direction to the policies of imperialism. In this sense, for an alternative strategy to capitalist globalization, a necessary but not sufficient condition is the partial restoration of sovereignty of nation states. This does not mean supporting the self-sufficient thesis.

The defence of national sovereignty requires a deep network of relations between sovereign states, with agreements between sectors and public enterprises in their respective countries, aimed at building integrated economic entities at the supranational level. But every continental and global convergence needs to be built at the national level, and consolidated as a new political power in the state. Changes in the balance of social, political, state power relations in favor of popular classes can only be achieved by a struggle carried out at national level.

IB 2011 n Communist Refoundation Party (Italy)

For these reasons, a strategy must be based on a political and strategic programme that should include: a. the creation of national political powers, able to cooperate among themselves on a regional and global level, and that cannot be subordinated to neo-liberalism in the economic sector and to imperialism in the international arena; b. The creation of productive, technology, financial, and communication public areas, with the ability to compete with the private corporations. c. The struggle for peace and disarmament: the dissolution of NATO, the removal of foreign military bases, the banning of weapons of mass destruction.

5. The need to propose again, at the beginning of the third millennium, the question of the overcoming of capitalism and the prospect of socialism is rooted in old and new contradictions that capitalism is incapable of solving. For all these reasons it is important to develop all efforts of cooperation and mutual work. My party has considered with special interest the proposal made by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez of a new International which, as we said then, is useful to “harmonize a common strategy for the fight against imperialism, the overthrow of capitalism with socialism and solidarity on the basis of a new type of economic integration�. It is necessary, now more than before, to strengthen the unity of action and work together with other anticapitalist and anti-imperialist forces. It is still necessary that workers and the people, in order to attain a new political, economic, and social system, and in order to enjoy rights, sovereignity, security and peace, shall have to carry out the political class struggle, in which

the patriotic antimperialist struggle, the democratic struggle, and the action of national States governed by revolutionary and progressive forces will be prominent.

My Party believe that the International meeting of the communist and workers party play an important role in this context. Our cooperation, our point in common, our ability to advance in common or convergent actions, assumes a crucial importance. In this context of crisis, the communist and workers parties may and should play a fundamental political and ideological role in the struggle for peace, progress and socialism.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

85

‘ 86

Lebanese Communist Party DR. MARIE NASSIF – AL DEBS

THE EVENTS WHICH WE HAVE WITNESSED in the year 2010 confirm the soundness of the slogan first launched by Karl Marx more than 150 year ago, and later further refined by Lenin: “Workers of the World and Oppressed People of the World Unite!”

These events and developments have shown, without a doubt, that the current crisis in capitalism, which started to unfold in 2001 and eventually peaked in 2008, is a terminal crisis because it is directly related to the fundamental nature of capitalism itself. The international bourgeoisie class failed in finding any solutions to overcome the crisis, even temporary ones. This failure came despite the significant efforts exerted by the bourgeoisie to overcome the crisis efforts which manifested themselves through the spending of huge sums of money; through a higher level of aggression in defending capitalism; through the launching of various wars on a global stage; through its unrelenting efforts to suppress all democratic mass movements rallies and demonstrations; through its continual reliance on organizing coup-d’Ètats and assassinations in order to put an end to the ever expanding circle of mass movements and rallies calling for change towards a more just and a more equal and humane world – in other words change towards a socialist society. A socialist society, to be developed based on Marxist scientific laws and analysis methodologies, which are proving day after day that these are the only viable alternative tools for developing a comprehensive framework of action and plans to allow us to rid ourselves of the crises that have been generated by capitalism in the past and the crises that are currently still being born as a result of the fundamental nature of the capitalist system.

Against this background, we find ourselves compelled to raise the issue of change within our own countries and also on the global scene as a fundamental issue af-

IB 2011 n Lebanese Communist Party

fecting humanity and as a pressing and immediate need for our humankind in the world we live in today.

FIRST: UNFOLDING OF THE CAPITALIST CRISES WITHIN CAPITALIST CENTERS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ON SUBORDINATE AND POOR COUNTRIES Jacques Attali raises a very important question in his book “All of us broke after ten years?” regarding the global recession the world is facing today and its direct relation to the issue of public debt, particularly in the large capitalist countries / centers. Attali, one of the previous heads of the European financial system, together with other European and US analysts, raises an important alarm call to warn against the consequences of the high level of public debt which has reached levels similar to those recorded at the end of the Second World War. In their efforts to identify solutions to the crises, they look towards both the G20 countries and the “upper echelons” of the global capitalist class.

On the other hand, we as communists, as representatives of those being robbed by the capitalist system; that is as representatives of the forces of production and the proletariat, we must confront the fiscal and the economical solutions being put forward by the capitalist bourgeois thinkers. This is particularly true since these proposed solutions are being pushing forward along two separate but equally dangerous directions, both of which will have detrimental and catastrophic effects on humanity in general and on the poor, meek and oppressed within our societies in particular: n The first trend is to seize the savings of the working class, a process which has already started over the last three years. This or-

ganized theft was justified at the time by claiming that the global capitalist system is implementing the teachings of Marx and Engels by exerting direct control and supervision on the economic and financial conditions. However, it should be clear to all, that neither Marx nor Engels ever suggested that the state should use taxpayers’ money collected from the poor in order to stop the deterioration of the economic conditions of the rich! n The second trend is to facilitate and allow the IMF to seize the wealth of the vast majority of the countries on earth after it has already seized control of the wealth and resources of the majority of poor and developing countries. For the IMF, which is subject to the hegemony of the USA, is today gaining more control and influence in dictating the destiny of the European Union. Its increasing influence on EU policies has come as a direct result of the policies promoted by both the right wing parties and the “social-democratic” parties in a number of European Union countries starting from Greece through to Ireland, Italy and finally Germany. For example in Italy the public debt is expected to exceed 135% of GDP by the 2014; while in Germany the public debt has approximately reached 85% of its GDP. These numbers have to be seen against the background that the public debt in the USA has exceeded 12000 billion dollars while the EU countries are expected to borrow in excess of 1600 billion Euros to meet their budget deficit for the year 2011.

If we take a closer look at poor and developing countries, we can identify the issue of the public debt as a major issue afflicting all these countries and hindering their develop-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

87

88

ment- where in reality the public debt has become a time bomb that could be triggered at any moment by the IMF, subject to the whims and wishes of the USA, which continues to exert full control over all IMF decisions. The breakout of any public debt crisis in any of our poor and developing countries can easily lead to state bankruptcy; to hunger on a wide scale; to displacement and even to widespread strife and deaths. Even without the “official” breakout of any public debt crisis, the current situation is not much better in many of our countries, where the level of public debt is taking its toll on job prospects, unemployment and development efforts to reduce poverty.

In this regard it must be recognized that more than 1.9 billion people of our world’s inhabitants are enduring living conditions below the poverty level (while the world bank claims that this figure has dropped to 1.4 billion); meaning that they earn less than 1.25 US dollars per day; and 64% of those are residing in Asia. In addition 40% of the Arab people earn less than 1.5 US dollars a day. Furthermore, in Lebanon most statistics indicate that the poverty level of Lebanese citizens has reached 28%; while the situation of the Palestinian refugees living in camps in Lebanon is much more catastrophic. Against this background of dire misery and abject poverty, we witness the revenues from the oil and gas sector particularly in the Arab Gulf countries including Iraq exceeding hundreds of billions of dollars going mainly to the coffers of the large multinational companies which are mainly American-based.

We are witnessing the intensification and deepening of the crisis in capitalism coupled with an increase in the levels of abject poverty throughout the world. Simultaneously, we are witnessing an increase in the aggressive na-

ture of the capitalist attack on all fronts and particularly in the Arab world where American Imperialism has succeeded (together with the NATO Alliance) in dividing Iraq into sectarian states and in increasing the divide between sects within Lebanon. In addition, American Imperialism continues its atrocities against the people of Palestine by continuing to provide unconditional support to the perpetuation of Israeli atrocities against the people of Palestine, in support of the racist slogan “Israel the state of the Jews in the World”. Furthermore American Imperialism is now endeavoring to divide Sudan on confessional and ethnic grounds.

However, we as communists and internationalists differentiate ourselves from other resistance movements by identifying both internal and external causes (and underlying economic factors) to the crises our countries are passing through. Indeed, the “success” of American Imperialism in our countries has only become possible by taking full advantage of the inherent weakness within our political systems which foster sectarian politics to serve a dual and inter-related internal/external role: internally to facilitate the control of the masses thus distracting the people from the true causes of poverty; namely the type of rentier economy in the Arab States and the regimes that are put in place to protect the rentier classes and their imperialist overlords; and externally leaving our people and resources easy prey of foreign interference, manipulation and hegemony.

2ND: THE COMMUNISTS’ ROLE IN STRENGTHENING THE FRONT AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND THE CHANGE TOWARD SOCIALISM Marx and Engels state in the introduction

IB 2011 n Lebanese Communist Party

to the “Communist Manifesto” that the bourgeoisie seeks to emerge from its crisis by relying on two main methods: Firstly, by destroying part of the forces of production and secondly through forcefully opening new markets and increasing the level of consumption of old markets. This is exactly what the bourgeoisie is attempting to do in our times: n Firstly it is increasing the percentage of unemployment, in addition to reorganizing the labor market in order to increase the modes of investment and to reduce wages and benefits, including retirement benefits. At the same time this same bourgeoisie is attempting to protect the profits of the banks and the large financial companies by creating a cap on taxation. n Secondly, the bourgeoisie is expanding its sphere of direct aggressive operations in order to open new markets and to seize additional natural resources. In this sense, it can be said that we are living under World War III, albeit as a series of scattered wars around the globe. Indeed the military aggressive activities of the USA and its NATO allies and Israel (which was lately tasked with training fascist and terrorist gangs of thugs, not only in the Middle East but also in many African and Latin America countries) have now extended to reach every corner of the globe.

Indeed to our west, we are witnessing the increase in military bases in Latin American countries and within our region we are being subjected to the menacing build up of military forces all across the Middle East, from the eastern part of the Mediterranean through to the Indian Ocean and up to Afghanistan. This military build-up must be understood within the context of the vast energy-related natural resources

available in our area: namely oil and gas as well as many mineral resources. In addition, it is important to recognize the other main reason for this build up of forces; namely that this region remains an easy prey for imperialist invaders who can weave their evil schemes with relative ease because of the readiness of the region to succumb to Imperialist attempts to cause sectarian, religious and ethnic violence and even wars. Hence we see renewed attempts to resuscitate the plan for the “New Middle East” which was first developed by the USA in the seventies of the last century and which has been recently reformatted by the George Bush Administration.

Due attention should be given, in the context of the intensifying aggressiveness of the New World Order, to the 22nd Lisbon Summit of the NATO Alliance. The decisions arising from this summit can be seen as the beginning of a new stage much more dangerous than all preceding stages. This is particularly true since this summit seems to be heading towards a new breakout of hostilities in our region under the rediscovered slogan of “terrorism and nuclear arms”.

HOW DID WE, AS COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES, CONFRONT THESE TWO TRENDS? This year has witnessed an important escalation in the struggle for social justice and equality, in more than one level and more than one country. This is particularly true in the E.U. countries where huge demonstrations took place in France, Greece, Spain and Portugal. To a certain extent, these demonstrations acted as a reminder to the ones which took place in the second half of the last

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

89

90

century and which eventually succeeded in changing the face of Europe through the gains they managed to snatch from the claws of Capitalism for the benefit of the working class and the mass movements.

We add to these demonstrations and activities, the movements and the confrontations that took place in our region, the Arab region in Cairo, Lebanon, and mainly in Palestine against the embargo, the attempts of ethnic and religious cleansing in Jerusalem, and the ongoing “transfer” decisions. These movements, which we played a role in launching, have come in the wake of the exceptional meeting of Communist parties that took place in Syria, and have signaled the start of a new stage of coordination and cooperation among the communist and workers’ parties in the world. This coordination and cooperation is being based on some of the articles of the program that was developed during the 11th Meeting of Communist Parties in New Delhi.

Indeed it is this Program that reconfirmed the need for lobbying support among the workers and the youth to rally for the struggle to improve living conditions; while placing a special emphasis on organizing a campaign for confronting the NATO summit in Lisbon.

We are not here to evaluate what has been achieved during the last year, despite its importance and its significance. Furthermore, and despite the combined activities which we have carried out and the spheres in which we have cooperated, it must be recognized that the slogan of our meeting today: Strengthening the Front against Imperialism requires from us a common understanding of the content and notion of this term: “the front against imperialism”. At the forefront of our tasks, we ought to discuss the manner in which we can refine our annual meeting in order to make it

more effective. This should include reviewing the forms for organizing ourselves which we have developed over the last 10 years: starting from the movement for confronting global capitalism (which takes Porto Allegro as its starting point), through to the discussions which were launched more than a year ago regarding the Fifth International movement which were first put forward by the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, up to the content of the title of our current meeting “front against imperialism”.

We firmly believe that the movement against globalization, despite its importance and its breadth, was unable to transform its quantitative successes into a qualitative change. We attribute this failure to two main reasons: firstly, due to the fact that this movement lacked an agenda for change; and secondly, due to the fact that it lacked the presence of a strong radical core - namely radical forces carrying the banner for radical change. In addition, the topic of current discussions on the importance of rallying under the banner of a Fifth International movement remains a general and theoretical one, despite the fact that it relied on some ideas worthy of careful consideration and deliberations.

Of course all of us recognize that the emergence of such a Front against Imperialism relies mainly on the organization of the tools for change and its agents – first at the level of each country and then at the level of regions before we can consider the global level.

IN THIS CONTEXT, we would like to share with you the lessons learnt from an attempt, which we launched less than two months ago and which is still in its infancy stage, namely our attempt to organize Arab Forces of Change.

IB 2011 n Lebanese Communist Party

Not so long ago, and with prior coordination with several Arab communist and workers’ parties, we called for an Arab leftist meeting which took place on the 21st of October, 2010. The meeting was well attended by more than 21 parties representing leftist movements in ten different countries. The meeting discussions were divided along three main axes: 1. Critical issues related to resisting occupation and aggression; 2. The role of the working class and mass movements in development; and 3. Democracy, liberties and equality. The discussions of the meeting culminated in a common declaration which specified in its twelve articles the gradual missions facing us on all fronts. The transcript of the declaration, which was signed by nineteen parties out of the twenty one attending, was translated into French and disseminated in both the Arabic and French languages. The Meeting formed a follow-up committee with its main duty to develop the foundation for the process of rallying Arab leftist parties as a prelude for coordinating efforts with all patriotic, democratic Arab forces. The second task of the follow up committee is to strengthen the solidarity relationships between the Arab left and other parts of the international left. In this manner we will confirm and reassert that the struggle of the Arab left to achieve freedom, democracy and social justice forms an inseparable and integral part of the struggle of the oppressed and downtrodden people across our globe aiming to achieve national liberation and social emancipation.

We see in such regional meetings a prelude to empower and enable our communist and workers movement to strengthen the global front against imperialism. Indeed it is not possible to confront this aggressive stage of imperialism and successfully defeat it and

prevent it from shifting the burden of its crises to the poor and the oppressed in our world, without first identifying who are the forces that represent the interests of the working class, the meek and the poor. In addition, we need to determine what we, as forces of change, are struggling to achieve and what is our plan to achieve our objectives.

Let us then first decide to develop and refine the global meeting of the communist and working class parties; taking advantage of what we have achieved to date. And let us secondly investigate the most suitable option for rallying all the forces against imperialism each within the own region as a prelude to expanding the Front Against Imperialism. And finally let us start a process of discussion regarding our relationship with some of the other resistance forces that have different ideological backgrounds.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

91

‘ 92

Communist Party of Luxembourg ALI RUCKERT

DEAR COMRADES, LUXEMBOURG is not an island, and the recipes of the ruling class for solving the capitalist financial and economic crisis do not differ from those in other EU countries.

As in the other countries, our government is striving to continue the redistribution of capital from the bottom up, that has began in the past years, disregarding the shortage of public finances. For this reason it decided to postpone, or even not to commence at all, the construction of several schools, sports and cultural institutions. Additionally the government adopted a huge austerity package, which comes into effect from January 1st. The only part of the state budget, which they spare from the austerity measures, is military expenditure. Even in Luxembourg the military budget is now much higher than in the worst times of the Cold War. The austerity package is composed of an increase in several taxes and the reduction of social achievements, as well as a considerable increase in fees for health insurance and for medical services. Additionally they intend to freeze the salaries of those working in public services and to reduce these salaries for those starting out.

We know that all these recipes coincide with those in the other member states of the European Union and especially the members of the Euro Zone. Their main aim is securing the stability of the Euro, the currency which was introduced ten years ago in the interest of big capital.

The main consequence of all the austerity measures in Luxembourg will be a reduction in the real incomes and the real purchasing power of large sectors of the people.

Initially, the trade unions had announced that they would organize resistance against proposals that the working people would be forced to pay for a crisis for which they were not responsible. Nevertheless the unions adopted the government austerity package.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Luxembourg

Now they are just discussing some detailed measures, without challenging the entire package.

At the same time the government is promising financial compensation for the higher spending of the capitalists (entrepreneurs) for the automatic increase of the minimum wage which come into effect by law next year as well as for the automatic adjustment of wages to inflation. But on the other hand it is well known that Luxembourg is one of the countries with the lowest capital taxes and with the highest exploitation rates.

The main reason for the weak resistance against dismissals and social destruction is the fact, that the wrong ideology of so called “social partnership” is deeply rooted in the minds of the leading people in the trade unions, but also in the minds of most working people. The working class of Luxembourg consists mainly of Portuguese immigrants as well as French, German and Belgian crossborder workers. The political consciousness of the working class is as low as never before and the working class is split into groups with different culture and language. Until now, the negative effects of the crisis did not change this situation significantly.

The Communist Party of Luxembourg is the only political force in our country to resist all social destruction and to organize a broad campaign against the austerity package of the government. There is nobody but the communists in the position to explain the reasons and the background of the capitalist crisis and the policy of the ruling class.

But our party is still suffering from the defeat of socialist construction in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. The KPL is not able to react to all challenges, its militants are organized only in certain parts of the country,

it does not have a sufficient number of members, it is boycotted by the bourgeois mass media and does not have the financial means for carrying out a broad campaign throughout the country. Most of the trade unions which are bound to the ideology of »social partnership« and do not want to know anything about class struggle, do not even accept the KPL as a partner to discussion, since our party is not well positioned in the unions and we do not have any representatives in the national parliament.

Nevertheless the KPL succeeded in doubling the number of votes at the parliamentary elections last year, and it reached about 4 per cent of the votes in Esch and Differdingen, the second and the third largest cities. The party is growing slowly but permanently, there is an increasing number of trade unionists and other people who support our campaigns, and we can also count on a slowly growing number of subscriptions to our daily newspaper.

Our most important tasks for the forthcoming period are the development of an effective propaganda work and the combination of the struggle against unemployment, poverty, exploitation and social destruction with the struggle against the capitalist system, for a complete change of the ownership of the means of production and for a socialist perspective.

In the coming year we will celebrate the 90 th anniversary of the foundation of our party, which took place on 2nd January 1921.

And in the month of October there will be communal elections in our country. We are going to establish open candidate lists of the KPL in the most important towns, with two thirds of the population of Luxembourg. Both the 90th anniversary of the KPL and our active

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

93

94

participation in the elections will give us the opportunity to strengthen our party and to propagate our communist proposals for the future of Luxembourg.

With the aim to be more effective in our political work we are striving for the further development of our international relations.

First of all, we will strengthen the co-operation with the communist parties of our neighboring countries, the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB), the German Communist Party (DKP) and the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN). This quadrilateral framework of co-operation has already led to several common actions.

At the same time, we are of the opinion that it is urgently necessary to further develop the worldwide international co-operation of all communist and workers’ parties which are working on the basis of the theory of MarxismLeninism and are acting for the construction of a socialist society to replace the capitalist system of exploitation.

The main aim of such co-operation should be the permanent exchange of opinions and experiences of the everyday struggle of our parties. It is necessary to inform our members about the consequences of the capitalist crisis in other countries and about the struggle of the communists against them. The information about strikes in Portugal, election results in Greece or mass manifestations in France will help to encourage our members and the readers of our newspaper to participate in actions in our own country.

We are convinced that the abolition of capitalism in one single country in Europe is not possible. We have to combine our efforts to struggle against the capitalist state as well as against the international capitalist structures like NATO and the European Union. And

we must also combine the propaganda for a socialist perspective. In this context, the KPL considers it necessary to study the reasons for the defeat of the socialist construction in the Soviet Union and in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. This important task of study and analyses must include the experiences of our comrades in all the former socialist countries. This is one of the most important ways to prepare ourselves for the political tasks of the future.

As in all the previous International Meetings, we would like to repeat our appeal to combine all our efforts for the construction of a structured international framework of cooperation between the communist and workers’ parties.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Luxembourg

‘

Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) JHALA NATH KHANAL

FIRST O ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND MY SINCERE congratulation to the South African Communist Party (SACP) for successfully organizing the 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) around the world in the nation of Nelson Mandela and in the place and work place of “U TATA MADIBA” i.e. Johannesburg in South Africa. I am here from the country of communists and workers upholding and flying their beloved red flag tirelessly and enthusiastically on the top of Mount Everest in salutation to the country of prisoner number 46664. This prisoner was once confined to Robben Island in order to stifle the voice of millions of voiceless peoples in South Africa particularly, and across the whole globe in general. But prisoner number 46664 has proved to be a tremendous source of human inspiration for human emancipation from the clutches of apartheid as well as all forms of discrimination and exploitation against humanity in the 21st century.

