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Contribution of Communist Party of India

Let me at the very outset convey on behalf of the Communist Party of India revolutionary greetings to all the delegates present here to participate in the deliberations of the 13th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties. The conference is being hosted by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) which of Sate has been waging relentless struggles against the neo-liberal policies that have landed the country into a debt trap. 1 use this opportunity to congratulate the leadership of KKE, all its members and all sections of people associated with the ongoing agitations against the austerity measures which focus on deep cuts in. spending on education, healthcare, workers wages and such other social sector budgets.

Dear Comrades,

We have assembled here in Athens at a time when the world is on the brink of another recession. Warning that the risks of double-digit recession have heightened, the United Nations in its 'World Economic Situation and Prospects 201T has cut the global economic forecast for the next year to 2.6 per cent from four per cent in 2010. It has projected that global economic growth will be will slow down further in 2012 and even emerging powerhouses like india and China will get bogged down.

The UN report has called 2012 a 'make or break' year for the global economy, which will face a muddle through scenario and continue to grow at a slow pace. "Following two years of anemic and uneven recover,' from the global financial crisis, the world economy is teetering on the brink of another major downturn," the report said. .

According to the world body, the failure of policymakers, especially those in Europe and the United States of America to address the job crisis, prevent sovereign debt distress and escalation of financial sector fragility poses the most acute risk for the global economy in 2012-13. The UN has revised its 2012 production downward for every country. Developing countries are expected to be further affected by the economic woes in developed countries through trade and financial channels", the report further said.

The above cited UN report makes it clear beyond any doubt how deep the capitalist crisis has reached. The world imperialist economy went into deep economic crisis beginning with mid-2008 and has been assuming worse dimensions with the passing of every day, Ever deepening economic crisis of the US symbolizes the gravity of the global economic meltdown that the protagonists of neo-liberalism are still not ready to realize and are hoping to solve the crisis without accepting that capitalism has reached a dead end. It should be noted here that the US, the citadel of capitalism, is today the most indebted country in the world and fast losing it credibility.

Dear Comrades.

The ongoing crisis in the euro zone countries and in US itself is an inevitable outcome of the financial system which bases itself on promoting debts and borrowings. It is a crisis of the finance capital that has been making all-out attempts to establish its hegemony on the economic and political system world, over. The finance capital has neither a national character nor is concerned about the human miseries that every economic crisis creates.

The finance capital is found to be brutal and inhuman in all its endeavors. It seeks to overcome the crisis by giving billions of dollars of public money in the name of bailout packages and by enforcing continuous cuts — austerity measures — in public spending of social sector programmes as well as drastic reduction in wages. The crisis which started with the bankruptcy of banks and financial institutions finally engulfed the national economies. In Europe Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are already on the verge of bankruptcy. In tírese countries and elsewhere where there is a crisis, peoples' welfare measures are being shelved, if not given up.

In most of the European countries, the unemployment ratio has already touched the 20 per cent mark. The British government has recently announced that half a million people employed in public sector undertakings will lose their jobs in the coming two years. The miseries heaped on the common man have forced them to take to streets. 'Capture the Wall Street' movement and the slogan 'We are 99 per cent' reflect the anger of people against the existing system itself — the capitalist system and the neo-liberal policies. Unfortunately in most of these countries, the public anger against the system could not be properly channelised by organized political leadership.

The negative developments in the US and Europe have its impact in Arab countries too, which are in turmoil. Apart from the urge for democratic and human rights, there are economic reasons for the peoples' uprisings in most of the Arab countries. Thus the risk of a world economic collapse is increasing each day. As is inherent in itself, the capitalist system when faced with crisis tries in vain to solve it through increased exploitation, plunder and denying democratic rights to the working people and masses in general.

When the capitalist world and its camp followers are faced with one crisis after another, Cuba, China and Vietnam are marching ahead actively building socialism and declaring to the entire world mat socialism is the only future. Latin America inspired by Socialist Cuba has come out with an alternative to globalization, liberalization and privatization. Venezula, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Ecuador have Left-led governments.

Indian situation

Dear Comrades,

Back home in India too, the situation is worrisome. Two decades of reform based on neo-liberal policies are getting finally exposed. All tall claims about high rate growth by the Indian government have been shattered. While a few have reached dizzying heights of prosperity and personal wealth, the majority of the masses are sunk in the lowest depth of poverty and hunger. The crisis that India faces today is not an isolated one. It is part and parcel of the global capitalist crisis. In India too the ruling class is not ready to accept that, and is trying to solve the crisis through neo-liberal policies that only add to the burden of the people, it is true that often India comes of the taster or does not get very deeply afflicted as in the West. The credit for this goes to the heroic struggles waged by the Left and democratic forces in the country which resulted in the nationalisation of banks and insurance sector as well as in the presence of a strong public sector.

Dear Comrades.

The Communist Party of India along with other Left and democratic forced continuously fighting against moves to push a rightward shift in Indian policies — both political and economic. The CP1 is going to have its XXI Party Congress in the beginning of the New Year (27-31 March, 2012) at Patna in Bihar. The deliberations of the Party Congress certainly will usher in a plan to unleash mass struggles to take the country out of the neo-liberal trap and push it forward with policies that will help ensure a Left and democratic shift of the Nation, reiterating the party's stand that socialism is the only way to human progress.