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13th International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
Athens, December 9-11, 2011
SOCIALISM IS THE FUTURE!
The international situation and the experience of the communists 20 years after the counterrevolution in the USSR. The tasks for the development of the class struggle in conditions of capitalist crisis, imperialist wars, of the current popular struggles and uprisings, for working class-popular rights, the strengthening of proletarian internationalism and the anti-imperialist front, for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of socialism.
Contribution of Labour Party, EMEP
Dear Friends and comrades.
There have been important develop meats since the last meeting, such as the popular uprisings and mobilizations beginning from. Tunisia, reaching at first Egypt, then almost all Arab countries. Such an effective mobilization in such a broad territory was unexpected, in fact, difficult to foresee.
Those who revolted in Tunisia and other Arab countries are unemployed youngsters, workers, women and other sectors of working people. They have revolted against autocratic regimes. These were such autocratic regimes that they kept the peoples under the yoke of themselves through a handful group, and condemned them to poverty. The greedy depredation and larceny of the ruling class have become untenable. Ben Ali and Mobarek first tried to quell me popular mobilizations, but when the millions of people hit the streets, they easily lost their political power. On the other hand, in other Arab countries, the dictatorships tried to suppress the range of people by means of some reforms.
The demands of the Arab peoples who rose up were freedom, political rights and honorable live as well as the abolition of misuse of authority and of poverty. These were supported by the youth's demand for future and women's demand for equality.
None of the peoples could achieve to form their own popular governments in those countries. Bourgeois governments are reorganizing their own political power chiefly with the support and help of the USA and EU imperialists. However, the gains of the uprising Arab people cannot be underestimated so far.
The "first round" of the battle between the autocratic regimes and the people has come to an end. Both sides are trying to get back their strengths. Even though the collaborators of imperialists, the bourgeois governments have not lost their power yet, it seems impossible for them to get back to their old-fashioned regimes in a short period. The rebellious masses have not completely left the streets; the demands which led to these uprisings have not been exactly materialized yet.
There are signs that in different countries in the region the stagnation in the movement of the working masses who has been put into a mood of expectancy is being replaced by a new revival In addition to those demonstrations in countries like Yemen, Egypt, which is one of the main bases of imperialism in the region, is witnessing mass demonstrations against the administration under the control of the army, which tried to look sympathetic to the people during previous protests and stepped in with the promise of "stability and order".
We will see how these developments will take shape. However, it is clear even from today that things are not and will not be the same as they used to be. Above all, people have become conscious of their power. Despite the fact that these movements could not be brought to their final destinations at present because of the weaknesses to do with the subjective factors, the examples of Ben All and Mobarek have shown once again the hollowness of these dictatorships which are backed by imperialism once the masses unite and stand up. This region which had been portrayed for years in connection with the "Islamist terror7' was now drawing the attention of the world public opinion because of popular uprisings with important economic, social and political demands, including democracy and freedom.
The imperialists are trying to reorganize the dictatorships that they supported on the one hand, they insincerely pretend like they adopt the demands of insurgent peoples, so they are trying to overthrown the governments undesirable for them, as in Libya and Syria. The NATO forces have bombed the lands of Libya by violating all international laws and committed a war crime by slaughtering numbers of civilians.
The ongoing developments clearly set forth how the imperialists have been exploiting the people's dissatisfaction and their demand for democracy and freedom in order to rob the national resources.
The scenario created for Libya is being tried on Syria as well, in a different form. If the changes desired by imperialists took place in Syria, Iran and Lebanon would
Apart from the Arab countries and North Africa, Israel, Greece, Britain, Spain, Italy, Colombia, Chile, etc. have seen mass demonstrations, protests, general strikes with the attendance of hundreds of thousand, even millions, of people, marking in many of these countries the broadest actions of the past few years or decades.
If we look at the developments within the last year from Arab countries to Israel, to Africa and Europe and to America, it is especially important to point out, the resurgence in youth movements and an international trend in youth struggles. Youth demonstrations in some countries have gone on for weeks, even months. Depending on the country, the movements created by the actions of - student or jobless - youth and the poor; became the spark and a part of popular movements; and in the example of Chile joined up with workers' strikes. Youth movements in different countries are influenced by each other, and in solidarity with each other; they follow each other.
Along with specific democratic and political demands in some countries, pretty much in all countries unemployment and poverty as well as economic, social and educational attacks have ignited mass movements and youth action. In countries such as Greece where the crisis has deepened, mass movement has developed and the yoke of debt has tightened, there have emerged new demands surpassing the daily-partial demands.
It is of course not possible to determine accurately, how and in what direction the movement on international scale might be. But we can - and we should!- say that the tendency to increase and spread the movement of the masses in general, and youth in particular are not temporary, and will increasingly go on because the living and working conditions of the working masses are increasingly getting worse by day by, with different levels in different countries. The working people are swimmingly going down in the world.
It is worth noting that the countries caught up by debt crisis in the EU are also countries that have stagnant or contracting economies.
All of developments and facts concerning the capitalist-imperialist world point out that it is highly likely that all existing conflicts and contradiction will be intensified; multifaceted attacks and cuts for the workers, people and youth, which will deepen their problems as well as the insecurities, discontent and despondence that they have regarding their future; and such developments, anger and reactions can lead to the rise and spread of their struggle.
The above-mentioned developments have, in accordance with the unique conditions in each country, led to rise of the working-class, mass and youth movements all over the world, which, in return, has gradually lead to the erosion of the following qualities of the movement: diffusion, disorganisation and lacking political perspective. The latterly stated characteristics of the working-class, mass and youth movements have been apparent in the period that we have left behind. It is also obvious that the weakness and weaknesses in the subjective factor does as well as minimising the possibility of accumulating power and experience does minimise the horizon, demands and gains of the movement.
By the weakness in the subjective factor what we firstly and fore mostly mean or allude to is the nonexistence of the revolutionary parties of the working class in most of the countries and in the countries where such parties exist their link with the working class is weak. All this is not something we did not know and there is no benefit in solely repeating them. The question is for revolutionary parties to raise their work and struggles to such a level that would allow them to overcome these weaknesses. The rise and spread of the working-class, mass and youth movements as well as of the oppressed peoples' movements does entail the following: establishment or strengthening of revolutionary working-class movements, building closer and wider ties with the masses and overcoming the weakness in the movement.