LET ME GO ONE STEP FURTHER and extend my greatest gratitude to SACP for inviting us to voice our common concerns for our common future with the common strategy to fight against global Imperialism which is the latest form of capitalism all over the world.

“The deepening systemic crisis of capitalism. The tasks of Communists in defence of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism” seem to be most appropriate themes and demands for forging social alliances among communist and workers’ parties against global imperialism in the 21st century, and as a basis for the 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties. The discourse, debate and discussion on such highly relevant theme are paramount in it and will spread a message of hope, expectation and aspiration to many

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

95

96

millions of working class peoples around the world. At the same time, this meeting should come up with a much stronger message to operate solidarity networks with a view to inform the ideological cum political views, as well as deepening social alliance network (solidarity network) of different Communist and Workers’ Parties on national, regional and international issues. We cannot but congratulate you, the SACP, for the huge responsibility borne and remarkable job done for organizing the 12th international meeting of communist and workers’ parties in the heart of Johannesburg in South Africa.

WORLD CAPITALISM has been developing through many stages. According to Marx, capitalism was invented in the 16th century in the form of simple capitalist cooperation. It was the first stage in the development of capitalist production which is a form of collectivization of labor in which the capitalist exploits a more or less significant number of simultaneously employed “wage workers” who perform the same work. Simple capitalist cooperation was based on manual labor without a division of labor at a capitalist enterprise which does not make radical changes in either the technology or methods of production. The further development of simple capitalist cooperation led to cooperation based on the wide division of labor. This, according to Marx, was the 2nd stage in the development of capitalism. It was called “Grand Manufacture stage”. It continued from the middle of the 16th century to the 18th century. Great manufacturing industries were set up during this period in many parts of Europe. According to Lenin when industrial revolutions occurred and modern productive machines were discovered, then

modern technology led to the emergence of the 3rd stage of world capitalist development.

It lasted from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. In that period world had undergone tremendous changes. Capitalism developed into monopoly capitalism and imperialism. It created huge colonial empires all over the world which was completely divided amongst the world powers. Since the second half of the 20th century the whole world is again undergoing a new, comprehensive and modern technological revolution. The introduction of computer numerical control (CNC) technology very soon revolutionized industry everywhere. Knowledge based industries are expanding rapidly all over the world. Furthermore, innovation in the field of IT technology, genomic sciences, nanotechnology etc. will have a profound impact on the further control of productions in the global markets.

Because machine-tool makers worldwide typically sell their newest products close to home and begin to control the market (monopoly) everywhere through a few industries and individuals. The use of modem innovative technologies has given rise to the 4th stage of capitalist development - that is modern global capitalism or global imperialism. We are witnessing today a great change in every aspect of human life in the world.

The days of colonial empires have already gone, but global imperialism is trying to dominate the people, countries and nations of the world through new methods and tactic. The world market has been monopolized and unified by global capitalism through TIMCs / MNCs and few giant companies.

UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, all the

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)

people of all the continents should be united to wage a national, regional, and global fight against the monopoly of global capitalism through revitalization of their own strength, and global networking of communist and workers’ parties. Because of the cut-throat competition even within three capitalist centers, namely; USA, Europe and Japan, the world structure is changing. Because of the long history of Communist movements and governments in the countries like China, Vietnam, Laos etc., the Asia-Pacific nexus can be the new region of hope for the success of communist movement in a new paradigm in the 21st century.

About 460 to 480 million out of 950 million people in the world today who are forced to live with hunger and are deprived of access to health, education and sanitation are confined to my own South Asian region. The figures are more astounding when we see that while the South Asian region accounts for only 23% of the world’s total population, it is the home to more than 43% of the world’s poor. Fascinatingly, over the 10 year period from 19992009, South Asian military expenditure increased by 45% - which is equivalent to US$37.3 billion. The defence spending is bigger than the collective spending in the sectors of transport, communication, health or public order of security. It is not only the threat to peace, but also a perceived sense of threat to national defence among member states, which will lead to the deprivation of basic needs of people in the region.

In a nutshell, the post cold-war globalization is benefiting the developed countries through the mechanism of the WTO, and bringing hardship of global rural population which, indeed, is exasperated by the presence of Multinational Corporations and their ruth-

less exploitation of resources. The role of the UN in many areas has been undermined in many ways by organizations like NATO. These trends of globalization are cumulatively posing serious threats to global peace, the progress of people, the building of socialism, the defence of sovereignty, national integrity and the independence of nations. The New Economic Order nurtured by the developed countries is not only exploitative and discriminatory, but also treacherous to the poor and peace loving people of the world. All these problems, which have resulted from the worst crisis of capitalism and the consequent world recession, are posing a major threat to international peace and security. Obviously, the mass of the world’s population is suffering from poverty and violence, the crisis of capitalism is continuing, creating massive price rises in the cost of food and also resulting in proliferation of armaments.

The trends after 1990 witnessed a unique situation of ‘intensity and growth of internal conflicts and crisis governance’. Many societies, including my own country Nepal, have had a terrible history of internal strife claiming the lives of more than 14,000 people in a decade. Tirelessly and fortunately, we have brought the conflict to an end through a peaceful negotiation resulting in the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). This has been a unique moment in the history of world peace where political conflict has skillfully been managed by national consensus among political parties. As a matter of great pride and glory, Nepal has been unique in eliminating the feudal autocratic monarchy through a peaceful people’s movement. Nepal is a witness to the world that progressive revolution can materialize without ruthless bloodshed. It has given an ample lesson to the world com-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

97

98

munity that the unprecedented mass political movement of people can, ultimately, remove any powerful “dictator”.

There is a silver lining in the clouds of the South Asian Political conflicts and progress towards peace and development. My own country is now seriously engaged in bringing the peace process to its logical conclusion and drafting a new constitution. My party “The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)” has played a crucial role in ending the ‘decade-long-insurgency’ and restoring peace. My party has set examples of “propoor governments” while running governments twice over the last two decades. The policies and programs introduced and implemented by my party have been widely acclaimed and admired by the people and have set standards of democratic performance for the government. We strongly believe that socialism is the only path for liberation of the exploited, workers, peasants, peace-loving, and middle class people. The relevance of Marxism and Leninism has now been proven again in the wake of the monopoly of the global imperialism in the new world order. My party firmly stands against all forms of domination and imperialism.

Despite our tremendous success in peaceful resolution of the conflict, announcing the democratic Republic of Nepal, along with the multiparty political system, there is still a long way to go. Many factors - like occasional failures in national consensus on PLA integration and management, the modality of our new constitution, and the failure to elect a prime minister - are greatly hampering the ongoing peace process and constitution writing. I firmly believe that there is no alternate to the national consensus politics among major political parties in Nepal.

WITH THOSE OBSERVATIONS, perceptions, and analysis, once again, I would like to salute and appreciate the efforts of the South African Communist Party to organize this meeting in this crucial juncture of history, when capitalism is hard struggling to recover from its collapse. But there are some questions for all of us to answer. Should we let this brutal, systemically failed and anti-humanistic capitalism re-emerge again as a system to attack international peace and order and defile socialism? Should we allow it emerge again to become a bedrock of imperialism? Should we allow it to be the cause of suffering of millions of poor people? Should we allow it become a dominant power of the international exploitative market? I hope this meeting will seriously engage in raising debate and discussion on these issues and so provide a new impetus for ‘revolution’ and ‘liberation’ of the working and peace loving people of the world.

To my knowledge, this is a right time for developing a common opinion of ‘all communist and workers parties’ towards ‘solidarity and commitment’ for working together for international peace and socialism. We have to think deeply of addressing the problems of ‘ultra-leftist extremism’. We have to definitely consider the progress made by some countries under leadership of communist parties.

Undoubtedly, a prime responsibility of the communist and workers’ parties in the world today is the rescue and liberation of the millions of world’s poor.

The revitalization of the socialist revolution is dependent on our renewed commitment to ‘Marxism-Leninism” and the revitalization of our work for the poor. The development of science and technology is a boon for us if we properly use it for the sake of the revolution. The modern development of science

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)

and technology has strongly justified the ‘scientific analysis of the society and its relations’ made by the Marxism - Leninism. Therefore, I, on behalf my party and people, would like to propose the following resolutions: a. Considering that ‘imperialism seriously infected the revolution by penetrating the poison of internal conflicts in all parts of the world in the name of racism, religious fanaticism and fundamentalism and regionalism, the Communist and Workers Parties of the world should denounce this deceptive move of imperialism and promote a new international order based on secularism, democracy, peace and internationalism. b. The service to welfare and development of the exploited poor class of the society is the prime responsibility of the communist and left politics. Hence, we should firmly make a commitment to added and increased support to peasants and workers in raising their living standards and supporting their struggle for justice. c. Unlimited globalization, whose objective is the ‘monopolization’ of the world’s resources by global capitalism through operation of Multinational Corporations, should be condemned and the movement for reparation of damages and harm caused by them to the people and nations is raised and launched. d. The problems of environmental degradation and climate change affecting the lives of people all across the world, caused by unlimited use of chemical fuels by the developed countries should be condemned and a firm movement against it should be immediately developed and launched. e. To effectively fight against the ‘widen-

ing impact of global imperialism’, new efforts should be made to develop solidarity network with all who are working to fight against poverty, environmental degradation and climate change, and all forms of discrimination, exploitation and injustice.

LAST, BUT NOT THE LEAST, I would like to urge all delegates to pay attention to my propositions and conduct discourse to revitalize the ‘role of communist and workers’ parties to give the revolution a new dimension for the liberation of working class people in the world’.

Long live: Marxism - Leninism!

Long live: The solidarity among the Communist and workers’ parties of the world!!

Long live: Our solidarity network from Chile to China, from Syria to Sicily and from the country of Mount Everest to the country of UTATA MADIBA!!!

Thank you!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

99

‘ MR CHAIRMAN, DELEGATES, The NCPN is 100

New Communist Party of the Netherlands VAN KRANENBURG

grateful for the possibility to participate in the 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties and gives its thanks to the SACP for its organisation THE DEEPENING CRISIS OF THE IMPERIALIST system now confronts the world with a shrinking economy and the collapse of the global economic and financial relations, which for more than 60 years depended on a continuous growth of the economy in the economic developed countries, especially North America and Western Europe. The emerging economies are largely dependent on these markets and therefore also affected.

Governments of the imperialist states have no other solutions, without undermining the profits than to ‘socialize’ the losses. The state’s shortfall grows quickly.

Greece and Ireland are just some prominent examples.

Significant cuts in public spending are about to take place or are underway in many other countries mainly at the expense of the living standards of the working class and increasingly in sections of the middle classes, affecting culture, care, employment, benefits and pensions. Under the guise of first cutting in their own back-yards administration is reduced by governments and the privatization of public functions accelerated. This crisis is paid for by working people, not by those who are responsible for the crisis: the banks and multinationals.

The coming period will be very dangerous for the global economic and financial system.

During the last meeting of global central bankers last August in Jackson Hole, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve said very diplomatically: now that the policy of the U.S. has failed to bring about economic recovery, the rest of the world really has no choice but to continue to fund U.S. deficits in the hope to prevent the collapse of

IB 2011 n New Communist Party of the Netherlands

the global economic system.

The U.S. is now solving its debt crisis with freshly-printed money, in the process undermining the dollar-stocks and U.S. treasuries held by the rest of the world. The assurance of the Federal Reserve and Obama that they had fully understood the nature of the crisis and the means to control it has been exposed as pure arrogance.

These factors will lead to further deepening and widening of the chaos in the financial and monetary markets. The biggest domestic economic and social shock since the year 1930 will take place. This may lead to protectionism and trade wars which will increase the danger of global military conflict. And this prospect makes even more urgent our support for peaceful sovereign development like the ALBA project and our call for abolishment of NATO, which will continue to be the instrument for the protection of imperialist interests in the world at the cost of non-aligned nations.

The affects of this crisis will become in practice increasingly apparent for the working class, even in Western Europe. This economic system has no stable vision of the development of mankind to offer. Ideologically however, the growth of this insight among working people is not guaranteed without a battle of ideas. The role of the media should not be underestimated. The Americanisation of politics is becoming ever more apparent. Politics is mostly presented as a play, meant to distract the public from the real political choices and solutions to the major economic and social issues. Parliamentary democracy is reduced to a media spectacle and made subordinate to economic power. The right wing media shake the last vestiges of fairness and objectivity, taking the lead in the coarsening and hardening of manners and aligning them-

selves with the same mass and one-sided news coverage. Objective news, if present, is marginalized. Information and research are no longer a guiding principle. Most media outlets are exclusively focused on impact and profit. The ratings determine what is important. In Western countries the peoples are confronted with extreme individualism. The ruling class and its media have managed to get their ideological message accepted of everyone for him or herself through advertising and other communications media.

Everywhere in Europe parties have arisen which seek to address the fears of the population about the adverse effects of globalization and try to channel the sense of unease by setting up groups of the working class against each other. For examplem, in the Netherlands various parties attempt to stoke antagonism against Muslim immigrants in particular. The migrants are blamed for the breakdown of the capitalist welfare state. A widespread sentiment of abuse of social services on the part of migrants has become part of the overall attack on the working class. Also young and old are made each others enemy in the debate for a sustainable pension system. These attacks are accompanied by paeons of praise towards private property and entrepreneurship.

COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES IN EUROPE and elsewhere should take steps, more than ever, to realize a common ideological basis, based on collective action and society-wide coalitions of resistance to the dismantling of the welfare state and for building inclusive, prosperous and peaceful societies.

While we should continue to maintain the ideological integrity of our parties, wherever possible useful new broad coalitions are necessary. Whether that is possible or not and how

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

101

102

coalitions may take shape wil depend on local, national and historical circumstances..

Thereby we must place one single alternative before the peoples of of Europe: the necessity of struggle for socialism and the possibility of the establishment of Socialism.

This is a struggle that has to be linked and coordinated at a European level. Although the battle will ultimately have a national character, we have to fight against the united the coordinated action of European big business and often the same multinational companies and their representatives in parliament. Improved cooperation between the Communists in Europe and a joint response to the social democratic and bourgeois leftist strategies is needed to combat the ideological confusion among the workers effectively. Fighting for socialism in the near future also means that we must continue to struggle for the imminent decline of opportunities to slow down the present attacks.

The trade union movement has a central role to play in this struggle in tackling the crisis at its source, in refuting the logic of capitalist enriched individuals, and building a better, more social society. However the union struggle without communist participation can not get beyond the enforcement of some concessions from the ruling class . For the overthrow of its political society is a political struggle, the struggle for socialism. Communists always fight for progress, even if the decline has already begun. The struggle for progress now is for sure also the struggle to stop further deterioration. And it is not just about benefits and wages. It’s also and maybe even more to maintain and strengthen the organizations of the working class. If current trends of degradation and ideological confusion will not be stopped, over time, trade

unions for instance will no longer exist in the Netherlands.

Since the eighties of the last century a process has been underway in the Netherlands in which trade unions have been encouraged to advocate on an individual level only, even as the fight for collective interests have come under increasing pressure. However, there are more and more union members who spoke out against this tendency in the trade unions and want to resist and fight back as a militant organization for the struggle for collective interests of workers, ruled by the members themselves. Their efforts are often frustrated by the social democrats on the boards of the trade unions. For the NCPN the practical and ideological support of the rising opposition within the union movement has become currently the highest priority.

It is through practical class struggle and Marxist-Leninist education that understanding of the evolution of society is developed. It is the communists who see the necessity of class struggle if the working class is to be successful. This understanding is what we are trying to teach step by step among the working population.

Although national problems are big and becoming bigger and most parties are involved in national struggles, international proletarian cooperation is necessary. The NCPN calls for more concrete forms of cooperation between Communist and Workers’ parties in Europe and supports the search for better international coordination, unity and joint action.

Thank you for your attention.

Long live the national class struggle.

Long live international solidarity.

IB 2011 n New Communist Party of the Netherlands

‘

Communist Party of Norway SVEND HAAKON JACOBSEN

COMRADES, MANY THANKS to the South African Communist Party for hosting this 12th international meeting of Communist and workers parties in Johannesburg, the first meeting on African soil. We know that you have started an initiative of a network of left progressive forces on the African continent to deepen the struggle for democracy, peace and for socialism. You also underline the necessity to continue deepening global working class solidarity. In this spirit you are today the natural host of this 12th international Meeting of Communist and Workers’ parties. Together we will strengthen the cooperation in our common fight for sovereignty, economic development, social justice and peace, against imperialism, fascism and war.

The USA still is the largest economy, but their working class is seriously struck by the deepening systemic crises. Every month more than 200,000 workers lose their jobs. The working class have kept up their consumption by low rent cheap house loans. From 2010, and 2011 most of them have to start to pay down their mortgage in addition. Many more people are unemployed, and many have drastic lowered income.

The Economic policy of EU and IMF to reduce state deficits, the national European governments to receive loans are ordered to make huge economic cuts in the public sector, and in the salaries and pensions. Unemployment is radically increasing, the already poverty stricken are getting poorer, whilst the big monopolies and the finance oligarchy receive millions of taxpayers money in state support to save the finance system. The rich who caused the crises get all the support, and the workers and the people have to pay. Even capitalist economists agree that these policies are for sure deepening the international capitalist crises.

Norway is a rich country due to its oil and gas resources, lots of cheap clean turbine electric energy from many big waterfalls and a

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

103

104

long coast which till now has been rich in fish resources. Big finance capital in Norway has been gambling big in the unregulated international finance market, and lost a lot in the crises. Our “redgreen” Social-democratic government in Norway pursued the same policies as in the other western imperialist countries.

Equivalent to 100 billion US dollars were redistributed to the big financial institutions, which helped the owners save the money they gambled away. Only equivalent to 4 billion US dollars was given for investments in the community sector that would create job possibilities for the young carpenters and industry workers who were unemployed in the crises. Norway has big international funds due to a much too high oil production. In the crises the governmental fund was struck big blows, and took even another 100 billion US dollars in losses. Even in this situation Norway have no dept. Still the Social-democratic government accept a high permanent unemployed group of young people, the real unemployment rate is between 4 and 5 %, and is not going down.

The Social-democrats accept the EU policies, even if they do not have to, as Norway is not an EU member, only associated. They have crippled the Pension system, reduced the pension rights, and reduced the public pension for working people by 25-50%. Today we are fighting the Social-democratic reduction in public economic support for disabled and crippled people. Even if there is no economic necessity, the Social-democratic government is pursuing EU initiated reductions in public spending.

Anti communism has been strong in Norway since a few years after the Second World War, and everything has been done to reduce the influence of the Communists Party.

Every newspaper in Norway receives gov-

ernmental support to survive, except for the Communist Party Newspaper. We are fighting to make it real hard for them to reject us, and even if they do, we are still giving out an even better newspaper.

We are part of a strong movement against Norwegian membership of the EU, which still has the support of the majority of the Norwegian people.

We are fighting together with the radical part of the Norwegian trade union movement against the right wing economic policies of the “redgreen” Social-democratic government. But even if big and decisive numbers of trade unionists on the lower levels agree on fighting new reactionary bills from the government, they are not properly organized and coordinated to win. We are working to strengthen our reorganized Communist Youth of Norway, to strengthen the Communist Party influence and participation in these important class fights.

Active youngsters of our reorganized Communist Youth of Norway are taking part in 17th WFYS here in Johannesburg 13th till 21st of December this year, one young woman is our party vice chairman.

The “redgreen” Social-democratic government has because of strong Cuba solidarity in cooperation with the Trade Unions normalized the relations with revolutionary Cuba. The Norwegian government is financing part of the Cuban doctors’ huge engagements to help the suffering people of Haiti. But comrades, at the same time the Norwegian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister fully supported Madelaine Albright’s new and dangerous NATO concept that was decided in the NATO meeting in Lisbon 19th till 20th of November. They also allowed NATO forces to train on Norwegian

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Norway.

105

soil, to stop peaceful demonstrations with heavy armed NATO troops, which means they are prepared to use fascist methods to control the working class fighting the harsh measures of capitalist crises.

Tv2 in Norway informed the public of the illegal US Embassy espionage on Norwegian citizens, but the government and the political parties in the Parliament covered up, and said what the Americans did was legal.

The Norwegian government and Parliament supported the Nobel committee giving the Nobel Peace Price to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo who is sentenced to 11 years of prison for signing Charta08 endorsing the privileges of the bourgeoisie and untrammeled operation of capitalism in China, and agitating for subversion of the Chinese government and overthrow of the socialist system.

Our Social-democratic government is an errand boy of the US, also accepting dangerous developments on the Korean peninsula, based on well known pure lies from the South Koreans and the US administration about the sinking of South Korean warship Ceonan.

Thank you for your attention!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ DEAR COMRADES OF THE PRESIDIUM and 106

Communist Party of Pakistan IMDAD QAZI

delegates of the fraternal parties, The previous half century has given birth to diverse exploitative forms of the capitalist system, among which corporate capitalism, crony capitalism and the market economy are worth mentioning here.

