From May 2-4, the sixth International Seminar for the unification of the International Communist Movement was held in Brussels, on the initiative of the Workers' Party of Belgium. The theme: the lasting significance of the road of the October Revolution. 79 parties and organizations attended the seminar, while some 50 others expressed their interest and solidarity.
Bert De BelderStanding out at this year's seminar was the video-taped intervention by Comrade Hysni
Milloshi, founder of the now proscribed Communist Party of Albania, as well as the
presence of four Marxist-Leninist parties from the former Soviet Union: the Russian
Communist Workers' Party, the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Working Russia/the
United Party of Soviet Communists -represented by Viktor Anpilov - and the Russian
Workers' and Peasants' Party. The Cuban Communist Party was represented by Manuel
Menéndez, Director of the theoretical journal Cuba Socialista.
Based on their current experience, the four Russian comrades stressed that the class
struggle will not wait and that we should not only talk but above all act together. Thus
the seminar went beyond theoretical discussions and proceeded to draft resolutions of
solidarity with Cuba, the Communist Party of Albania and the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea, which were then submitted to the participants for signing. In the aftermath of
the seminar, two concrete support campaigns have been launched by Marxist-Leninist parties
from several countries: one for the children who are threatened by flood-induced famine in
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and one for material assistance to the
Communist Party of Albania.
Today the problem of the unification of the communist parties and organisations poses
itself in a particular context. The complete restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union
and in Eastern Europe has finally and conclusively demonstrated that the road of
revisionism, initiated by Krushchev, is the path promoted by the internal and
international bourgeoisie. Their sole objective was to liquidate the dictatorship of the
proletariat and the socialist system.
In the countries dominated by the three centres of imperialism, globalization and
internationalization have resulted in intensified oppression and exploitation. The
situation of the working class and the toiling masses in the formerly socialist countries
and in the countries under domination has been deteriorating rapidly. The workers in the
imperialist world itself have not been spared either. The capitalist forces of the entire
world are waging a concerted offensive against the international working class.
The crisis of the world capitalist system pushes the popular masses to the Left. But the
bourgeoisie uses social-democracy, revisionism and Trotskyism to confuse and mislead the
people as well as certain anti-imperialist and anticapitalist forces. A concerted response
by the Marxist-Leninists has become an urgent necessity.
For four years, from 1992 to 1995, the participants in the International Communist
Seminar have been discussing the road to follow in order to realize the unification of the
International Communist Movement. These discussions have resulted in a set of proposals
(see pages 14 and 15) based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism, proletarian
internationalism and the struggle against revisionism. They contain ideological and
political positions that together form a minimum common framework on the basis of which
the process of unification of the world's communists can be initiated.
At this year's International Communist Seminar, there was a better understanding that
parties who used to belong to tendencies that supported either Mao Zedong or Brezhnev,
either Che Guevara or Enver Hoxha, can arrive at a higher level of unity using this
approach. For example, the resolution to support the Communist Party of Albania has
already been signed by 43 parties, several of whom used to be known as pro-Soviet Union,
pro-China or pro-Cuba. As Comrade Milloshi remarked: "Cooperation in common actions
will give birth to the only international force that can defend the interests of the
revolution and of world socialism."
For communists, language should never be a barrier to communication and common action. That is why we exert efforts to have many of our and other communists' documents translated into several languages. For this important job we can currently count on collaborators in Canada, Spain, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands. But we need many more translators, editors and proof-readers. Translation work is mainly French-English, French-Spanish and Russian-French, but other languages or combinations may also prove useful. We have one very particular request: translators from Albanian!
Vielen Dank - Merci beaucoup - Muchas gracias - Muito obrigado - Maraming salamat!
Workers' Party of Belgium (WPB)
171 Boulevard Lemonnier
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 513 77 60
Fax: + 32 2 513 98 31
E-mail ics[at]icsbrussels.org