The system of capitalism is another name for sheer exploitation, corruption, war and an economy, which is totally bankrupt and which globalization has artificially sustained so far from falling apart.

Chinese state capital is striving to sustain its survival for its own benefit in the prevailing milieu. We believe that, in the prevailing market economy, those nations whose productivity is meant only to meet essential necessities cannot survive. Likewise it is too hard for those who produce merely for barter to sustain. Those nations, focused on the growth of their production to earn more benefits, can survive. This is the reason behind the fact that every one is now out shopping in the prevailing conditions of free trade and the market economy and has virtually abandoned its own productivity.

Sanctioning gambling, rampant loans, leases, and interest has indebted America to over 14 billion US dollars, but despite all this, it is still the world’s wealthiest country in the indices of human and natural resources. So the question arises, how then did its economic system collapse?

WHILE VIEWING THE COLLAPSE OF THE US economic system and taking into account the examples of Enron, it is obvious, that the accounts and audit system is, in fact, nothing, but a confused game of numbers in a gambling and casino system.

The romance of the credit card system enticed the customer to shop for the future and from now on, he is required to pay in the present for days to come. Inflation, the increase in prices and devaluation of the currency are im-

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Pakistan

portant components of the play of capitalism.

Anti-people measures in the name of globalization, free trade, liberalization and privatization have badly failed and are exposed. The capitalists are striving to transform the citizens of the world into robots through the force of its controlled media system. Under the emblem of postmodernist philosophy, through obsessive film and literature, people are drawn away from objective and rational thinking, the syllabus taught in educational institutes is again meant to keep the students disenchanted with objective thinking.

In the present milieu, when money was identified as the sole purpose, a separate market was created. Stock markets became involved in gambling and the central banks around the world started to print off more and more currency notes, plunging the world into the crises which we see everywhere around us. Therefore, the system of debts and interest, mortgaged the whole world into the hands of very few and here lay the root cause of the evil. On the other hand, as during the time of the Vietnam and the first and second world wars, the war economy earned trillions of dollars over the corpses of the innocent people of the world and dolled out money to the imperialist US of America. Now the multinational companies, on the pretext of facilitating free trade, are out to shamefully occupy and eliminate the supreme authority of the state, its sovereignty and geographical borders.

The monetary institutions have mortgaged the sovereignty of the third world countries for debts and loans. The G-8 countries, of which the USA is master, in sheer greed for oil, minerals and other natural resources, has on one pretext or another, plundered the natural coffers of the third world countries and has

raised piles of human corpses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. At present, the volume of money for trading against the volume of industrial capital at world level is greater.

Hence, the trade in monetary debts, loans and currency gambling has boosted artificial capital.

Due to the surplus quantity of hard capital against productive capital, the raw material producing countries are ground between the two churning wheels of industrial capital and economic capital. These institutions exploit the workers worse than slaves in countries like Pakistan. In countries like Pakistan, corporate farming has pushed small peasants and skilled workers towards filthy polluted urban centres. Life is struggling in rural areas and crime is growing fast in the muddy residential quarters of the cities. The capitalist system has transformed the poverty stricken masses of the world into a miserable servitude, which is far worse than the savage slavery of the days gone by.

NOWHERE CAN THE PREVAILING CAPITALIST system deliver anything other than savagery, exploitation and crises upon crises for humankind. This system of savagery has brought the whole world to the verge of nuclear war and the dangers of climate change, where the true face of savagery of this system is exposed. Socialism pioneered a proper system, free from all exploitation, but building a market of a socialist nature at world level has still to be discovered. It was imperative for the socialist countries to advance, building a common market of their own and thereby concentrate on working to eliminate the disparity of world capital. Thence, they could have been very instrumental in facilitating and creating the means for productive capital

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

107

108

among the poor and non-aligned countries, and could have there and then developed basic capital markets and in this way the hegemony of monetary capital over industrial capital could have been dismantled and similarly, the conditions for the emancipation of the third world countries from the clutches of world monopolies could have been realized.

Today, bearing these points in mind, on the road of socialism, in accordance with the prevailing conditions, the objective features ought to be highlighted. SOCIALISM IS A SITUATIONAL SCIENCE! THE OBJECTIVE CONDITION of the world has shown time and again that, the scientific and economic evolution of capital has arrived at a point, where in the absence of socialism, the creation of capital cannot do justice. It is also shown that, where the barons of capital reign, a society based on democratic norms cannot be established and therefore democracy appears to be an illusion for the common people where we know imperialism enjoys the status of god father for all the monopolists of the world at large.

The importance of money over man is a sign of a world at the point of devastation.

Therefore, for us Communists, it is our obligation to come forward and save this planet, Earth, from catastrophe and turn it into a bosom of tranquillity, prosperity, and socialism, which is not possible, other than through political, social and economic revolution.

TODAY, ALL OVER THE WORLD, THE MASSES and the working class are out in the streets, angry, agitating against this defunct system. Anti-war movements are gaining strength everywhere and trade union movements are coming together in seismic strikes

and demonstrations. The working class of the developed countries of Europe, particularly in Greece and France, are furious, agitating against the government’s austerity measures of cuts in salaries, inflation, unemployment and downsizing social security. The thesis of the “END OF HISTORY” is soundly refuted. All their theoretical manoeuvres, of the collision between civilizations and war on terror are shamefully exposed in the public eye. So now religious intolerance and ethnic strife are encouraged and organized, in order to divert public attention towards non-issues in different parts of the world.

IN OUR COUNTRY PAKISTAN, in the name of religion, forces which are totally obscurantist and historically a force of medievalism have been barbarically striking and devastating society for a very long time. The so called Taliban and Islamic jehadist forces have been bombing and laying waste thousands of schools, hospitals, and other creative institutions.

Women are forced to lead inhuman lives in medieval servitude, in order to be allowed to live; hundreds of left wing workers and liberal free thinking individuals are assassinated with horrifying brutality on a daily basis. Even comparatively enlightened Islamic scholars, who defied their version of harsh medieval Islam, have also been targeted and similarly eliminated. No other denomination is spared from their wrath, except one religious Islamic sect known as the “Deobandi” (an obscurantist school of thought, the name of which is derived from an Islamic seminary established during colonial times in India at Deoband). On this occasion, we consider it necessary to tell you here, that the Communist Party of Pakistan has been bearing the greatest brunt of this wrath - dozens of its cadres/members are

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Pakistan

109

subjected to heinous murders and horrifying persecutions. A member of our central committee, Comrade Dr Shafiq, very narrowly survived deadly attempts on his life on several occasions and we express our very profound gratitude to the Communist Party of Greece for its very great and timely help, saving his life at a time when we are forced to confront determined adversaries. We also hope that the Greek comrades will continue this historical fraternal obligation in the future. The family of Comrade Shafiq remains under continued severe threat, but we will never, ever, surrender and fall apart, discouraged. In this struggle among the participants from many positions in contention on the soil of Pakistan, we will not spare any effort in order to save the lives of our people and will continue our fight, until we achieve emancipation from imperialism.

IN THE PREVAILING SITUATION described above, we need to assemble and re-organize the widely dispersed and disjointed movements acting in different parts of the world and if we could conjoin these movements together, we can hope to strike a crushing blow to the capitalist system, because, the future of humanity belongs to socialism and without communism, only barbarism can prevail.

LONG LIVE PEOPLES RESISTANCE LONG LIVE SOCIALISM LONG LIVE THE UNITY OF THE COMMUNIST AND WORKERS PARTIES.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ FIRST, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK the South 110

Palestinian People’s Party ASEM J.R. ABDALHADI

African Communist Party (SACP) for its hospitality and for hosting this important meeting here in Johannesburg. Also let me convey the regards of the Central Committee of the Palestinian People’s Party, and our gratitude for your solidarity with our party and people. I feel honored to join with you today and address this distinguished international meeting.

Twenty-four months ago, when our party had the honor of addressing this body in Brazil, the negotiating process and not the peace process-as it is called- was in a very crucial situation. As you remember, it was the Annapolis conference and the American promise that a viable Palestinian state should be established by the end of that year 2008.

The Annapolis channel was not launched out of good will. President Bush at that time needed the Arab states to support his policies in Iraq, Lebanon and other parts of the region.

He wanted them to begin normalizing their relations with Israel, even without ending the occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories. Now, and after two years, unfortunately the Obama administration is trying to do the same thing and following similar policies. It is giving full support for Netanyahu’s preconditions, and lip service protest on his settlement activities. President Obama is promising again that a Palestinian state will be established by the end of 2011.

Who will believe that Mr. Netanyahu will be ready within a year to evacuate the occupied Palestinian territories if he cannot or will not declare now a freeze on the construction in settlements? Moreover, who will believe that President Obama will be able to pressure Israel on core issues if he cannot do that on minor issues such as convincing Netanyahu to expand the moratorium on the settlement activities that expired last September?

In fact, the settlement freeze furore is a mask for Netanyahu’s true intentions. The controversy around the settlements’ freeze

IB 2011 n Palestinian People’s Party

draws attention towards Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians first recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people. As every body knows, the PLO recognized Israel in 1994.Therefore, there will be no further recognition. Such recognition means that Netanyahu demands a Palestinian concession ahead of time; Palestinians are required to give up in advance the right of return of the refugees. It would be as if the United States of America demanded that Iran recognize it as the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) State as a condition for negotiating and then concluding any comprehensive peace settlement with it. Of course, such demands are racist and considered non-starters to begin with.

ISRAEL NOW IS LAUNCHING a massive building campaign all over the west bank. We should recall that in 1993, the number of settlers was less than one hundred thousand, now and after 18 years of negotiations; it is half a million settlers. Therefore, our party (PPP), among others, has expressed a position against the indirect and direct negotiations as long as Israel is continuing its settlement activities and not recognizing the terms of reference of the peace process. We have adopted this position long before the Palestinian leadership took up this position. We have decried the American biased mediation and insisted all the time that the Palestinians should not give Israel the cover of negotiations that facilitates the creation of new facts on the ground. In fact, Israel anticipates that these facts would force themselves in any future solution!

This is the major threat that the Palestinians are now facing, the danger of a unilateral imposed solution; or a state with temporary

borders; a mini state that combine the settlement blocs; a mini state isolated behind the separation wall without its capital, Jerusalem, and without a just solution of the refugee problem. Netanyahu’s understanding of the peace talks intended to deflect international pressure from Israel, while it continues to hold on to the territories.

We believe that Israel will not back off from its expansionist policies unless it is subjected to serious external pressure by the international community. Israel needs to be forced to abide by international law and the peace process terms of reference. Israel needs to be forced to give up its policy of creating new facts on the ground. Without such pressure, the situation will remain unchanged and the Israeli intransigence will continue.

Palestinians are entitled to statehood. The Palestinian state is the one that is not recognized. The Palestinians are the ones who need recognition. This is the basis for a just and comprehensive solution.

OUR PARTY CALLS FOR CONSTRUCTIVE and fruitful negotiations within the framework of an international peace conference based on: 1) A complete halt and freeze of all settlement activities and provocations all over the occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem and the lifting of the inhuman siege over Gaza. 2) Full compliance with all international resolutions concerning the Palestinian problem.

In our view, these are the necessary conditions to begin a successful peace process.

It is obvious that Netanyahu is rejecting these reasonable terms and trying to impose his unreasonable terms. In this case, our alternative is to call the international communi-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

111

112

ty to hold Israel responsible about the failure of the peace process and call it to take certain steps to press the Israeli government to act in accordance with the international will.

As a conclusion, it is worth referring to the final declaration that was issued by the meeting of the communist and workers parties in the Arab world that was held recently in Damascus. It says: The Israeli intransigence and the continuous American biased attitude in favor of Israel, requires that the Arab states and the international community support the Palestinian position to go to the Security Council in order to declare the Palestinian independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and to demand international recognition. We think that tremendous efforts should be made in order to transfer these demands into a legitimate and just international position. Accordingly, our party is calling all the fraternal parties here in Johannesburg to adopt this declaration, and at the same time to continue working for a boycott of Israel and its products, and to organize campaigns to end the blockade of Gaza and to support our people, its popular resistance against the wall and against colonies, settlements and the occupation.

Thank you again for your invitation and we wish this international meeting every success.

IB 2011 n Palestinian People’s Party

‘

Philippine Communist Party (PKP-1930) WRITTEN CONTRIBUTION

The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP1930, the Philippine Communist Party) salutes the South African Communist Party for hosting the 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties. We regret the inability of our Party to send a representative to this very important and historic event, but we wish to send our warmest fraternal greetings to all participants of this International Meeting.

This International Meeting is being convened with the continuing crisis of the capitalist system as a backdrop —- a deep systemic crisis that is the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The crisis at its current stage is the inevitable result of the last 2 decades of the globalization of production and marketing, of the global penetration of finance capital (particularly since agents of imperialism succeeded in taking over and destroying the USSR and the socialist community), and of the greater recourse of some sections of finance capital to playing with fictitious capital and other “financialization” schemes in order to retain levels of superprofit.

While the present crisis broke out initially in the USA with the dramatic collapse of some of its most revered investment and insurance firms, it is notable that it quickly spread to all developed capitalist countries where global banks are now going bankrupt, and soon affected all countries of the world. The present crisis is not just a result of the “ponzi” schemes and financial bubbles cooked up by some cynical US companies, which sucked billions of US dollars in investments into a black hole. New sets of government regulations to control investment racketeering will not prevent the further worsening of the crisis. The inherently chaotic and anarchic nature of the capitalist economy inevitably leads to bankruptcies in the financial sector, and to over-production and the saturation of commodity markets. Thus even icons of capitalist

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

113

114

industry, such as the leading car and electronics manufacturers, have been tottering.

In the USA, Obama’s attempt to control the financial bankruptcy problem by bailing out US financial institutions, has failed miserably, and has only resulted in the squandering of $800-Billion in taxpayers’ money to whet the appetite of banksters for more bonuses and perks. Obama is set to launch a second bail-out plan (Quantitative Easing 2, or QE2) to waste another $600-Billion in taxpayers’ money in buying the “toxic assets” of banks, with little hope that this can generate employment and help indebted people to keep their homes.

European and other capitalist governments which are unable to bail out their own banks and investment firms are forced to accept IMF/EU control of their economies, promising cuts in employment levels and benefits, and cuts in education, health, retirement and other social security outlays, in exchange for bail-out fund loans. Thus we see in those countries the heightened militancy of the working masses who are fighting those cuts and the attempts to increase the retirement age. It is a struggle against capitalist system itself, a struggle which poses the need for change towards socialism.

In the field of production, both in capital and consumer goods, the saturation of markets has become evident. Even in our country, which is not a developed capitalist country, the results of capitalist over-production are very apparent. In the wake of the worsened crisis, transnational corporations here have shut down many assembly lines for vehicle parts and electronic items, and yet the market for vehicles and electronic products (including mobile phones, cameras, computers and ipods) is already saturated. There is a flood of

consumer durables, including second-hand domestic appliances being dumped from Japan, South Korea and the USA, but many people cannot even afford the electricity needed to run these basic household requirements.

There is a glut in housing projects, particularly high-rise condominiums, but most people cannot afford them, and many people continue to squat in slum areas, on sidewalks, in river banks, under bridges, or simply live in pushcarts. Supermarket shelves are overstocked with food products, including imported goods with shady expiration dates, and yet many people go hungry. Deprivation and suffering in the midst of plenty —- this is the real face of capitalism in a neo-colonial country such as ours. We have some of the world’s biggest malls, most exclusive resorts and housing estates, and a glamorous display of the most expensive cars and items for the super-rich landlords and captains of commerce and industry —- all existing amidst the squalor rooted in unemployment, under-employment and forced reliance on micro-entrepreneurial and other informal means of livelihood.

The real face of capitalism —- the deprivation and suffering of the people in the midst of plenty —- is manifest not only in developing countries, but in imperialist countries also, where millions of workers have lost their jobs and have had their houses foreclosed. There is no solution to the anarchic system of capitalist production, which inevitably lead to crises of overproduction.

Of course the only solution to the global crises is the advance to socialism. Under socialism, production is planned and is channelled to meeting all the basic needs of the people. However, under capitalism, produc-

IB 2011 n Philippine Communist Party (PKP-1930)

tion is geared towards the capitalist appropriation of the highest amount of profit from the workers’ labour power; when over-production is reached and the rate of profit would tend to fall, workers are laid-off and the masses of the people are made to bear the brunt of the crisis through the imposition of new taxes and the cutting of government outlays for social services. While the working masses become less able to afford the products that they have over-produced, the more that they suffer graver insecurity, poverty and even hunger.

The workers in imperialist and other major capitalist countries are faced with the task of fighting to overthrow capitalism and to build socialism. In the case of the Philippines, which is far from being a developed capitalist country, the task of the broad patriotic sectors of our people is to struggle for national democracy —- for national freedom from imperialist control and exploitation, and for a democratic system where there would be a strong public sector of the economy which would ensure that the working people’s rights are safeguarded and their basic needs are met. We consider national democracy as our transitional stage towards socialism.

Presently, a major thrust in our struggle for national freedom is the abrogation of the US-imposed “Visiting Forces Agreement” (under which hundreds of US troopers are always present in our country), and “Mutual Defence Agreement” (under which the Philippines serves as an errand boy in US military adventures, particularly in Asia). The struggle against these US-imposed military agreements is a struggle for peace, a struggle against the US scheme to set our country against some fellow Asian countries, a struggle against US imperialist bullying and terrorism in our region.

The grave impact of the international capitalist crisis on our country should mobilize our people and instill greater hope in the attainment of national democracy in our country, and of a broader socialist community throughout the world. It is the task of our Party to help ensure that the masses of our people are correctly enlightened in dealing with the crisis, so that they will fight for their rights and oppose all schemes to put the burden of the crisis upon them. It is the task of our Party to help expand possibilities for the unity of all patriotic and democratic forces in our country, and to keep the masses of our people inspired by the advances being made by socialist and socialist-oriented countries (particularly by member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA).

Our Party will respond, in its ideological and organizational work, to the challenges posed by the international capitalist crisis. In this connection, we call on each and every member of our Party to do his or her best in contributing to the task of organizing, educating and mobilizing the masses of our people as well as to the task of stepping up solidarity with all socialist countries and all anti-imperialist and progressive forces worldwide.

The struggle for socialism will overcome imperialism, inasmuch as socialism remains the only hope for humanity’s survival and a humane future.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

115

‘ DEAR COMRADES, ALLOW ME, FIRST OF 116

Portuguese Communist Party ÂNGELO ALVES

ALL, on behalf of the Portuguese Communist Party and its delegation here, to greet our hosts of this 12th International Meeting, the South African Communist Party. We wish to thank you for the hospitality with which you welcome us in Tshwane and for the conditions that you have created for the success of our International Meeting.

Meeting for the first time in the African continent and in South Africa, the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties completes an important stage which, in a few years, led us from Europe to the territories of the former Soviet Union, to Latin America, to the Middle East (with the extraordinary meeting), to Asia, and now to Africa.

This was, in our opinion, a period in which our International Meetings became stronger, broader and acquired greater political importance and visibility. A period in which several Parties became involved and shouldered the responsability of organizing the International Meetings, ensuring their success. During this period, there were positive steps – despite shortcomings – in the collective preparatory work and in the collective assessment of its main conclusions. We have made progress in the mutual acquaintance of our Parties, in identifying the many aspects which unite us, as well as in those issues or aspects where we have different and diversified points of view.

We have also taken steps forward, even if to a clearly insufficient degree, in undertaking joint or converging action, which is one of the key goals of our Meetings, to which we must continue to devote all our attention.

Despite weaknesses and instability which still affect the international communist and revolutionary movement, despite the diversity of conditions and concrete situations in which we must act, despite delays in identifying and materializing our joint or convergent action, despite the diverse experiences, levels of assessment and points of view - despite all

IB 2011 n Portuguese Communist Party

this - we are living up to the task of jointly creating a dynamic process which, based on mutual respect and the sovereignty and independence of each Party, seeks to strengthen our movement, based upon each of our Parties’ forces and, in so doing, to also strengthen all our Parties and their activity. We think that this represents, in itself, an important victory.

We are meeting in Africa, a continent that has been violently scourged by the effects of colonialism, and where imperialist crimes take on a particularly violent and scandalous dimension. Millions of human beings are pushed into a daily individual struggle for survival, and at the same time have their class consciousness lulled by the charity and aid businesses, which represent a key element of the ideological offensive in Africa. A continent that is today the target of powerful manoeuvres of interference and neo-colonialism, offensives seeking to plunder its natural resources, to exploit its fertile soil, to selectively exploit its human resources, to deny it the right to development and to subvert the achievements of the national liberation struggle – whether through powerful and complex mechanisms of economic, political, military, ideological and supposedly “environmental” control by imperialism, or by the increasingly frequent association of national bourgeoisies with big foreign capital, in what is a key element in the strategy and interests of imperialism, namely of the former colonial powers.

It is because we are familiar with the difficult objective and subjective conditions which the Communists and other progressive forces of this continent face, as well as with the complexity of the challenges that lie ahead, that we view this International Meeting with a particular expression of solidarity and friendship with our African comrades and, in particular

with the South African Communist Party, a decisive force in the South African people’s victory against apartheid and for the fulfillment of the goals of the democratic and national revolution. Solidarity with the struggles that you are waging and with your efforts - based on the heroic history of the national liberation movements – to carry forward progressive and revolutionary liberation processes, and to strengthen the ties between the Communists and other progressive forces, thereby building and strengthening an anti-imperialist movement capable of confronting the attacks and threats which fall upon the African peoples, their rights and the sovereignty of their countries. We convey this friendship and solidarity in a very special manner on this, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the African continent’s formal decolonization.

IN PREVIOUS INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS we analysed capitalism’s crisis and we warned about its predictable developments.

The facts are there to confirm this analysis, thereby proving the validity and remarkable relevance of Marxism-Leninism for the understanding of the capitalist system’s workings.

The developments in the world economy are today marked by the continuation and deepening of the crisis; by a profound and long recession in the capitalist Triad; by volatility in the financial sector; by a succession of vicious circles of looting public money to assist big capital, crises of sovereign debt and the imposition of anti-social and anti-national policies - namely in Europe - as well as by growing economic and monetary tensions world-wide.

These traits confirm the scenario of a profound and prolonged economic crisis of overproduction and over-accumulation, in a vivid

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

117

118

expression of capitalism’s structural and systemic crisis. The crisis, however, also expresses itself at other levels, namely food, energy and the environment, with possible sudden developments that will have unpredictable consequences for the lives of the peoples of so-called developing countries. This crisis is very visibly marked by key aspects of capitalism’s workings, namely its uneven development, and is becoming more acute in a framework of changing international relations characterized by the decline of the main capitalist power (the USA) and by the emergence of new economic powers. This is not a context in which there is a confrontation between two antagonistic blocs, but one in which some of the countries that are at the forefront of these changes – and which, objectively speaking, are in a collision course with the main capitalist powers – are involved in progressive processes of asserting their sovereignty, or define the promotion of socialism as their goal.

But if events are bringing into the limelight capitalism’s historic limits, its contradictions and the potential for the struggle, it is also true that the balance of forces is still profoundly unfavourable for the forces of labour and of progress. Capital’s economic, political and media power is used to carry out a violent anti-social, oppressive and ideological offensive against the workers and the peoples, and against the sovereignty of the States. The main capitalist powers – in particular the USA and the directorate of powers of the European Union – are embarking upon a militaristic and securitarian course. This can be seen in the intensification of the imperialist wars, notably in Afghanistan, the proliferation of hotbeds of tension and the provocations throughout the world and, in a particularly serious way, in the conclusions of NATO’s Lisbon Summit and the

adoption of a new strategic concept by this aggressive military alliance. This course shatters any illusions, regarding either the Nobel Prize-winning Obama, or the purported “independence” of the European Union vis a vis NATO, which is as false as it is impossible.

We are confronted with a dangerous leap in the dark of a system that is intent on bringing about a historic regression in the rights of the workers and peoples, in advancing even further the concentration and centralization of capital and of political power, and with containing the workers’ and peoples’ resistance – whether ideologically, by overwhelming consciousnesses with the theory of the “inevitabilities”, or by force, through a new wave of repression and the attempts to criminalize the resistance.

This leap into the dark is characterized by ever increasing onslaughts and attacks against democracy, and where the rehabilitation of fascism and anti-communism play an important role. A leap in the dark which, in economic terms, was clearly visible during the last G20 meeting, where, in the context of growing economic and monetary tensions, what emerged was the fact that, within the framework of capitalism, there are no real fundamental solutions for the current crisis and, on the other hand, the reaffirmation of policies that lie at very root of the crisis and which are in themselves, as has already been widely proved, the seeds of further crises.

This leap into the dark is taking place very quickly and with manifestations in all regions of the world. Portugal is no exception. Together with other countries of the so-called periphery of Europe, the Portuguese situation is a clear example of what we have just said.

Submerged in a profound crisis that is the outcome of decades of anti-social policies, of the

IB 2011 n Portuguese Communist Party

destruction of the productive apparatus and of national surrender following Portugal’s entry into the European Union, our country is now the target of powerful manoeuvres of blackmail and economic colonization, that are undertaken to serve the interests of big capital, that are spearheaded by the decisionmaking centres of the European Union and by the directorate of the powers in its midst, but which rely on the active participation, in Portugal, of a government led by the Socialist Party (the social democracy Party in Portugal).

Invoking the hypocritical need to “calm” the “markets”, the Government, with the support of the President of the Republic and of the right-wing Parties, have, after providing many millions to the banks, stepped up the most serious onslaught against the rights of the workers and the people since the [1974] April 25th [Revolution], pushing the country into even greater economic dependence and economic crisis and handing over the remaining aspects of our national sovereignty. With the threat of bringing in the IMF, they are now trying force workers into surrender, fear and resignation. But the fact is that what the social-democratic government has been doing is no different from the EU and IMF recipes.

The result, as the case of Ireland clearly shows, can only be an even worse situation, and the workers have begun to understand this. That is why they have just given an exemplary response to the blackmail and vicious circle into which they are being dragged, staging one of the biggest general strikes in Portugal’s history, a general strike convened by the class Trade Union central (CGTP/IN), on November 24 and in which over 3 million workers took part, that is, over 70% of Portuguese workers.

THE SITUATION IN COUNTRIES LIKE Greece, Ireland and Portugal makes it necessary to further the analysis on the issue of the European Union. The way in which the superstructure of European capitalism is behaving in the midst of the crisis, and the profound changes which the Lisbon Treaty introduced, confirm a speedy process based on the European Union’s three pillars – neo-liberalism, militarism and federalism – which seeks to construct an imperialist bloc in Europe, at the expense of the rights of the workers and peoples, of the sovereignty and right to development of the peoples, and even at the expense of democracy.

The profound social crisis which is spreading throughout Europe, the prevalence of the power of monopolies over the power of the institutions, the ultra-liberal and federalist leap forward which the EU institutions are undergoing and the political and institutional contradictions in its midst, which are quickly becoming ever more acute, are the expression of the concentration of political and economic power, of the crushing of rights and of the national sovereignty of European States. But they are also elements which reveal in a vividly clear way the objective limits of the European Union. They show that this European Union cannot be reformed and that the construction of a different Europe, of the workers and the peoples, must necessarily be made upon the ruins of the current European Union.

In this struggle, it will be necessary to assert the European peoples’ sovereign right to economic and social development. Once again, it is being proved that the struggle to defend the peoples’ sovereignty is an important element in the struggle for social and class emancipation, a fact that is also clearly in evidence in other continents, such as Latin America.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

119

120

WE WERE RIGHT WHEN, TWO YEARS AGO, we warned about the possibility of a forcebased response by capitalism to its own crisis.

It is now under our gaze, on an economic and social level. It is a political, ideological, mediabased, military, repressive response which attacks the peoples’ sovereignty. Everything indicates that the situation will deteriorate even further, because the context is one of an evermore profound structural crisis.

At the same time, albeit still to an insufficient degree, there is mounting peoples’ struggle (Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, etc.); there is resistance by the peoples who are the victims of imperialist aggressions and interference, namely in the Middle East and Asia; progressive struggles for sovereign development in Latin America, but also here in Africa; the anti-imperialist struggle and the struggle against militarism (a recent highpoint of which was in Lisbon, during the NATO Summit). All these are important points and elements of resistance which must be duly highlighted.

The tasks in which we have all been involved are of great complexity and very demanding, In our country we have been demanding of our Party every joule of its strength and energy, steadfastness of principles together with the necessary tactical flexibility and, above all, a profound and permanent bond with the workers and the people, attempting to constantly expand the front of resistance to the multi-faceted offensive with which we are confronted. In so doing, we are also attempting to expand the social front of struggle which can go beyond resistance and move towards building an alternative.

In our opinion, there are no quick, easy and universal solutions in this context. On the contrary. But it is also true that the situation

opens up prospects that we should not underestimate. If the increasingly profound imperialist offensive involves major risks, it is equally true that it leads to a broadening and diversification of forces which objectively adopt anti-imperialist and patriotic positions. It is up to us, Communists, to contribute to extend and radicalize the anti-imperialist front, as an essential factor to defeat the opportunist and obscurantist forces which attempt to instrumentalize genuine feelings of popular revolt, thereby achieving a positive change in the balance of forces, in the context of an increasingly acute class struggle.

This is, in our opinion, the course which may lead towards broad anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist social alliances that can, not just develop the resistance struggle, but also move ahead in the struggle for power, to win power and thereby advance profound progressive transformation. For this, the existence of strong Communist Parties with real mass influence, with their organization, independence and ideology, is a fundamental condition, together with the strengthening of our cooperation and solidarity. In other words, in our opinion, a stronger and more radical antiimperialist front goes hand in hand with a stronger Communist and revolutionary movement.

For this end, special attention must be given to the relationship which exists between the resistance struggle and the necessary ideological offensive. This is a highly important issue today, and neither aspect can be neglected. The objective conditions for the development of the revolutionary struggle clearly exist. This makes the significant shortcomings in the subjective factor more visible.

We need to further our debate on this issue.

We are clearly trying to do what is most im-

IB 2011 n Portuguese Communist Party

121

portant: develop and stimulate the struggle, involve the masses in the various fronts of struggle, in particular the social struggle and the anti-imperialist struggle, and to strengthen our Parties. But we must also further our analysis of the need to develop political awareness among the masses. We must reflect on how to raise awareness among the masses, and especially the youth, regarding the intimate relationship between the social struggle, the anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly and anti-capitalist struggle, and the construction of the alternative. We need to reflect on how to give greater visibility to the alternative of socialism, without falling into voluntarist solutions or a verbalism that is disconnected from the existing conditions and strength.

Last year, we defined the major lines of action for our Parties, centered on the social struggle, the struggle for peace, the youth struggle. It is with pleasure that today the PCP can state that in our activity we did our utmost to give expression, in Portugal, to the decisions that we took. It is with particular joy that we end this PCP statement by wishing, through you, through your youth organizations, great success for the forthcoming 17th World Festival of Youth and Students which will begin in a few days’ time, here in South Africa.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 122

The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia ALEKSANDAR BANJANAC

I SINCERELY SALUTE YOU ALL on behalf of the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

I would like to express my gratitude to SACP for organizing the 12th Meeting of Communists and Workers Parties.

A COMPREHENSIVE CRISIS that took over the capitalist world shows that the last exploitative socio-political formation easily, but inevitably, is going to the tomb of the past, because it is not capable any more of resolving any single problem of our civilization. Of course, its dying will be a long lasting process, followed by many crashes, percussions and conflicts. The wounded beast is the most dangerous one. In our time antagonism between labor and capital is highlighting its peak, and because of that, capitalists are returning to their proven methods of survival. They are trying to save their financial, commercial, industrial and agricultural capital, moving the burden of the crisis onto the developing countries and the poorest layers of the society.

It is impossible to improve capitalism, to humanize it, or to cure it. But still, it feverishly searches a way to extend its life. For example, the USA decided to print more dollars and that currency doesn’t have an equivalent gold worth, which causes huge inflation. The foundations of the Dollar, Euro, Pound and Japanese Yen are strongly shaken nowadays.

There is a rough revision of all social achievements that the working class achieved in past class struggle taking place. They are extending age limits for pension entitlement, or reducing wages, salaries and pensions. Step by step they are abolishing free education and free health care where it existed.

A GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS created new armies of unemployed. In Europe, the USA, Japan, Canada, India and Australia alone over 300 million people lost their jobs. If we include those who work 2-3 hours per day, or those who work 2-3 days per week, the number of

IB 2011 n The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

unemployed workers caused by the crisis is reaching 500 million. But that is not all. According to the UN’s data, the number of jobless people on our planet is around 3 billion.

AS IT IS WELL KNOWN, the financial crisis damaged Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and many other countries. It is reflecting special difficulties in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

It shook very seriously the economies of the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom and other developed countries. Because of that, it is quite understandable that during this year, almost continuously, in many countries millions of workers, peasants and youth were on strikes. They are demanding the abolition of capitalist exploitation. Of course, many of these protests are still not led in the way of a genuine class struggle, or more precisely in the way of a socialist revolution. The communists must take a more active and energetic participation in this process - that is a necessity and one of the most important paths we will have to walk.

The capitalists are trying to overcome the crisis with well known methods – further militarization of economies, provoking local and regional wars, coups, conspiracies, espionage, blackmail and so on. Truthfully, their politics play on the edge of a world war, but they are afraid that they might incinerate in this war with the other nuclear powers in the world. The nature of capitalism and its exploitative character are inseparable from conquest of foreign territories, robberies, threats, and the relentless pursuit of profits.

At the recent NATO summit in Lisbon it has been decided to continue with those aggressive politics, utilizing enormous propaganda and demagogy and with the collaboration of agencies all over the world. For this purpose,

there are over 500 American military bases, and hundreds of British and French in many different countries of the world. Just after the summit the US launched the biggest spy satellite to date and they provoked an armed attack on the territory of North Korea. They gave up the attack when they and their vassal government in South Korea got a punch in the jaw.

IMPERIALISTS ARE USING MILITARY and all other ways in order to rule the world and keep their present positions. The only thing which can tame, restrain and finally overthrow them is the unity of the working class of the world.

History shows that a true anti-imperialist front can be composed only if communists of Marxist-Leninist orientation take the decisive role in it. All the anti-imperialist people’s fronts would collapse if they were not dominated by communists. That was the situation in Weimar Germany, in Spain, in France and the other countries. The people’s fronts in the Great October Socialist Revolution, in Yugoslavia, in China, in Vietnam, Cuba and the other states, triumphed because they were lead by the communists.

There is no doubt that beside struggle against imperialism it is necessary to fight an irreconcilable struggle against reformism, as an outgrowth of social democracy, because reformists are usually more important and useful to the bourgeoisie than the far right.

Besides that, they are trying to dissolve the so called “left” in order to disarm authentic communist parties.

We consider that it is about time to institutionalize in real frameworks, on the basis of proletarian internationalism, the unity of the communists of the world, using the enormous experiences of the Third International, taking into account the current realities in the world.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

123

124

Dear Comrades, socialism is a legitimate step in the development of mankind and because of that we can say with certainty that the XXI century will be the century of the triumph of socialism and communism!

LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL! LONG LIVE COMMUNISM!

IB 2011 n The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

‘

South African Communist Party BLADE NZIMANDE

WELCOME TO THIS GREAT GATHERING of left anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and propeace, and democracy and for solidarity with the working peoples of the world.

We are meeting here in South Africa –the very first time that such a gathering takes place on African soil - in a very important period on the South African calendar.

In this month of December 2010, there shall be this 12th Meeting of the International Communist and Workers Parties (IWCP), followed by the 25th anniversary of the largest trade union federation in our country, COSATU – our ally and arguably the largest trade union federation on the African continent, and thereafter followed by the 3rd National Congress of the SACP’s Young Communist League of South Africa (UFASIMBA), and finally, for the first time ever in our country, the gathering of the 17th Students and Youth Festival, organised by our allied mass formation, the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY).

Thus, this December, the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist forces, and all progressive socialist forces, shall all, in unison, raise the red flag, which symbolises the blood of the working peoples the world-over, making the point loud and clear, that the great importance for the future of Africa and world peace are realistic goals for which the working class and poor of the continent are willing to fight for and achieve.

The holding of this first ever meeting of communist and workers’ parties on the African continent continues to symbolise the decades long solidarity of communist and workers’ parties with cause of national liberation, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles waged by the peoples of the African continent. These solidarity struggles were taken to higher levels immediately after the victory of the Great October socialist revolution, the former Eastern Bloc socialist countries, as well as all the progressive communist forces all over the world.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

125

126

South Africa’s liberation movement, of which the South African Communist Party has always been an integral component, benefitted greatly from this international socialist and progressive solidarity. It is was this global progressive solidarity, coupled with the heroic struggles of South Africa’s people, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), that led to the final defeat of the criminal apartheid regime and the advent of the 1994 democratic breakthrough.

We characterised the first democratic election in 1994 as a democratic breakthrough for two principal reasons. Firstly it was a breakthrough because it was not a final defeat of the totality of reactionary forces, thus signalling that the struggle for the total emancipation of the oppressed majority was far from over. It was, and still is, for this reason that the South African Communist Party has chosen to remain and be a critical component of the alliance led by the African National Congress.

We characterised 1994 as a democratic breakthrough also because we know as South African communists that the total liberation of the black people of our country, whose majority is still the working class, will not be fully realised unless there is a transition to socialism – the only system best capable of destroying all the vestiges of capitalist exploitation, gender oppression and the national oppression of the people of our country. In other words, the completion of the tasks of the national democratic revolution can only be achieved under a socialist dispensation.

The tasks of the South African revolution still largely reflect the political challenges facing the African continent as a whole. The fundamental challenge of our continent is that of the completion of national democratic

revolutions in each country, a task that is simultaneously the main platform upon which to consolidate and advance the struggle for socialism. In other words, the struggle to consolidate, advance and deepen progressive national democratic revolutions is our direct path to socialism.

The ‘new’ capitalist scramble for Africa and the global capitalist crisis With deepening crisis of global capitalism, there is also a corresponding increase for a new scramble for Africa, almost reminiscent of the rise of European colonisation of the African continent in the 19th century.

The SACP, together with the rest of the world’s communist and workers’ parties, has consistently insisted that the current global capitalist crisis is not just an aberration, but an integral part of the capitalist system There are many similarities between the 19th century scramble for the African continent in the 19th century and today’s new scramble for Africa. It is a scramble for the super-exploitation of Africa’s natural resources without any local development initiatives for Africa. Similarly this is being accompanied by now the military might of the United States, which is building a new military force in Africa, perversely named ‘Africa Command’, as if it were an African army in the interests of our continent, when it is in fact the building of a united military force to protect and advance the interests of imperialism on the African continent.

At the same time there is something new about the current scramble for Africa. It is now a renewed capitalist offensive that is trying to hang onto its economic dominance in the light of the emergence of potential, alternative economic centres of power, especially China, India and Brazil.

IB 2011 n South African Communist Party

In the light of these new realities there is indeed a new possibility to forge new kinds of relations with the working classes and other progressive forces in the developing world to try and exploit these new spaces to challenge imperialism.

As this 12th Meeting of the ICWP happen in our country, many on the continent would have during the course of this year, pondered and wondered aloud what the celebrations marking 50-years of de-colonisation has meant to them and the struggles for national liberation, for which, they would have laid their lives for.

BY HOSTING THIS 12TH MEETING IN SOUTH AFRICA, the international communist movement is refocusing the issues and political questions around the thesis of the African Revolution. As the SACP, we have been seized with this question for a very long time.

Let us therefore use this 12th meeting of the ICWP as an occasion for the deepening of the world’s progressive forces with the struggles of the people of the African continent. Let us also use this occasion to express the world’s progressive forces with the heroic struggles of the Saharawi people (in Western Sahara) to free the last colony in the African continent, unfortunately still being colonised by another African country, backed to the hilt by mainly French and US imperialist forces.

Let us also use this occasion to express our solidarity with the people of Swaziland who are still suffering from the yoke of a feudalistic regime that has banned all political parties and freedom of organisation and expression.

The above constitutes some of the critical challenges facing the African revolution today!

The principal challenges of the South African revolution today With the historic ANC national conference of 2007, there has arisen new opportunities in our country to deepen a radical national democratic revolution. That 2007 historic conference of our ally marked the defeat of a neo-liberal agenda that had sought to turn our prime liberation organisation, the ANC, into a narrow elector list party pursuing neoliberal policies and seeking to marginalise if not obliterate the working class and its prime organisations in South Africa, the SACP and COSATU. The SACP has been guided, since 1995 – a year after our 1994 democratic breakthrough – by two critical strategic and programmatic objectives. The first one has been that of seeking to consolidated a working class led national democratic revolution as the principal platform on which to consolidate state power under the leadership of the ANC in alliance with the SACP and COSATU. Our slogan adopted immediately after 1994 is that of ‘Socialism is the future, build it now’. The principal content of this strategic orientation has been that the consolidation of the national democratic revolution require active socialist type organisation and mobilisation as the only guarantee to secure a transition to socialism in the future.

Since about the early 2000 we enriched our strategic perspectives and by grounding it on a programme and campaigns to build working class influence in six key sites of power: in the state, the economy, the workplace, the economy, ideologically and through internationalist solidarity. To this end we have intensified mass work and campaigns, coupled with communist participation in government and other institutions of the state, prin-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

127

128

cipally but not exclusively through our annual mass campaigning through what we have called ‘The Red October Campaign’, inspired by the Great October Socialist Revolution.

OUR STRATEGIC VISION has been grounded on an analysis that in our conditions, and under the leadership of the ANC, there is no contradiction, in the current period, between communist participation in the state, whilst simultaneously building independent working class and popular power both within and outside the state.

It is for these reasons, amongst others, that the SACP has sought to deepen and strengthen the alliance between ourselves, the ANC and COSATU, as a critical platform to consolidate both working class power, both inside and outside the state. It is these considerations that have also informed our participation in government, whilst not compromising the independent programmes of the SACP. It is also through this that we seek to expand opportunities and conditions for socialist agitation.

We have just been through one of the biggest global commodity booms just prior to the current global capitalist crisis. While some key sectors of capital did very well, we did not create nearly enough jobs and the systemic problems of the South African economy (huge inequalities, spatial marginalisation of at least half the population, and crisis-levels of unemployment) persisted and were even actively reproduced in the midst of 5% growth we experienced between 2002-07.

The SACP, working together with its allies, has consistently sought to create conditions for breaking with our semi-colonial growth path that is export driven and import dependent, whilst focusing on building the produc-

tive capacity of our economy. All this requires, in our strategic calculations, the mobilisation of the working class and our people as a whole, and the maintenance of the progressive orientation of our Alliance.

The global capitalist crisis is wreaking havoc on the lives of workers and poor throughout the world, including here in SA. While implementing defensive measures to mitigate the effects of this crisis as best as possible, we also need to use the crisis to boldly implement transformational measures that place our economy and our country on a worker and pro-growth path.

At the heart of our strategic, tactical and programmatic response must be the mass mobilisation of the working class – the leading motive force of our national democratic revolution – to provide the mass power, strategic focus and tactical flexibility to overcome the current capitalist crises and lead us onto a new developmental growth path.

The necessity for working class internationalist solidarity and the ICWP platform It is from the above South African realities that the SACP firmly believes in the necessity to continue deepening global working class solidarity. The platform of the ICWP remains critical and relevant to pursue progressive and independent policies as a country and the African continent, as the most immediate terrain of struggle for socialism in our country, in the continent and indeed in the whole world.

In our own way we have over the last two years started an initiative of a network of left progressive forces on the African continent to deepen the struggle for democracy, peace and for socialism. We have done this under the umbrella of a loose African Left Network Forum (ALNEF). Indeed this is not a forum made up of only Marxist-Leninist parties or

IB 2011 n South African Communist Party

129

formations, but rather a forum for progressive organisations and parties on the continent who broadly identify with the struggle for social and economic justice, full national liberation and an alternative just, if not socialist future, for our continent. It is this forum that we would also like the ICWP to support and seek to strengthen as its primary continental partner in Africa.

On behalf of the SACP, and indeed the workers and the poor of our country, we welcome all our comrades and friends to this truly historic and first ever meeting of communist and workers’ parties of the world.

Please also do enjoy South African hospitality and we offer the friendship of our people to all the delegates to this gathering.

Socialism is the future – Build it Now!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 130

Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain QUIM BOIX

FIRST OF ALL I would like to apologize for my absence yesterday. As many of you know, I was not here because I was member of the delegation that we decided to send to the 25th anniversary festival of COSATU. Once again it is a great event where the representatives of the Communist and Workers’ Parties from dozens of countries from the five continents are gathered, this time thanks to the hospitality and work of the South African CP. The focus of our debate is the one that can take us forward together to overcome our class enemy, the enemy of the working class and its allies, capitalism.

I do not want to dwell on the analysis of the systemic crisis of capitalism as all of you have been able to read the views of PCPE in this regard. It was published in Issue No 1 of the new International Communist Review.

Today our party is discussing, in our 9th Congress, the strategy of the Spanish communists in face of the capitalist crisis.

Our Party agrees with the views of many other Communist parties in the world, ones published in the International Communist Review and others published in documents of the revolutionary organizations. (By the way, if any comrade wants one, I still have some ICR reviews of the Spanish edition made by PCPE).

Without a revolutionary process it will be impossible to end the exploitation of man by man, which is the essence of capitalism.

In order to promote the revolutionary change, accepting the nuances that we have between us, we can only move forward if, in every country, the working class and its allies become the leading vanguard.

Amongst the workers’ struggles developed since the last meeting of Communist Parties in India, we refer to the 13 general strikes in Greece, 7 in France, strikes in many other countries in Europe and other continents, and the one-day general strike in Spain.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

In all of them the working class has been called by the class trade unions to fight against capitalism. The World Federation of Trade Unions and its members have been able to demonstrate that only the working class can cope successfully with capitalist barbarity. The letter that we have all received here from George Mavrikos, Secretary General of the WFTU, gives more information than the one I can give here. The 16th Congress of the WFTU, to be held in April in Athens, will for sure mean a step forward in the line of strengthening the class trade unionism. The PCPE supports the three requests made by the Secretary General of the WFTU in his letter to all those present here.

As stated in the title of the topic under discussion at this meeting in Johannesburg, the working class must know how to be build alliances with other sectors of society in every state and territory. Historically, it has always been this way when the revolutionary processes have succeeded.

In Spain we move forward in the alliance of anti-imperialist and anti-monopoly organizations. It is increasingly clear to the Spanish working class the role of social democracy and its allies (some call themselves the left, but they are subservient to the decisions of big business).

Actually this happens in every country in the world. I only wish to refer to the shameful capitulation of the social agreement Tradeunionism, supported by the European Parliament and the world bourgeoisie. Remember the Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation held in Canada last June. There, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization had a seat and could address to the delegates. (I have a document here, which I have already given to many of

you, in which this attitude of class collaboration practised by the ITUC is better explained).

The communists have to expose the false union leaders; those who, while claiming to defend the interests of employees, actually are accepting capitulations imposed by those who finance them. This is the case of CCOO and UGT in Spain. Thus in Spain the PCPE is working to recover class unionism by uniting all those who struggle against capitalism.

The great European and global battle against imperialism, has scored important successes, as when demonstrations in Spain involving millions of people forced the Social Democratic government to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq. The same in other countries including Latin America, most recently in Ecuador last September, which have defeated imperialist manoeuvres. The most recent action was the major anti-NATO action in Lisbon on 20 November.

The Communists must know how to lead the great revolutionary mass organizations and coordinate their activities and fight the enemy of humanity, against capitalism.

Comrades, the PCPE is always ready to help advance the alliances that will help end the exploitation of man by man. So in the coming months we will promote activities that lead to the weakening of the bourgeoisie in our country, unmasking the collaboration role that is being played by the Social Democrats and their allies.

In particular we hope that the World Festival of the Youth and Students, which takes place within a few days here in South Africa, and the 16th Congress of the WFTU, to be held in Athens from 6 to 10 April next year, will mark a new stage in the struggle to decisively defeat capitalism.

We also hope that meetings like the this

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

131

132

one will implement agreements for joint action of the communists, following the experience already developed in Europe in relation to the EU (21 Communist Parties participated) and in other parts of the world. Surely the International Communist Review, with the issues that will be edited, will be a good tool for exchanging arguments between communists in order to strengthen our global ideological struggle.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

‘

Communist Party of Sri-Lanka RAJA COLLURE

We thank the South African Communist Party for the elaborate arrangements made for successfully holding this conference and for their warm hospitality.

133 THE PRESENT CYCLICAL CRISIS of capitalism, the deepest since the Great Depression of 1929 is still active. Last year the growth in leading capitalist countries was negative. The year 2010 recorded a growth of only 1-2 percent. What is in store for 2011 is uncertain although capitalist pundits claim that the economies have turned round.

One discernible feature in regard to the handling of the crisis is the increased regulation of economic activity and modification of certain aspects of the neoliberal policies.

Some of the giant enterprises which were on the verge of bankruptcy were taken over by governments to prevent a cascading effect on the economies as a whole. Others have been rescued from collapse by pumping in public funds to prevent a rippling effect. Yet there is no significant recovery except helping monopolies to multiply their profits.

Capitalism has demonstrated that it has no answers to the burning problems affecting human-kind. Of the 6.5 billion people of the world nearly 50% are living in absolute poverty, earning a per capita income of less than $2 per day. Rampant disease and widespread illiteracy has not seen any real change. Several millions die of starvation while food production in the world is reaching record levels.

Capitalist countries have endeavoured to shift the burden of the crisis onto the working people by intensifying their exploitation. Unemployment in the developing countries extends up to 12% of the working population and that of the developing countries is in the region of 20-40 %. Presently nearly 10% of the work force in the United States is unemployed.

This is nearly double the percentage of persons without jobs before the crisis set in.

Wages and pensions have been decimat-

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

134

ed and so-called austerity measures have been put in place thus lowering the living standards of the masses. Capitalism is seeking to manage the instant crisis by causing deprivations and pain to the working people.

The working people are not prepared to bear these without protest. Tens of thousands resist the onslaughts against them courageously demonstrating their vigorous opposition in different ways including resort to strike actions. The weakness of the subjective factor enables capitalism to ride over the crisis with greater ease although time consuming. Had the communist and workers parties been stronger and had greater sway over the working people capitalism would be in mortal fear of loosing its grip on power. On the other hand the low political consciousness of the working people has made them more dormant and this accrues to the advantage of capital.

Capitalist globalisation is impacting on all countries without exception. This is shown in the drop in the growth rates of countries which had enjoyed higher levels of growth before the capitalist crisis–recession set in.

China and India are examples in this respect.

Sri Lanka which had a growth rate of 6 to 7% before the crisis saw its growth decline to 3.5% in 2009. Its GDP growth would have been even less had it not been for the fact that Sri Lanka had not opened up its Capital Account and followed policies to counter the effect of the crisis. The effect of globalisation is most profound in the sphere of international trade. Globalisation of capital demands globalised activity on the part of labour to counter it. Hence the urgent need is to build the unity of the international working class movement whilst expanding its mass base and unity at the national level.

THE CRISIS HAS ALSO BROUGHT to light the declining position of the United States in the world economy. It is evident that the Super Power cannot any longer single-handedly determine the course of economic relations in the world. This crisis has also shown that it cannot do so even with the support of the G8 countries. The rise of the BRIC countries – Brazil, India, Russia and China - contributing about 9% to the world GDP compared with 13.8 % for the USA is a new factor with growing importance which the leading capitalist countries have to contend with. There are other emerging economies which also impact on the world economy, although to a lesser extent. It was this situation that has tended the US and its allies to seek the cooperation of the Group of 20 Countries which include such countries as South Africa and Indonesia apart from those of the G8. The balance of economic power in the world is gradually changing to the detriment of imperialism. The Communist and Workers parties should give adequate consideration to the emerging situation.

Although contradictions among the leading centres of capitalism –North America, European Union and Japan are deepening, the instant attempt is to overcome the present crisis with the support of the emerging economies. At the same time capitalism is growing in a number of other countries at a rapid pace. Infusion of international capital into these countries is one of the factors spurring their growth. The nascent working class in those countries is intensifying their battle against the collaborative local capital which in essence follow the same policies that the developed capitalist countries pursue.

The exception is that in most cases they strive to safeguard the interests of the national capitalist class.

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Sri-Lanka

135

The present crisis facing capitalism arises out of its crises ridden nature, moving cyclically from one crisis to another which goes on until its rule is terminated by the upsurge of the forces of socialism. Although socialism on a global scale is not on our immediate agenda, working people the world over must be ideologically equipped and organisationally unified and strengthened to accomplish the eventual overthrow of capitalism. When this eventuality will occur depends on the resolution of the basic contradiction of capitalism – the social character of production and its private appropriation by capital - in favour of labour coupled with the maturity of the subjective factor. Let us labour to fulfil our instant role with this vision.

Long live Socialism !

Long live the international working class movement !!

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ THE LENINIST POLICY OF ALLIANCES, THE NEED TO BUILD A FRONT AND TURKEY 136

Communist Party of Turkey MEHMET KUZULUGIL

ONE OF THE FIELDS in which we observe Lenin’s political genius the most vividly is the theoretical perspective he brought to the “policy of alliances”. I will not elaborate much on the Leninist policy of alliances in a presentation that must be constrained in a strict time limit. However, in view of the fact that the need to contemplate and discuss on the policy of alliances becomes even more in times of great crises, allow me to mark several points that will shed light on the rest of my analysis.

Why and to what extent do the crises of capitalism, particularly the crises that have the potential to lead into significant ruptures in history, which always have political and ideological aspects apart from the economic dimension, call for the need to discuss the policy of alliances? This is the first question that we shall answer.

WE ARE LIVING IN THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM. The crisis that we are going through is not only the crisis of a few capitalist countries, but rather the crisis of the entire capitalistimperialist order; it is a “structural” crisis we are talking about as addressed in the main title of our meeting. I think that we need to elaborate on this in two aspects.

Firstly, the structural crisis of the capitalist-imperialism implies that we have been living through major shifts, fluctuations, in the political geography of the whole world capitalist order, of the imperialist hegemony if you will. I do not mean to say that I agree with certain social democrat Western intellectuals who love picking at the shifting imperialist hegemony. Against all odds, the US continues to be epicenter of the present hegemony and it will continue to be so in the near future. I mean that the ongoing deep crisis intensifies

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Turkey

the tendency to foster certain characteristics of imperialism in leaps and bounds, to bring these characteristics to the fore and making them clearly visible to masses.

AMONG THESE CHARACTERISTICS, FIRST AND FOREMOST, there comes the answer of imperialist centers and bourgeois powers to respond the legitimacy problems that are manifested due to the crisis with an outrageous attack on the working class and popular masses. What we shall understand from the restructuring of the political geography is that the escalation in the class struggles intensifies in certain parts of the world. These territories, where imperialism’s all out and outrageous attacks intensify, also become the stages of imperialism’s endeavor to expand and re-shape its domain of hegemony.

Under the conditions of crisis which we are going through, we may observe such intensification in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans, the Caucasus, Southern Asia, Africa and, of course, in the Middle East. The depth of the ongoing crisis can also be measured with the size of the geography where imperialism is waging an all out attack in response to its legitimacy problems.

Of course, this marks the legitimacy crisis of bourgeois political powers one by one in countries lying in these territories. For instance, the local and regional elections held in Greece on 7-14 November marked one of the deepest legitimacy crises of bourgeois political powers in the mentioned parts of the world. A turnout around 60 percent, coupled with the declines in the votes of all bourgeois parties prove that the capitalist government in Greece is rapidly approaching towards a deep legitimacy crisis. The rise in the votes of the Communist Party of Greece both in terms

of rates and numbers, which is surely a result of the intensifying struggles in the last year, indicates that there is a vanguard party in Greece that will deepen this state of affairs; a fact that gives hope to us all. I believe that there is no need to give other examples; we all know that it would not be difficult to do so.

Of course, imperialism is faced with a legitimacy crisis even in the US or the major countries of the European Union as we recently saw in France. Class struggles are getting intensified in these countries as well. However, the regions where intensifying class struggles are accompanied by a shift in the political geography are not the imperialist centers. In the parts of the world we address, imperialism, expressing in that ominous term, is in a struggle for building its own East. While imperialism is impairing its attacks in this context, the bourgeois governments and political parties in these territories assume new roles and make their own contributions to the process of re-structuring or re-shaping. We are referring to a comprehensive and multi-dimensional process in this sense.

Imperialism intends to close a page that was opened with the Great October Revolution. It has gained a huge momentum with the demise of the Soviet Union. However, the operation to change the political geography entirely, to re-shape it in line with the current demands of imperialism has not ended yet.

The domains of sovereignty that the presence of the Soviet Union enabled in the past are being eliminated and transfigured by imperialism gradually. To this end, borders are redrawn, a massive political and ideological attack on the concepts of national sovereignty and independence are waged. This is not merely attack on the economic rights of the toiling masses, but also an ideological attack

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

137

138

on the conscience of the masses. Probably, peoples had experienced a period in which religious and nationalist ideologies became so overwhelming only during World War II. This is the first aspect I would like to point out.

I said that the re-shaping of the political geography during the times of crises lead certain regions and countries to become the major scenes of class struggle and mark rapid shufflings in the economic, political and ideological positions of masses. This is the second aspect I would like to point out.

IMMISERATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, DEGRADATION in working conditions, attacks on the gains of the toiling masses etc., these are the principal characteristics of the “usual” functioning of capitalism, which become even more explicit in the world after the Soviet Union. Yet, with the current crisis, we observe an enormous rise in these “usual” attacks without any pursuit of legitimization, without any concessions and efforts towards reaching a compromise. Such untethered and totally illegitimate attacks render popular masses, whose standards of life deteriorate so rapidly, more open to new pursuits, to the demand for a new order; hence expand the elbow room of the revolutionary subject.

I have already mentioned that imperialism’s efforts to re-shape the political geography have a significant counterpart in the ideological sphere. One aspect of the fast transposition in the stances of the masses is related with this issue. In large parts of the areas we are talking about, even the weak and eclectic historical gains brought about by the bourgeois revolutions in the popularization of national independence and the ideology of enlightenment are at stake. The capitalist attack on the achievements of the laboring classes is

going along with a severe pressure of religiosity and nationalism. Realizing that the masses could be deceived into the transformation required by the current needs of imperialism most effectively through religion and nationalism, the bourgeois governments, on the one hand, decay toiling masses by imposing these ideologies on them and, on the other hand, shake the old status quo on behalf of building a new one, which in turn leads to the risk of losing certain sections of the very same masses.

I believe that we should apply some theoretical properties of the Leninist policy of alliances right at this point. Allow me to quote a not-too-short paragraph from what Lenin said in 1922: “One of the biggest and most dangerous mistakes made by Communists (as generally by revolutionaries who have successfully accomplished the beginning of a great revolution) is the idea that a revolution can be made by revolutionaries alone. On the contrary, to be successful, all serious revolutionary work requires that the idea that revolutionaries are capable of playing the part only of the vanguard of the truly virile and advanced class must be understood and translated into action. A vanguard performs its task as vanguard only when it is able to avoid being isolated from the mass of the people it leads and is able really to lead the whole mass forward.

Without an alliance with non-Communists in the most diverse spheres of activity there can be no question of any successful communist construction.” [Lenin, V I., “On the Significance of Militant Materialism”, Collected Works, vol. 33, Progress Publishers, Moscow, p. 228] There are several points I would like to underline in what Lenin wrote.

Firstly, it is essential in the Leninist policy

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Turkey

of alliances that the communists fulfill their vanguard mission to lead the whole mass forward. In other words, the Leninist policy of alliances is very much related with the connection between the communist vanguard and the working class. In the paragraph I just read, this is stated clearly: The Leninist policy of alliances is a means for the communist vanguard, which represents the historical interests of the working class and translates them into practical political action, to organize the mass movement in accordance with these historical interests.

Secondly, and in relation with the first, the program of the vanguard party of the working class must lie at the heart of the Leninist policy of alliances. Making concessions from this program would imply losing the opportunity to lead the mass movement forward. Yet, the Leninist policy of alliances means the ability and flexibility to translate the set of historical interests and principles written in the program of the vanguard party into political action. The assurance that prevents such flexibility from becoming a breakdown, or in other words the assurance that prevents revolutionary politics from becoming revisionism, is the ability of the vanguard party to reproduce its bonds with the social class it represents, i.e. the working class, at the political level.

Having noted these two points briefly, we may now turn to the relationship between the discussion in the beginning and the Leninist policy of alliances. Please allow me to address this relationship in the context of my own country, Turkey.

TURKEY IS ONE OF THE COUNTRIES that have been influenced by the crisis of capitalist-imperialism the most. I believe that this argument cannot be elaborated merely by

means of simple economic indicators; we need an analysis going further than that. But even if we look at simple economic indicators, provided that we avoid any sort of superficial analyses, we can verify the depth of the effects of the ongoing crises on Turkey. However, I will leave this aside for the time being and I would like to stress how Turkey’s position in imperialism have been changing with the crisis.

I have already mentioned that imperialism has been re-shaping the area which includes the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans, and that the capitalist classes and bourgeois parties of several countries have been playing a part in this process. The capitalist class in Turkey and its most powerful political representative today, namely the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is one of the most important actors in this genre. The role assumed by the Turkish bourgeoisie and the AKP cannot be deemed separate from the transformation of Turkey herself. For this role or mission requires the Republic of Turkey to get divorced from certain characteristics she possesses owing to the fact that she is a country established as a result of a war waged against imperialist invasion. In the so-called “Greater Middle East”, imperialism needs another agent that complements Israel’s mission; namely a strong moderate Islamic state to be utilized as the spearhead of intervention in the Muslim world from within. However, this implies the complete abolition of the conception of secularism that has prevailed in the Republic of Turkey roughly for eighty years despite all its weaknesses and eclecticism.

Similarly, this mission implies that any remnants of sovereignty would be cast away in order to satisfy the ambitions of the Turkish bourgeoisie, which has always looked for a

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

139

140

breathing space by chasing the tail of imperialist countries. Finally, this transformation implies that, in the middle of a region which imperialism shatters into pieces through ethnic nationalisms, as an open supporter and sponsor of these separatist policies, Turkish capitalism itself will become the object of the same ethnic divisions. In other words, while searching to expand its zone of influence in the region by, for instance, supporting the US invasion in Iraq through sponsoring the Northern Iraqi Kurds, Turkish capitalism leaves the doors wide open to the accumulation of energy in its own fault lines.

We may summarize all these as the end of the First Republic in Turkey. The Republic, which had secular and independent properties, is finished and replaced with an expansionist, Islamist Second Republic that is on the brink of falling to bits.

This transformation process, which gained a huge momentum with the crisis, has led to rapid transpositions in the economic, political and ideological stance of toiling masses in Turkey. Even though the new hegemonic ideology and politics of the Second Republic find its strongest expression in the AKP, they are by no means limited to the AKP. The transformation program belongs to the capitalist class in Turkey and to all of its political parties.

Yet, it is not possible that such a comprehensive and staggering transformation will not be met with some form of resistance from the laboring classes. There are now social sections reacting in various different ways to the AKP, to sects and religious communities that become more and more influential everyday, to religious and nationalist ideologies.

Even though these social sections include some parts of the Kemalist middle class, essentially they consist of important parts of

the working class and the poor peasants of Turkey.

FOR THE TIME BEING, THESE SECTIONS, such as the Alevis who cannot come to terms with political Islam, the youth who have no hope about future, the poor peasants who are faced with the concrete outcomes of the plunder of country’s land and resources, the urbanized sections of the Kurdish poor etc., are politically in a void, hence open to be gathered under the roof of a genuine socialist alternative. As we all know, there is no place for long-term voids in politics. The task of the communist vanguard is to fill the void that is caused by the rapid transposition in the political stance of masses due to the transformation I mentioned and the strong hegemony established by the AKP. “Í this end, there is a need to build a front that would unify the reactions and the resistance under a common goal, i.e. a socialist Republic. The aim of building a front is to transform the reactions into strongholds of resistance against imperialism, capitalism and reactionaries.

For this purpose, the Communist Party of Turkey calls all of these social sections, the youth, the unemployed, intellectuals, the poor peasants, the Kurdish poor, to build a front so as to organize the resistance against the AKP and its Second Republic all over the country. Certainly, different parties and organizations in the left in Turkey, which are still diffuse, are also among the primary addressees of this call.

AT THE ESSENCE OF THE LENINIST POLICY of alliances there lies the ability of the revolutionary vanguard to reproduce its bond with the social subject of the revolution, i.e. the working class, at the political level. This bond

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Turkey

141

could be entrenched as the working class is politicized and as it is rallied according to its class interests. This, in turn, can be achieved as the working class is backed by broader working masses, as it achieves self-confidence with the support of these masses,- a confidence that would ultimately lead the working class to demand the political power.

This is why we need to build a front in our country.

WE BELIEVE THAT OUR PARTY should transform itself in this process,- our party should lead the masses forward while learning from them. We believe that a strong and revolutionary challenge to the attacks of imperialism and capitalism that have gained great pace with the crisis could be organized as we prepare the masses while preparing ourselves better. I believe that our meeting will make important contributions to these preparations and I salute you with my revolutionary wishes.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

‘ 142

Communist Party, USA JOE SIMS

COMRADES, THE ECONOMIC CRISIS has sparked a great struggle in the US. On one side is the anti-right-wing coalition that elected Barack Obama. On the other are the most reactionary and racist ruling class forces that have governed the US for the last 25 years. Unable to accept the election of an African American as president and even modest reforms that affect their rate of profit, they have sworn revenge and regime change.

At stake in this struggle are all the issues that bring us to the table this weekend: the right to organize unions, health care and education, equal pay for women; the right to live free of racist and homophobic violence.

At stake as well are removing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, lifting the blockade against Cuba, a two –state solution in the middle east, support and solidarity with the countries of the African continent .

The outcome of this struggle is uncertain.

Will the US continue to alter its course as promised in our presidential election or will it return to the failed policies that governed it during the Bush years?

Two years ago, we had an opportunity, perhaps, to force US imperialism down a less bellicose, more restrained path. We had a chance then to embark on a path to make meaningful changes for the better in the lives of our working class and people. This is what was promised in Obama’s campaign for hope and change.

Frightened by an unprecedented financial crisis, disgusted by corruption, stagnant wages and growing unemployment a mass movement was born and demanded real change.

It was a popular, multi-class, all people’s movement and the newly elected president was presented with popular, multi-class, allpeoples tasks to move the country away from the extreme right. In the first place this meant stabilizing the economy, setting a date for

IB 2011 n Communist Party, USA

troop withdrawals, heath care and financial regulatory reform.

The struggle over these issues reached a new stage with the mid-term elections.

It was a huge effort. The big Wall Street banks, the health care corporations, capital based in oil along with military and industrial corporations, angered by even modest reforms proposed by the president and Congress went all out to defeat the Democratic majority. They spent more money on this campaign than any mid-term election in US history.

Big business recognized that in confronting a new social movement like the Obama campaign for the presidency politics as usual would result in defeat. They therefore decided to launch their own social movement and created the Tea Party.

Labor and the broad democratic movement fought back with independent organization, personnel and finances.

It is important to stress the role played by the labor movement in this fight. From organizing marches on Wall Street during the banking crisis to holding sit-ins during union organzing drives, to building campaign structures independent of the Democratic Party machine, labor was the leading force in the campaign. For the first time ever during a election year they led a march on Washington demanding jobs and justice.

But as we all know, it was not enough, and the extreme right won a partial victory, winning the US House of Representatives.

Clearly both the Obama election and the Republican counter-revolt are two moments in the deepening systemic crisis of U.S. capitalism. This crisis, sparked by the speculative frenzy in sub-prime markets along with financialization as a means of generating profit has yet to work itself out. Millions of homes are at

risk of foreclosure, unemployment while officially at 9.5 percent is in reality closer to 18 percent; there is only one new job for every five people looking. At the same time, productivity of US workers is at an all time high as are corporate profits.

Public anger at the role of the banks in this crisis recently forced a temporary but important halt in foreclosures by several banks.

These are the circumstances that are shaping the struggles of the next period. Because of the Republican victory, the struggle will be mainly defensive in nature as the labor and peoples’ movement tries to hold on to the legislative gains like health care and financial reform.

Continuing the pressure to set dates for troop removal in Afghanistan, immigration reform, and now the struggle over the deficit and raising the retirement age are high on the agenda.

The all peoples’ coalition is gearing up for this fight.

The CPUSA believes that the emergence of a broad coalition to defeat the ultra-right has proved the value of this strategy. The electoral setback of last month has not changed this fact.

Anti-racist, anti-sexist, pro-peace majorities exist in the US. A broad left current flows in the streams of public consciousness. Fueled by the internet and the growth of social networks, political activism and engagement are at a new high. In these circumstances our Party believes that a new opening was created with the election of the USA’ s first Black president.

It is true that in some cases this new administration’s efforts have been hesitant and not gone far enough. It is also true that in other cases they have been dead wrong,

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

143

144

sometimes as with the troop surge in Afghanistan painfully so. At the same time it has to be said that that this is the most favorable administration to labor and the people in recent years.

Yes the 2008 election cracked open the door: it is up to the working class and their allies to kick it wide open with greater struggle. The CPUSA believes that it is in these struggles, for peace jobs, against racism and homophobia, for ending the blockade, for non-intervention in Latin America that our movement can and will be built. That is where you will find us as we fight for the socialist tomorrow in the struggles of today.

IB 2011 n Communist Party, USA

‘

Communist Party of Vietnam NGUYEN MANH HUNG

COMRADES AND FRIENDS, the Delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam is very honoured to take part in the 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, held for the first time in Africa, in the beautiful and hospitable country of South Africa. We highly appreciate the warm reception and thorough preparation by the South African Communist Party, which surely will contribute to the success of our Meeting. We would like to extend our greetings to the South African communists and people, and to all the participants of this event.

A year has passed since our 11th Meeting in Delhi and comments made by our parties regarding the systematic crisis of capitalism have proven to be true. This crisis reflects historical limits of capitalism with its main contradiction between increasing production forces and the capitalist private ownership.

Current developments in the world situation also show that despite the impact of the global financial crisis and economic recession, socialist countries continue to achieve high growth rates. For instance, Vietnam’s GDP was 6,2% in 2008, 5,32% in 2009 and approximately 6,7% in 2010. This fact affirms the viability of the economic model and development philosophy of socialism that are attached to social equity and progress.

All the agenda that the capitalist world is now discussing such as the need to strengthen the role of the State in economic management, the correct awareness and effective solving of the relationship between economic growth and social equity and progress, the harmonious and rational combination of social and economic policies‌ have always been the issues that socialist countries pay regular attention to and obtain considerable achievements. The current global financial crisis and economic recession has confirmed the scientific value and epochal meaning of Marxism-Leninism, as well as the advantages of socialism.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

145

146

Despite the current deepening crisis, capitalism itself is not on the way to collapse. It is just the mobilization of capitalist inner contradictions and the struggle of the working people that play a decisive role in solving the destiny of capitalism. Given the situation, communist and workers parties need to take the opportunity to organize and mobilize various strata of the masses in order to promote the struggle for the interests of the working people. The Communist Party of Vietnam has always consistently supported communist and workers parties and social progressive movements in the fight for common goals of our time, for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress in the world.

IN THESE DAYS the Communist Party of Vietnam is making active preparations for its 11th National Congress, which is to be convened in the first half of January 2011. It is a regular Congress of our Party, held every five years, with the participation of nearly 1,400 delegates representing over 3,6 million Party members. The Congress will discuss and adopt: the Political Report of the Central Committee (10th Tenure); the Report on 20 years’ implementation of the Political program for national construction during the period of transition to socialism; the Report on implementation of the Strategy for socio-economic development in the last 10 years from 2001 to 2010, and the Strategy for socio-economic development in the next 10 years from 2011 to 2020; the Party Statutes (supplemented and amended). The Congress will also elect the Central Committee (11th Tenure, 2011 – 2015) – the highest leading body of the Communist Party of Vietnam between two congresses.

The 11th Congress of the Communist Party

of Vietnam is an important political event of the Party, State and people of Vietnam. The entire party membership and the Vietnamese people of various strata, including those overseas, have actively contributed comments to the documents to be submitted to the 11th Congress. On the basis of the unified will and high determination of the entire Party, people and armed forces during the process of discussion and formulation of the 11th Congress documents, our Party has defined the Congress’s theme as follows: “Continue enhancing the Party’s leadership capacity and combativeness, promoting the entire nation’s strength, comprehensively boosting the renewal process, creating foundations for making Vietnam by 2020 basically an industrial country along the line of modernity”. The objective of Party, State and people of Vietnam is as follows: “Making Vietnam by 2020 an industrial, modernity-oriented country, and by the mid-21st century a modern industrial, prosperous, strong, democratic, equitable and advanced country steadily heading towards socialism”.

Entering the 11th Congress, we wish to affirm to all foreign comrades and friends the following: the Communist Party of Vietnam takes Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought as its ideological foundation. Vietnam will persist in the path of national development towards socialism; continue defining economic development as the central task, steady Party building as a key task, and development of culture as the spiritual foundation of the society; develop rapidly and sustainably a socialist-oriented market economy, combine closely economic growth with social progress and equity at every step and in every policy of development, protect the environment, care for social security… Vietnam will

IB 2011 n Communist Party of Vietnam

consistently pursue a foreign policy of independence, autonomy, peace, cooperation and development; multilaterize and diversify relations, proactively and actively engage in internation integration; raise the country’s status; the interests of the country and the nation, for a strong and prosperous socialist Vietnam; be a reliable friend and partner and a responsible member of the international community, and contribute to peace, national independence, democracy and social progress in the world.

The Communist Party of Vietnam stands for broadening relations with communist, workers’ and left parties, ruling parties, and other political parties in the world on the basis of independence and autonomy, for peace, friendship, cooperation and development.

At this forum, we are pleased to inform and expect to receive messages of congratulation from fraternal parties, foreign comrades and friends to the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This would serve as a great encouragement to our construction of socialism and defence of the socialist motherland. We will provide foreign comrades and friends with early information on the outcome of our Congress.

On this occasion, we would like to extend our deep and sincere appreciation to communist and workers parties, comrades, friends and people of the world, including the South African communists and people, for the solidarity and assistance that have been offered to us in our struggle for national liberation and reunification of our country, and in today’s cause of national construction and defence.

All this solidarity, assistance and help have contributed to the success of Vietnam’s revolution.

We are also pleased to welcome visiting delegations from fraternal parties to Vietnam

at a time of your convenience after our 11th Congress.

I wish all the participants of our Meeting health and good luck. And may the Meeting be crowned with success.

Thank you for your attention.

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

147

Documents 148

TSHWANE DECLARATION The 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers` Parties took place in Tshwane, South Africa from the 3rd to the 5th of December 2010 with theme “The deepening systemic crisis of capitalism. The tasks of Communists in defence of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism”.

102 delegates representing 51 participating Parties from 43 countries and from all continents of the world came together in order to take forward the work of our previous meetings, and to promote and develop common and convergent action around a shared perspective

‘

THE DEEPENING CAPITALIST CRISIS The international situation continues to be dominated by the persisting and deepening crisis of capitalism. This reality confirms the analyses outlined in the declarations of our 2008 Sao Paulo and 2009 New Delhi 10th and 11th International Meetings. The current global crisis of capitalism underlines its historical limitations and the need for its revolutionary overthrow. It shows the intensification of the basic contradiction of capitalism between the social character of production and the private capitalist appropriation.

The crisis is systemic - despite pre-2008 capitalist illusions to the contrary, capitalism cannot escape its in-built, systemic tendency to go through cycles of boom and bust. The current global crisis is a particularly severe manifestation of a capitalist downturn occasioned by capitalist over-production. Now, as in the past, there is no answer, within the logic of capitalism, to these peri-

odic crises other than crisis itself, marked by the massive and socially irrational destruction of assets - including mass job lay-offs, factory closures, and the wholesale attack on wages, pensions, social security and erosion of people`s livelihoods. This is why, at our previous two meetings, we correctly asserted that the current crisis was not merely attributable to subjective failings, to the greed of bankers or financial speculators. It remains a crisis embedded in the systemic features of capitalism itself.

The persisting crisis is compounded by significant shifts in the international balance of forces. In particular, there is the on-going relative decline of US economic global hegemony, general productive stagnation in most advanced capitalist economies, and the emergence of new global economic powers, notably China. The crisis has intensified the competition between the imperialist centres and also between the established and emerging powers. This includes the US-led currency war; the concentration and centralization of economic and political power within the EU deepening its character as an imperialist block led by its main capitalist powers; a distinct sharpening of the inter-imperialist struggle for markets and access to raw materials; expanding militarism, including the strengthening of aggressive alliances (for example, the NATO Lisbon Summit with its “new” dangerous strategic concept), the profusion of regional points of tension and aggression (notably in the Middle East, Asia and Africa), coups in Latin America, the intensification of neo-imperialist tendencies of fanning ethnic conflicts and the increasing militarization of Africa through, amongst other things, AFRICOM.

IB 2011 n Documents

At the same time it has become clear that capitalism`s trajectory with its profit-maximising, headlong destruction of natural resources, and of the environment in general poses a grave threat to the sustainability of human civilization itself. The political elites in the dominant capitalist states with their various proposals for “green technologies� and carbon trading at best represent adjustments which increase the profitability of capital while deepening the commodification of nature, and the transfer of climate change crises onto less developed countries. The crisis of the capitalist system that we face as humankind is directly linked to capitalism`s inability to reproduce itself except through a voracious pursuit of compound growth. It is a crisis that can only be overcome through the abolition of capitalism itself.

Faced with these realities, everywhere capital fights back, seeking to preserve profits and to transfer the burden of its crisis onto the working class by intensifying exploitation based on gender and age, the urban and rural poor, and a wide range of middle strata. Exploitation is intensified, the state is used to rescue private bankers and financial houses while exposing future generations to unsustainable levels of debt, and there are intensified efforts to roll back social gains.

In the entire capitalist world, labour, social, economic, political and social security rights are being abolished. At the same time the political systems are being made more reactionary , restricting democratic and civil liberties, especially trade union rights. The retrenchments, including major spending cuts in the public sector are having a devastating impact on workers, especially women workers. There are also attempts to divert popular distress and insecurity into reactionary dema-

gogy, racism and xenophobia, as well as to legitimise fascist forces. These are expressions of anti-democratic and authoritarian tendencies also marked by the escalation of anticommunist attacks and campaigns in many parts of the world. In Africa, Asia and Latin America we are witnessing the imposition on our peoples of new mechanisms of national and class oppression, including economic, financial, political and military means as well as the deployment of an array of pro-imperialist NGOs. However, for the mass of peoples, in particular in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it is important to remember that, even before the current global economic crisis, life under capitalism was a continuing crisis, a daily struggle for bare survival. Even before the current global crisis, one billion people were living in squalid slums, and half of the world`s population was surviving on less than $2 a day. With the crisis these realities have been massively aggravated.

Most of these urban and rural poor, along with family members working as vulnerable migrants in foreign countries, are the displaced victims of the accelerated capitalist agrarian development under-way in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Global capitalism, spear-headed by the major corporates in the agro-industrial sector, has declared war on nearly one-half of humanity - the three billion remaining rural people in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

At the same time inhuman barriers are being set up against immigrants and refugees. There is an ever-increasing mushrooming of urban and semi-urban slums populated by desperate marginalised masses typically involved in a variety of activities for survival. The accelerated capitalist agrarian

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

149

150

transformation in countries with a lower level of capitalist development has genocidal implications.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESISTANCE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND POPULAR FORCES Across the world, capital`s attempts to load the burden of the crisis onto workers and the poor is being met by working class and popular resistance.

Over the past year the anti-people assault on labour rights, social-security rights and wages provoked an escalation of popular struggles notably in Europe.

Imperialist aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America continues to meet resolute popular resistance.

In Africa and Latin America, anti-imperialist forces, trade unions, and social movements have escalated their struggles for the rights of the people and against the plunder by the multinational corporations.

These struggles have, in some cases, led to the emergence of progressive, popular national governments that declare programmatically for national sovereignty, social rights, development and for the protection of their natural resources and biodiversity, giving renewed impetus to the anti-imperialist struggle.

In the current reality, it is an historic imperative that as Communist and Workers` Parties we participate, to strengthen and transform these popular defensive battles into offensive struggles for the acquisition of broader workers` and people rights and for the abolition of capitalism.

In advancing this strategic agenda, communists stress the significance that the organisation of the working class, and the de-

velopment of the struggles of the labour movement in a class-oriented direction, have in the struggle for the acquisition of political power by the working class and its allies.

Within the framework of this struggle we attach particular importance to: n The defence, consolidation and advance of popular national sovereignty n The deepening of social alliances n Strengthening the anti-imperialist front for peace, for the right to full-time stable work, labour rights and social rights such as free health and education.

THE DEFENCE, CONSOLIDATION AND ADVANCE OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY In the face of the intensified aggression of transnational capital, the struggle against imperialist occupation of countries, against economic and political dependency and to defend popular sovereignty has become increasingly salient. In these struggles it is important for communists to integrate these struggles with the struggle for social and class emancipation.

Communists, fighting against imperialism, struggle for equitable international relations between states and peoples on the basis of mutual benefit.

The defence, consolidation and advance of popular sovereignty is of particular importance in Africa and for other peoples that have experienced decades and even centuries of colonial and semi-colonial oppression. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the formal de-colonisation of Africa. Yet everywhere, including in the African diaspora, the grim legacy of the slave-trade, of colonial dispossession and plunder persist.

Notwithstanding 50 years of formal decolonisation, everywhere imperialist inter-

IB 2011 n Documents

ventions are reinforced, the dominance of the monopolies is being strengthened with the aid of domestic capital. The struggle against them requires the active protagonism and unity of the popular masses, and the broadening of popular democratic rights.

DEEPENING SOCIAL ALLIANCES The ongoing crisis of capitalism and its anti-civilisation fight-back are creating the conditions to build broad social, anti-monopolistic and anti-imperialist alliances capable of gaining power and promoting deep, progressive, radical, and revolutionary changes.

Working class unity is a fundamental factor in ensuring the construction of effective social alliances with the peasantry, the mass of urban and rural poor, the urban middle class strata and intellectuals. Particular attention needs to be paid to the aspirations of, and challenges confronting youth.

The land question, agrarian reform and rural development are important issues for the development of popular struggle in lesser developed countries. These are inextricably linked to food sovereignty and security, sustainable livelihoods, the defence of bio-diversity, the protection of national resources, and the struggle against agro-industrial monopolies and their local agents.

In these struggles, the legitimate and progressive aspirations of indigenous peoples in defence of their cultures, languages and environments have an important role.

THE ROLE OF COMMUNISTS IN STRENGTHENING THE ANTIIMPERIALIST FRONT FOR PEACE, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, PROGRESS AND SOCIALISM Imperialism`s crisis and counter-offen-

sive are leading to the broadening and diversification of the forces that objectively assume a patriotic and anti-imperialist stand. Everywhere, in our diverse national realities, Communists have a responsibility to broaden and strengthen the anti-imperialist political and social front, the struggles for peace, environmental sustainability, progress, and integrate them in the fight for socialism. The independent role of Communists and the strengthening of the Communist and Workers` parties is of vital importance to ensure a consistent anti-imperialist perspective of broader movements and fronts.

Special attention must be given to the existing relation between various resistance struggles and the necessary ideological offensive for the visibility of the alternative of socialism and to the defence and development of scientific socialism. The ideological struggle of the communist movement is of vital importance in order to repulse contemporary anti-communism, to confront bourgeois ideology, anti-scientific theories and opportunist currents which reject the class struggle, and combat the role of social democratic forces that defend and implement antipeople and pro-imperialist policies by supporting the strategy of capital. We have a key role to play in drawing the critical links in theory and above all in practice between different arenas of popular struggle in the development of internationalist class solidarity.

We are living in an historic epoch in which the transition from capitalism to socialism has become a civilisational imperative. The all-round crisis of capitalism once more underlines the inseparable nature of the tasks of national liberation and social, national and class emancipation.

In the face of deepening capitalist crisis,

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

151

152

the experiences of socialist construction demonstrate the conditions of the superiority of socialism.

The strengthening of the cooperation among Communist and Workers` Parties and the strengthening of the anti-imperialist front, should march side by side.

We, the Communist and Workers` parties meeting in Tshwane, in a situation marked by a massive onslaught against workers and popular forces, but also with many possibilities for the development of the struggle, express our profound solidarity with workers and peoples and their intense struggles, reiterating our determination to act and struggle side by side with working masses, youth, women, and all popular sectors that are victims of capitalist exploitation and oppression.

We reaffirm our appeal to the widest range of popular forces to join us in a common struggle for socialism which is the only alternative for the future of humankind.

We point to the following main axes for the development of our joint and convergent actions: 1. With the capitalist crisis deepening, we will focus on the development of workers` and peoples` struggles for labour and social rights, the strengthening of the trade-union movement and its class orientation; the promotion of the social alliance with peasants and the other popular strata. Particular attention will be given to the problems of women and youth who are among the first victims of the capitalist crisis.

2. In the face of the all-round imperialist aggression and the sharpening of the interimperialist rivalries, we will intensify the antiimperialist struggle for peace, against imperialist wars and occupation, against the dan-

gerous “new� NATO strategy and foreign military bases, and for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We will extend active internationalist solidarity with all people and movements facing and resisting oppression, imperialist threats and aggression.

3. We will resolutely fight anticommunism, anti-communist laws, measures and persecution; to demand the legalisation of CPs where outlawed. We will defend the history of the communist movement, the contribution of socialism in advancing human civilisation.

4. We affirm our solidarity with the forces and peoples engaged in and striving for socialist construction. We reaffirm our solidarity with the Cuban people and their socialist revolution, and we will continue vigorously to oppose the blockade and to support the international campaign for the release of the Cuban Five.

5. We will contribute, within the specific context of our national realities, to the reinforcement of international anti-imperialist mass organizations like WFTU, WPC, WFDY, WIDF. We particularly welcome and salute the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students to be held in South Africa from 13th-21st December 2010.

IB 2011 n Documents

Solidarity statements 153

MOTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA The 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties conveys its deepest solidarity with the people of the Socialist Republic of Cuba, which stands as a beacon of progress and hope for the rest of the world. For over five decades the Cuban people have resisted the imperialist domination of its social, political and economic outlook and in their choice of a Socialist path of development.

We will expose and oppose all current efforts, principally conducted by the United States, to undermine Cuba’s developmental path and immense achievements – including its robust solidarity with the oppressed and suffering worldwide – in a constant and unrelenting effort to reimpose capitalism on the country.

The US administration has declared and maintained the longest policy of economic and genocidal blockade against Cuba, with disastrous consequences in the lives of the people of the Socialist Republic, causing massive in economic losses, forbidding trade on essential medicines and investing billions in financing counterrevolutionary groups, mercenary armies, imperialist NGOs and criminal organizations.

We call for the lifting of the US criminal blockade against Cuba, for the release of the Cuban 5, and urges all communist and workers parties and progressive forces to develop and improve solidarity and internationalism with the people of Cuba.

SIGNED BY:

16. Communist Party of Luxembourg 17.Communist Party of Malta 18. Communist Party of Mexico 19. New Communist Party of the Netherlands 20. Communist Party of Norway 21. Communist Party of Pakistan 22. Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930] 23. South African Communist Party 24. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (Rkrp-Rpc) 25. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 26. Communist Party of Sri-Lanka 27. Communist Party of Sweden 28. Union of Communists of Ukraine 29. Communist Party, USA

‘

1.Communist Party of Bangladesh 2. Brazilian Communist Party 3. Communist Party of Brazil 4. Communist Party of Canada 5. Communist Party of Cuba 6. Communist Party in Denmark 7. Communist Party of Finland 8. Unified Communist Party of Georgia 9. Communist Party of Greece 10. Communist Party of India 11. Tudeh Party of Iran 12. Communist Party of Kurdistan –Iraq 13. Communist Party of Ireland 14.Party of the Italian Communists 15. Lebanese Communist Party

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

154

MOTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH SWAZILAND

‘

The 12 th Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties extends its full solidarity to the people and democratic movements of Swaziland, who are faced with more stringent repression at the hands of the most brutal monarchic autocracy.

We pledge to further the awareness of the severe oppression taking place in Swaziland, whose economic wealth is channeled to sustaining a corrupt absolute monarchy at the expense of the country’s people, who

suffer the world’s highest HIV rate and one of its lowest levels of life expectancy and unprecedented levels of poverty and degradation.

We will increase our support the efforts of progressive forces in Swaziland to end the ban on political parties the People’s United Democratic Movement and other formations, and to alter the current ruinous course that the ruling class in Swaziland imposes on the country and its people.

SIGNED BY:

15. Communist Party of Luxembourg 16. Communist Party of Malta 17. Communist Party of Mexico 18. New Communist Party of the Netherlands 19. Communist Party of Norway 20. Lebanese Communist Party 21. Communist Party of Pakistan 22. Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930| 23. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (RKRP-RPC) 24. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 25. Communist Party of Sri-Lanka 26. Communist Party of Sweden 27. Union of Communists of Ukraine 28. Communist Party, USA

1. Communist Party of Bangladesh 2. Brazilian Communist Party 3. Communist Party of Brazil 4. Communist Party of Canada 5. AKEl, Cyprus 6. Communist Party in Denmark 7. Communist Party of Finland 8. Unified Communist Party of Georgia 9. Communist Party of Greece 10. Communist Party of India 11. Tudeh Party of Iran 12. Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq 13. Communist Party of Ireland 14. Lebanese Communist Party

IB 2011 n solidarity statements

MOTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH WESTERN SAHARA

‘

The 12th International meeting of communist and workers parties gathered in the plenary session expresses its solidarity with the people of the Sahara and the liberation struggle of the Polisario Front.

The Communist and workers Parties who

were gathering in Johannesburg support the right of self-determination of the Western Sahara and they condemn the repression of the Saharawi people from the regime of the monarchy of Morocco.

SIGNED BY:

15. Communist Party of Luxembourg 16. Communist Party of Malta 17. Communist Party of Mexico 18. New Communist Party of the Netherlands 19. Communist Party of Norway 20. Lebanese Communist Party 21. Communist Party of Pakistan 22. Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930| 23. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (RKRP-RPC) 24. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 25. Communist Party of Sri-Lanka 26. Communist Party of Sweden 27. Union of Communists of Ukraine 28. Communist Party, USA

1. Communist Party of Bangladesh 2. Brazilian Communist Party 3. Communist Party of Brazil 4. Communist Party of Canada 5. AKEl, Cyprus 6. Communist Party in Denmark 7. Communist Party of Finland 8. Unified Communist Party of Georgia 9. Communist Party of Greece 10. Communist Party of India 11. Tudeh Party of Iran 12. Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq 13. Communist Party of Ireland 14. Lebanese Communist Party

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

155

156

RESOLUTION ON THE CYPRUS PROBLEM The undersigned parties, which participated in the 12th International Meeting of Communists and Workers Parties convened in the city of Tshwane – South Africa, from the 3rd to 5th of December 2010, regarding the Cyprus problem and the ongoing negotiations between the leaders of the two communities, declare the following: 1. They consider the continued division of the island as illegal, unacceptable and detrimental to the people of Cyprus as a whole; Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

2. They condemn the imperialist conspiracies and interventions that leaded to the invasion and the continuing occupation of 37% of the territories of the Republic of Cyprus for 36 years by Turkey; the Cyprus problem constitutes an international problem of illegal foreign intervention, of violation of core principles of international law, of the UN Charter, of basic principles of European law and of the human rights and civil liberties of its people.

3. Calls for the immediate implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Cyprus, the termination of the occupation, the end of the settlement of the occupied area and the unacceptable status quo, the withdrawal of all Turkish troops and the reinstitution of human rights for the people of Cyprus in its entirety.

4. They condemn the continuing efforts of Turkey to alter the demographic character of the island, through the influx of settlers from mainland Turkey, and the usurpation of land and properties in the areas which are not under the control of the Republic since the 1974 invasion, in violation of international humanitarian law.

5. They express their solidarity to the

‘

Cyprus people and underline that the finding of a peaceful, just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem constitutes an urgent priority for the international community.

6. They welcome and support the ongoing substantive inter-communal negotiations taking place under the auspices of the United Nations aiming to the finding of a mutually acceptable, comprehensive solution based on the agreed framework of bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality as prescribed by the relevant UN Resolutions. A solution providing for the transformation of Cyprus into a federal state with a single sovereignty, single international personality and single citizenship.

7. They underline, that the solution must adhere to the principles of International and European law, the UN Security Council Resolutions and the High-Level Agreements between the leaders of the two communities of 1977 and 1979. The solution in Cyprus must safeguard the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all citizens, in line with international law, including the right of refugees to return to their homes and properties and the right of the families of missing persons in both communities to be informed of the fate of their loved ones.

8. Underlines that the election of Demetris Christofias to the Presidency of the Republic marked the undertaking of continued initiatives that led to the reopening of direct negotiations between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus that solely aim at finding a durable, functional and just solution of the Cyprus Problem.

9. They welcome the difficult and constant effort of President Christofias to reach a comprehensive solution, and express their strong

IB 2011 n solidarity statements

support to his recent balanced threefold proposal namely the linking of the property issue with the territorial and settlers issue, the return of the fenced city of Famagusta to its lawful inhabitants and the convention of an International Conference regarding the International aspects of the solution, once the two sides reach a range of agreement on the other issues.

10. Emphasizes the precision of the agreed framework and the need for the parties to remain committed to this framework. Categorically rejects any effort for introduction of suffocating timetables or arbitration. The Cypriot ownership of the process does not result to the exclusion of the responsibility of Turkey as occupying power.

11. Notes that despite statements and other communication maneuvering, Turkish positions remain, in substance, not supportive to the efforts for finding a solution and continue to be based on the philosophy of two states and the upgrading of the illegal regime of the occupied area. A number of proposals submit-

ted to the negotiations do not fall within the agreed framework for a solution of bicommunal, bizonal federation. The International Meeting denounces this stance and condemns it as it constitutes an obstacle to the progress of the efforts for a solution.

12. They call on the international community as a whole, to exercise its influence on Turkey in order to abandon its current policy towards Cyprus and enable the negotiations to proceed constructively, also taking into consideration the proposal of President Christofias. It is urgent that Turkey proceeds immediately in taking concrete steps in order to reach a comprehensive solution as soon as possible.

13. They express their conviction that the two communities can live together as they have done in the past and build a peaceful, common future in a united, bicommunal, bizonal federal Cyprus; constituting a bridge of peace and multiculturalism in the Eastern Mediterranean region and setting a paradigm for the world community as a whole.

SIGNED BY:

16. Communist Party of Luxembourg 17. Communist Party of Malta 18. Communist Party of Mexico 19. New Communist Party of the Netherlands 20. Communist Party of Norway 21. Lebanese Communist Party 22. Communist Party of Pakistan 23. Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930| 24. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (Rkrp-Rpc) 25. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 26. Communist Party of Sri-Lanka 27. Communist Party of Sweden 28. Union of Communists of Ukraine 29. Communist Party, USA

1. Communist Party of Bangladesh 2. Brazilian Communist Party 3. Communist Party of Brazil 4. Communist Party of Canada 5. AKEl, Cyprus 6. Communist Party in Denmark 7. Communist Party of Finland 8. Unified Communist Party of Georgia 9. Communist Party of Greece 10. Communist Party of India 11. Tudeh Party of Iran 12. Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq 13. Party of the Italian Communists 14. Communist Party of Ireland 15. Lebanese Communist Party

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

157

158

RESOLUTION ON THE MIDDLE EAST The 12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties expressed grave concern about the dangerous situation prevailing in the Middle East because of imperialist and Zionist aggression, and noted: 1. That Israel, supported by the United States, continues its crimes against the Palestinian people with killings, the destruction of homes, and ongoing harassment of the population of the occupied territories, seeking to subjugate the Palestinian peoples into stateless, fragmentary communities; 2. US/Israeli fomenting of sectarian tensions in Lebanon through, amongst other things, the politicisation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, as a potential prelude to a new civil war to be directed against the National Lebanese Resistance, to take revenge for the defeats inflicted on Israeli occupation forces since 1982, and specifically in 2006; 3. The continued threat to Syria because of its refusal to accept the Israeli policy of expansion and aggression; 4. The continued US and other foreign military presence in Iraq, and the crimes committed by these occupation forces; 5. Recent exposures that once more con-

firm the US policy of pursuing an agenda to construct a new Middle East, even more securely under the heel of US domination, by weakening national sovereign capacity through fomenting ethnic and sectarian religious divisions in many societies, including Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

SIGNED BY:

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

‘

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Communist Party of Bangladesh Brazilian Communist Party Communist Party of Brazil Communist Party of Canada Communist Party of Cuba Communist Party in Denmark Communist Party of Finland

And, therefore, resolved: 1. To reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people, to call for the immediate release of political prisoners and detainees, and to support the formation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem/Al Quds as its capital and the right of refugees to return to their homeland; 2. To express solidarity with the resistance of the Lebanese people against the new US/Israeli aggressive project directed against their country; 3. To demand the return of Arab farms in Chebaa and Golan, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from these territories; 4. To affirm our solidarity with the Iraqi people for the withdrawal of the US and all foreign military forces from Iraq; and 5. To do all in our power to expose and resist the US imperialist agenda in the region.

Unified Communist Party of Georgia Communist Party of Greece Communist Party of India Communist Party of India [Marxist] Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq Communist Party of Ireland Party of the Italian Communists Lebanese Communist Party

IB 2011 n solidarity statements

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

Communist Party of Luxembourg Communist Party of Malta Communist Party of Mexico New Communist Party of the Netherlands Communist Party of Norway Communist Party of Pakistan Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930] Portuguese Communist Party Communist Party of the Russian Federation

25. Communist Workers Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (RKRP-RPC) 26. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 27. South African Communist Party 28. Communist Party of Spain 29. Communist Party of Sri-Lanka 30. Communist Party of Sweden 31. Union of Communists of Ukraine 32. Communist Party, USA

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

159

160

SOLIDARITY WITH THE LEBANESE PEOPLE AGAINST AMERICAN-ISRAELI CONSPIRACIES We, representatives of the Communist and Working Class Parties worldwide, who are gathered in Johannesburg (South Africa) between the 3rd and the 5th of December, would like to forcefully express our support to the Lebanese People and its Forces of Resistance and Struggle Movements, at the lead of which is the Lebanese Communist Party. We fully support these forces who are currently confronting the new Israeli conspiracy, backed by international capitalism forces, which is manifesting itself through the politicization of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) which is probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and a number of other Lebanese officials.

The United States, together with Israel, is attempting through the ‘indictment’, leaked by the German Newspaper Der Spiegel, to cause sectarian strife and internal wars within Lebanon as a prelude to tear it apart and immerse it in the evils of Civil War yet again. The underlying objective of the leaked indictment is neither justice nor the truth; but rather the weakening of the national resistance in order to rush to the aid of the Israel. Indeed the true objective of the indictment is to aid Israel to deal a new blow to Lebanon and to help Israel avenge the defeats it has been suffering as a result of the resistance of the Lebanese people since 1982, the date of the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

‘

SIGNED BY: 1. Communist Party of Argentine 2. Communist Party of Australia 3. Democratic Progressive Tribune, Bahrain

In this context, we declare our condemnation to the unlimited and unconditional American military support to Israel, including the latest armament shipment of advanced weapons. We also condemn the facilities that both the NATO Alliance and the EU continue to provide to Israel, which is still violating Lebanese territory on a daily basis, under the watchful eye of the United Nations forces. We also condemn Israel for continuing to insolently refuse to submit any maps on the location of the mines and the cluster bombs which it planted on Lebanese ground and which its military war planes scattered on Lebanese soil thereby leading to the daily deaths and maiming of innocent children in the South of Lebanon.

We call upon the people of the world to rally to a worldwide campaign of solidarity with the Lebanese people and its national resistance in order to complete the liberation of the Chebaa farms and the Hills of Kfarshouba, and in order to confront the meddling and interventions of Israel, and in order to resist the upcoming American-Israeli scenarios for aggression against Lebanon and the region. We would also like to forcefully express our support to the struggle of the Lebanese Communist Party and other progressive forces within Lebanon to build a country for all the Lebanese that is democratic, secular, resistant and independent.

4. Communist Party of Bangladesh 5. Worker’s Party of Bangladesh 6. Workers’ Party of Belgium PTB 7. Partido Communista Brasileiro

IB 2011 n solidarity statements

8. Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) 9. Communist Party of Britain 10. Communist Party of Canada 11. Communist Party of Cuba 12. AKEL, Cyprus 13. Communist Party of Denmark 14. Communist Party in Denmark 15. Communist Party of Egypt 16. Communist Party of Finland 17. French Communist Party 18. Unified Communist Party of Georgia 19. Communist Party of Greece 20. Hungarian Communist Workers’ Party 21. Communist Party of India 22. Communist Party of India (Marxist) 23. Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq 24. Iraqi Communist Party 25. Communist Party of Ireland 26. Workers Party of Ireland 27. Communist Party of Israel 28. Party of Italian Communist (PdCI) 29. Partido Delle Rifondazione Communista 30. Lebanese Communist Party 31. Communist Party of Luxembourg 32. Communist Party of Mexico 33. Communist Party of Nepal (UML)

34. New Communist Party of the Netherlands 35. Communist Party of Norway 36. Communist Party of Pakistan 37. Palestinian People’s Party 38. Partido Communista Peruano 39. Philippine Communist Party [PKP-1930] 40. Portuguese Communist Party 41. Communist Party of Soviet Union 42. Communist Workers’ Party of Russia Revolutionary Party of Communists (RKRP-RPC) 43. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 44. South Africa Communist Party 45. Communist Party of Spain 46. Partido Communista de los pueblos de Espana 47. Communist Party of Sri Lanka 48. Communist Party of Sweden 49. Communist Party in Syria 50. Syrian Communist Party 51. Communist Party of Turkey 52. Communist Party Ukraine 53. Union of Communists of Ukraine 54. Communist Party, USA 55. Communist Party of Vietnam

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

161

Parties that participated ‘

162 n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n

Communist Party of Argentina Communist Party of Australia Workers’ Party of Bangladesh Workers’ Party of Belgium Brazilian Communist Party Communist Party of Brazil Communist Party of Britain Communist Party of Bulgaria Communist Party of Canada Communist Party of China Communist Party of Cuba Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) Communist Party of Denmark Communist Party in Denmark Communist Party of Finland French Communist Party Communist Party of Germany (DKP) Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Communist Party of India Communist Party of India-(Marxist) Iraqi Communist Party Communist Party of Ireland Workers’ Party of Ireland Communist Party of Israel Communist Refoundation Party Party of Italian Communists Lebanese Communist Party Communist Party of Luxembourg Communist Party of Nepal – (United Marxist Leninist) (UML) New Communist Party of Netherlands

n n n n n n

n n n n n n n n n n n n n

Communist Party of Norway Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) Peruvian Communist Party Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Communist Party of Russian Federation (CPRF) Communist Workers Party of Russia Revolution Party of Communists (RKRPRPC) Communist Party of Soviet Union New Communist Party of Yugoslavia South African Communist Party Communist Party of the Peoples’ of Spain Communist Party of Spain Communist Party of Sri-Lanka Syrian Communist Party Communist Party of Syrian (Unified) Communist Party of Turkey Communist Party of Ukraine Union of Communists of Ukraine Communist Party, USA Communist Party of Vietnam

IB 2011 n parties that participated

ALBANIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ALBANIA E-Mail: artankristo@gmail.com code:(+355) phone:382274111 fax:4251271

‘n

163 ALGERIA, ALGERIAN PARTY FOR DEMOCRACY AND SOCIALISM http://pads.ifrance.com E-Mail: pads.dz@laposte.net code:(+331) phone:46637607, 46772082, 42537882 fax:42537882, 46637607 n

Redlinks ‘

ARGENTINA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ARGENTINA http://www.pca.org.ar E-Mail: relacionesinternacionales@pca.org.ar code:(+5411) phone:43040066/0068 fax:43040068 n

ARMENIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ARMENIA code:(+37410) phone:567933 fax:541917 n

AUSTRALIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRALIA http://www.cpa.org.au E-Mail: international@cpa.org.au E-Mail: cpa@cpa.org.au code:(+612) phone:9699 8844 fax:9699 9833 n

n AUSTRIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF AUSTRIA http://www.kpoe.at E-Mail: international@kpoe.at code:(+431) phone:5036580 fax:5036580-499

AZERBAIDJAN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF AZERBAIDJAN E- Mail: r.kobalt@mail.ru code:(+99412) phone:4417533 fax:948937 n

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

164

BAHRAIN, DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE TRIBUNE http://www.altaqadomi.com/ E-Mail: fa.almenbar@gmail.com code:(+973 17) phone:780007 fax:780006 n

BANGLADESH, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BANGLADESH http://www.cpb.org.bd E-Mail: info@cpb.org.bd code:(+8802) phone:9558612, 7172845 fax:9552333

BOLIVIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOLIVIA http://www.pcbolivia.net/ E-Mail: marxmil@hotmail.com E-Mail: domich2001@hotmail.com code:(+591) phone: 2423252 fax:22770535 n

n

BANGLADESH, WORKERS’ PARTY OF BANGLADESH E-Mail: wpartybd@bangla.net code:(+8802) phone:9567975 fax:9558545 n

BELARUS, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BELARUS http://comparty.by E-Mail: karpenko@house.gov.by code:(+37517) phone:222 62 11 fax:222 43 79 (222 64 61) n

BELGIUM, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BELGIUM http://www.kp-online.be http://www.particommuniste.be/ E-Mail: parti.communiste@skynet.be E-Mail: kommunistische-partij@skynet.be code:(+322) phone:512 23 84 fax:512 23 84 n

n BELGIUM, WORKERS’ PARTY OF BELGIUM http://www.wpb.be http://www.ptb.be E-Mail: wpb@wpb.be E-Mail: ptb@ptb.be code:(+32) phone:25040139 fax:25040141

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, WORKERS’ COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA http://www.rkp-bih.org http://www.rkp-bih.cjb.net E-Mail: kontakt@rkp-bih.cjb.net E-Mail: goran.rkpbih@gmail.com code:(+387) phone/fax: 55 240 973 n

n BRAZIL, BRAZILIAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pcb.org.br E-Mail: pcb.partidocomunistabrasileiro@gmail.com E-Mail: pcb@pcb.org.br code:(+5521) phone/fax:22620855 code:(+5521) phone/fax:2509 3843 n BRAZIL, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRAZIL http://www.pcdob.org.br http://www.vermelho.org.br E-Mail: internacional@pcdob.org.br code:(+5511) phone:3054-1800, 30541822, 30541821 fax:3054 1848 n BRITAIN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRITAIN http://www.communist-party.org.uk E-Mail: international@communistparty.org.uk E-Mail: office@communist-party.org.uk code:(+442) phone:(0)86861659

BRITAIN, NEW COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRITAIN http://www.newworker.org n

IB 2011 n Redlinks

E-Mail: party@ncp.clara.net code:(+44) phone:207 2234052

code:(+571) phone:3203204, 2854188 fax:3384742

BULGARIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BULGARIA http://comparty-bg.com E-Mail: comparty@abv.bg code:(+3592) phone/fax:9816093

n COLOMBIA, FARC-EP http://www.farcejercitodelpueblo.org/ E- Mail: news@farcep.org

n

BULGARIA, PARTY OF THE BULGARIAN COMMUNISTS http://www.communist-bg.org E-Mail: bcp.gd@mail.bg code:(+359) phone:28621225 fax: 29744135 n

n CANADA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA http://www.communist-party.ca E-Mail: inter@cpc-pcc.ca code:(+1416) phone:4692446 n CHILE, COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHILE http://www.pcchile.cl/ E-Mail: internacional@pcchile.cl code:(+562) phone:729 5700 fax:729 5714

CHINA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA http://www.idcpc.org.cn http://www.china.org.cn/english/index.ht m http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/ E-Mail: info@idcpc.org.cn E-Mail: yuliagustavo@163.net code:(+8610) phone:83907267 fax:83907268 n

COLOMBIA, COLOMBIAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pacocol.org E-Mail: pacocol@etb.net.co E-Mail: notipaco@pacocol.org

n COSTA RICA, PEOPLE’S VANGUARD PARTY E-Mail: vanguardiapopular@yahoo.com E-Mail: partido.vanguardiapopular@gmail.com E-Mail: pvp.costarica.internacional@gmail.com code:(+506) phone: 2225 8300 fax: 2281 0484

CROATIA, SOCIALIST WORKERS’ PARTY OF CROATIA http://www.srp.hr E-Mail: srp@srp.hr E-Mail: vladimir.kapuralin@pu.t-com.hr code: (+ 385) phone:1 4835340, 91 2219036 fax:1 4835340 n

n CUBA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF CUBA http://www.pcc.cu/ E-Mail: coordeor@cc.cu E-Mail: despacho@cc.cu code:(+537) phone:8605678 fax:8556836

CYPRUS, THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF THE WORKING PEOPLE - AKEL http://www.akel.org.cy E-Mail: InterBureau@akel.org.cy Phone: (+357) 22761121 Fax:22761574, 22764725 n

n

CZECH REPUBLIC, COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA http://www.kscm.cz E-Mail: info@kscm.cz n

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

165

166

E-Mail: vladimir.sedlacek@kscm.cz E-Mail: leftnews@kscm.cz code:(+4202) phone:22897428/22897472 fax:22897449 DENMARK, COMMUNIST PARTY IN DENMARK http://www.kommunisterne.dk E-Mail: KPID@kommunisterne.dk code:(+45) phone:38882833 fax:38882433 n

DENMARK, COMMUNIST PARTY OF DENMARK http://www.dkp.dk E-Mail: dkp@dkp.dk code:(+45) phone: 33916644 fax: 33320372

fax:2909454 (+593-4) phone:2401462 fax:2248643 n ESTONIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ESTONIA E-Mail: narvaSRG@rambler.ru code:(+37) phone /fax: 23591174

FINLAND, COMMUNIST PARTY OF FINLAND http://www.skp.fi E-Mail: skp@skp.fi code:(+3589) phone:77438150 fax:77438160 n

n

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, FORCE OF THE REVOLUTION http://fuerzadelarevolucion.org E-Mail: fuerzadelarevolucion@latinmail.com E-Mail: frevolucion@latinmail.com code: (+809) phone:685-9362 fax:6873423 n

n EGYPT, COMMUNIST PARTY OF EGYPT http://www.cp-egypt.com E-Mail: cpegypt@gmail.com code:(+20) phone:101 078617 fax: 223 921315

EQUADOR, COMMUNIST PARTY OF EQUADOR http://pcecuador.org/ E-Mail: ccentral@pcecuador.org E-Mail: pce_ecu@hotmail.com E-Mail: mariomendoza2004@yahoo.es code:(+593-2) phone:2671108 n

FRANCE, FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pcf.fr E-Mail: international@pcf.fr code:(+331) phone:40401293, 40401286 fax:42404027 n

FYROM, COMMUNIST PARTY OF MACEDONIA E-Mail: cpmak@mail.net.mk code:(+389) phone:23177248 fax:23177248 n

GEORGIA,UNIFIED COMMUNIST PARTY OF GEORGIA E-Mail: cpgeo@narod.ru E-Mail: tpipia@rambler.ru code:(+995) phone:93 761363, 32 546587 fax:32 546587 n

GERMANY, GERMAN COMMUNIST PARTY (DKP) http://www.dkp.de E-Mail: dkp.pv@t-online.de code:(+49201) phone:1778890 fax:17788929 n

n GREECE, COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE http://inter.kke.gr

IB 2011 n Redlinks

E-Mail: cpg@int.kke.gr code:(+30) phone:210 2592111 fax:210 2592298

23747435, 23747436 23363692 fax:23747483

GUADELUPE, GUADELOUPEAN COMMUNIST PARTY E-Mail: DC500009@exchange.FRANCE.NCR.COM code:(+590) phone:821945 fax:836990

n IRAN,TUDEH PARTY OF IRAN http://www.tudehpartyiran.org E-Mail: mardom@tudehpartyiran.org E-Mail: navid.shomali@btinternet.com code:(+44) phone:7790277770 code:(+49) fax:303242627

n GUYANA, PEOPLE’S PROGRESSIVE PARTY http://www.ppp-civic.org E-Mail: ppp@guyana.net.gy E-Mail: pr@ppp-civic.org code: (+592) phone: 2272095, 2274301-3, 2278755, 2251479 fax: 2272096

n IRAQ, IRAQI COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.iraqicp.com Mail: salamsaadi@hotmail.co.uk Mail: icpinter@yahoo.co.uk Mail: info@iraqicp.com code:(+44208) phone: 6422981

HUNGARY, HUNGARIAN COMMUNIST WORKERS’ PARTY http://www.munkaspart.hu E-Mail: mp200@t-online.hu code:(+361) phone:3342721 fax:3135423

IRAQ, COMMUNIST PARTY OF KURDISTAN-IRAQ http://www.regaykurdistan.com Mail: maib55@hotmail.com Mail: kcp_ibrahim@kurdistancp.org Mail: kcp_kurdistan@hotmail.com code:(+4131) phone:3719612 fax:3719628

n

n

NDIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA http://www.communistparty.in/ E-Mail: internationaldept@communistparty.in E-Mail: cpi@bol.net.in E-Mail: cpiofindia@gmail.com code:(+9111) phone:23235546, 23235099, 23235058 fax:23235543 n

INDIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST) http://www.cpim.org E-Mail: cc@cpim.org E-Mail: intl@cpim.org E-Mail: cpim@vsnl.com code:(+9111) phone: 23344918, n

n

IRELAND, COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie E-Mail: cpoi@eircom.net code:(+3531) phone:6708707 n

IRELAND, THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF IRELAND http://www.workerspartyireland.net/ E-Mail: wpi@indigo.ie code:(+3531) phone: 8733 916 fax:8733 915 n

n ISRAEL, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ISRAEL http://www.maki.org.il E-Mail: info@maki.org.il

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

167

168

code:(+9723) phone:6293944 fax:6297263 ITALY, PARTY OF THE ITALIAN COMMUNISTS http://www.comunisti-italiani.it http://www.oltre-confine.it E-Mail: internazionale@comunistiitaliani.org E-Mail: esteri@comunisti-italiani.org code:(+3906) phone:68627210/11/23 fax:68627231

code:(+996) phone:312 624999 fax:312 660401

n

ITALY, PARTY OF THE COMMUNIST REFOUNDATION http://www.rifondazione.it/ E-Mail: esteri.prc@rifondazione.it code:(+3906) phone:441821 fax:44182207 n

n JAPAN, JAPANESE COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.jcp.or.jp http://www.japan-press.co.jp/ E-Mail: intl@jcp.jp code:(+813) phone:54748421 fax:37460767 n JORDAN, JORDANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.jocp.org E-Mail: jcp@nets.com.jo code:(+9626) phone:4624939 fax:4624939

KAZAKHSTAN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF KAZAKHSTAN http://komparty.kz/ E-Mail: komparty@list.ru code:(+772) phone:72911400 n

DPR of KOREA, WORKERS PARTY OF KOREA http://www.kimsoft.com/dprk.htm E-Mail: wpkint@start-co.net.kp E-Mail: ekodpr@alice.it code:(+3906) phone:54220749 fax:54210090 n

n LAOS, PEOPLES’ REVOLUTIONARY PARTY E-Mail: CERCCP@laotel.com E-Mail: party.relationsdep.la@gmail.com code:(+856) phone:21414041-42 fax:21414043 n LATVIA, SOCIALIST PARTY OF LATVIA http://www.latsocpartija.lv E-Mail: latsocpartija@inbox.lv code: (+371) phone/fax:67555535 n LEBANON, LEBANESE COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.lcparty.org E-Mail: lcparty@lcparty.org E-Mail: mariedebs@dm.net.lb code:(+9611) phone/fax:739615/6/7 n LITHUANIA, SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S FRONT http://www.fronte.lt E-Mail: slflit@yandex.ru E-Mail: socialistupartija@gmail.com code:(+370) phone:69836756 fax:(+370)52606130 code:(+37041) phone:452037 fax:(+37048)52460698

LUXEMBOURG, COMMUNIST PARTY OF LUXEMBOURG http://www.kp-l.org E-Mail: kpl@zlv.lu n

KIRGIZIA, PARTY OF THE COMMUNISTS OF KYRGYZSTAN E-Mail: mars40@list.ru n

IB 2011 n Redlinks

E-Mail: aruckert@zlv.lu code:(+352) phone:446066 21 fax:44606666

code:(+3732) phone:2249441 fax:2233673 NEPAL, COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL(UML) http://www.cpnuml.org E-Mail: umlcpn@gmail.com E-Mail: uml@ntc.net.np code:(+977) phone: 14278081-82 fax:14278084 n

MALTA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF MALTA http://blogspot.communistpartymalta.com E-Mail: pkmalti@hotmail.co.uk E-Mail: communistpartymalta@yahoo.com code:(+356) phone/fax:21223537 n

MADAGASCAR, PARTY OF THE CONGRESS FOR THE INDEPENDENCE OF MADAGASCAR (AKFM) E-Mail: akfm@netclub.mg code:(+261) phone/fax: 202227065, 202226828 n

n MEXICO, COMMUNIST PARTY OF MEXICO http://www.comunistas-mexicanos.org E-Mail: comunista@mexico.com E-Mail: comunista@prodigy.net.mx code:(+52 734) phone/fax:3425838

MEXICO, POPULAR SOCIALIST PARTY, MEXICO http://www.pps.org.mx E-Mail: ppsprens@prodigy.net.mx code:(+5255) phone:330816-18 fax:330816-18, 257131

NETHERLANDS, NEW COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE NETHERLANDS http://www.ncpn.nl E-Mail: manifest@ziggo.nl E-Mail: ncpn@ncpn.nl code:(+31) phone:70 3603676, 20 6825019 fax:20 6828276 n

n NORWAY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF NORWAY http://www.nkp.no E-Mail: nkp@nkp.no code:(+4722) phone:716044

n

MEXICO, POPULAR SOCIALIST PARTY OF MEXICO http://www.ppsm.org.mx E-Mail: amezcua910@yahoo.com.mx code:(+525) phone: 5672-2057 fax:56091896 n

MOLDOVA, PARTY OF COMMUNISTS OF REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA http://www.pcrm.md/ E-Mail: info@pcrm.md

PAKISTAN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF PAKISTAN http://www.cppak.org E-Mail: cppak2003@yahoo.com code:(+92) phone/fax: 222654531 n

PALESTINE, PALESTINIAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pallcp.ps E-Mail: palestinian_cp_alqam@hotmail.com code:(+97) tel:9 2515830, 2 2267055 phone/fax:2 22267644, 9 2515075 n

n

n PALESTINE, PALESTINIAN PEOPLE’S PARTY http://www.ppp.ps E-Mail: info@ppp.ps

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

169

170

code:(+97) phone:22963593 fax:22963592 n PANAMA, PARTY OF THE PEOPLE http://www.elpartidodelpueblo.org E-Mail: partidodelpueblopa@yahoo.com E-Mail: elpartido@elpartidodelpueblo.org code: (+507) phone:2259025/2272194

PARAGUAY, PARAGUAYAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pcparaguay.org/ E-Mail: inter@pcparaguay.org code:(+595) phone:21 225116, 972 624390 phone/fax:21 621836 n

PERU, COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU (PATRIA ROJA) http://www.patriaroja.org.pe/ E-Mail: pcdelp@patriaroja.org.pe E-Mail: partidosec@yahoo.com E-Mail: amorenor@speedy.com.pe code:(+511) phone: 4262366/993869280 n

n PERU, PERUAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.pcperuano.com E-Mail: unidad@ec-red.com E-Mail: pcperuano.rrii@gmail.com code:(+511) phone 4331634 fax:4715399

The PHILIPPINES, PHILIPPINE COMMUNIST PARTY [PKP-1930] E-Mail: parisantonio2001@yahoo.com E-Mail: philcompar@yahoo.com code:(+632) phone:3590201 fax:9395791 n

PORTUGAL, PORTUGUESE COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.international.pcp.pt http://www.pcp.pt E-Mail: internacional@pcp.pt code:(+35121) phone:7813800 fax:7969824 n

n ROMANIA, ROMANIAN COMMUNIST PARTY E-Mail: infopcr@yahoo.com code:(+4021) phone:6423615 fax: 642 3615 n ROMANIA, SOCIALIST ALLIANCE PARTY http://www.pasro.ro E-Mail: contact@pasro.ro code:(+40) phone:212522887, 314057078, 314057077, phone/fax:214133354

RUSSIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (KPRF) http://www.kprf.ru E-Mail: zabirov@duma.gov.ru E-Mail: tanjusha10@yandex.ru code:(+7495) phone:6927646 fax:6927646, 6925685 n

RUSSIA, COMMUNIST WORKERS PARTY OF RUSSIA - REVOLUTION PARTY OF COMMUNISTS (RKRP-RPC) http://www.rkrp-rpk.ru/ E-Mail: rkrp-ck@yandex.ru code:(+7812) phone:2742772, 2748073 fax:2742818 n

RUSSIA, UNION OF COMMUNIST PARTIESCPSU http://www.kprf.ru E-Mail: zabirov@duma.gov.ru code:(+7495) phone:2927646, 2928736 fax:2925685 n

POLAND, COMMUNIST PARTY OF POLAND http://www.kompol.org E-Mail: int@kompol.org code:(+48) phone:228334288 fax:228334288 n

IB 2011 n Redlinks

n

RUSSIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOVIET UNION http://www.cpsu.tel E-Mail: cpsu.msk@gmail.com code:(+7095) phone:7946541, 2024167 fax:2001208, 2017525

SPAIN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PEOPLE OF SPAIN http://www.pcpe.es Mail: internacional@pcpe.es code: (+34) phone: 915329187 fax: 915329187

SERBIA, NEW COMMUNIST PARTY OF YUGOSLAVIA http://www.nkpj.co.nr E-Mail: int_nkpj@yahoo.com code:(+38111) phone/fax: 2425689

SPAIN, PARTY OF COMMUNISTS OF CATALUNA http://www.pcc.cat E-Mail: pcc@pcc.cat E-Mail: internacional@pcc.cat code:(+34 933) phone:184 282 fax: 180 011

n

SERBIA, PARTY OF COMMUNISTS OF SERBIA http://komunistisrbije.110mb.com E-Mail: komsrb@open.telekom.rs E-Mail: markan1@open.telekom.rs E-Mail: komsrb@gmail.com code:(+38111) phone/fax:3514-478

n

n

n

SLOVAKIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SLOVAKIA http://www.kss.sk E-Mail: sekr@kss.sk code:(+4212) phone:44644101 fax:44362540

n SPAIN, UNITED LEFT SPAIN http://www.izquierda-unida.es/ E-Mail: iu.internacional@izquierdaunida.es code:(+3491) phone:7227500 fax:3880405

n

SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.sacp.org.za E-Mail: international@sacp.org.za E-Mail: lucian@sacp.org.za code:(+2711) phone:3393621/2 fax:3394244 n

n SPAIN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SPAIN http://www.pce.es E-Mail: internacional@pce.es E-Mail: comitefederal@pce.es code:(+3491) phone:3004969 fax:3004744

SRI-LANKA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SRILANKA E-Mail: rprpvtsec@sltnet.lk E-Mail: rprminister@sltnet.lk E-Mail: rajacolluve@gmail.com code:(+9411) phone:2375377, 2695328, 2865987 fax:2375378, 2691610, 2697835 n

n SUDAN, SUDANESE COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.midan.net E-Mail: cpsudan@gmail.com E-Mail: imanhamad@yahoo.com code:(+4202) phone:33555668 fax:33555668

SWEDEN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SWEDEN http://www.skp.se E-Mail: skp@skp.se code:(+468) phone:7358640 n

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org

171

172

n

SYRIA, SYRIAN COMMUNIST PARTY http://www.syriancp.org E-Mail: syriancommunistparty@gmail.com E-Mail: info@syriancp.org E-Mail: scp-kb@mail.sy code:(+96311) phone:4455048 fax:4422716

UKRAINE, COMMUNIST PARTY OF UKRAINE http://www.kpu.net.ua/ E-Mail: Lorinser@ukr.net code:(+380) phone: 44-4253137, 425-5487, fax:463-57-02 phone/fax: 463-57-03 [International Department ]

SYRIA, SYRIAN COMMUNIST PARTY [Unified] http://www.syrcomparty.org/ E-Mail: scp@scs-net.org E-Mail: scp@syrcomparty.org code:(+96311) phone:4410264 fax:4422383

UKRAINE, UNION OF COMMUNISTS OF UKRAINE http://marx-journal.org/ E-Mail: marx-journal@mail.ru code:(+38044) phone:2906225 fax:2906225, 2906228

n

n

n

URUGUAY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF URUGUAY http://www.pcu.org.uy/ E-Mail: pcuinternacional@montevideo.com.uy E-Mail: partidocomunista@adinet.com.uy code:(+5982) phone: 9242697 9247056 fax: 9242697 9247056 n

TADJIKISTAN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF TADJIKISTAN http://www.kpt.freenet.tj E-Mail: communist_party@mail.ru E-Mail: t.karimova@mail.ru code:(+992372) phone:232953, 231853 fax:351482, 232292 n

TURKEY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF TURKEY (TKP) http://www.tkp.org.tr http://int.tkp.org.tr/ E-Mail: int@tkp.org.tr code:(+90216) phone: 4185351 4146504 fax:3461137 n

n USA, COMMUNIST PARTY USA http://www.cpusa.org E-Mail: international@cpusa.org code:(+1510) phone:251 1120 (+1510) phone:251 1050 fax:(+1) 212 229 1713

VENEZUELA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF VENEZUELA http://www.pcv-venezuela.org http://prensa-pcv.blogspot.com/ E-Mail: internacionalpcv@gmail.com E-Mail: pcv_internacional@yahoo.com code:(+58) phone:2122566386 fax:2122566386 n

n TURKEY, LABOUR PARTY (EMEP) http://www.emep.org (Turkish) http://en.emep.org (English) http://es.emep.org (Spanish) E-mail: international@emep.org code:(+90) phone:539 328 1323 fax:212 587 56 86

IB 2011 n Redlinks

173

VIETNAM, COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM http://www.cpv.org.vn E-Mail: perc@fpt.vn E-Mail: cpvic@cpvic.org.vn code:(+844) phone:8436278, 8436274 fax:38234514, 8045657 n

IB 2011 n www.solidnet.org