Resolution

"For the renewal and strengthening of Party Organisation and work among working people"

Introduction

The importance of strengthening and renewal of Party work among working people stems from the decisive nature and central role of workers for the organisation and activity of the Portuguese Communist Party [PCP]. This foundation is crucial to its class character, its political strategy and policy of alliances, its future, and its present influence in Portuguese society, to its activity in the development of workers' class organisations and in mass struggles. It is also decisive for Party links with the people and in the widening of its political and electoral influence, as well as for its work in all areas of national life.

This does not imply any distancing of Party activity from other social classes and strata.

Rather it means that Party organisation and work in the working class, and among other working people, play a fundamental role in the political and ideological strength of the Portuguese Communist Party.

The need, felt even more keenly today, for a workers' Party in Portuguese society, one that is autonomous and independent of the (economic, political and ideological) class interests of capitall, shows up the magnitude of the tasks facing communists.

The preparatory discussion for the National Conference, involving 8500 comrades in some 560 meetings and assemblies, fulfilled the two aims set by the Central Committee:

- the involvement of the entire Party, with more initiatives naturally in the regions with the larger number of organisations and where the main concentrations of workers are to be found;

- an intense preparatory period of reflection, analysis and proposals, many of which have already materialized in organisational and leadership measures.

In the preparatory discussion, which brought up innumerable examples of the battle-lines of large-scale capital against working people, the profound changes still underway in the economic and social structures of the production and services fabric of Portuguese society were shown in detail at the regional, local and sector levels. Significant shifts and changes in the conditions and consciousness of workers, already referred to and summarised in the pre-Conference Guide-line Document, were detailed in the areas of labour relations, social and political consciousness, and militancy.

In this respect, the discussion confirmed the need to carry out an examination of the transformations underway and of the present composition of Portuguese society, and firstly of the structure of the labour world. The discussion made clear the need for organisational and leadership measures with forms of political action that reflect and respond to these changes.

The preparatory debate also pointed to the difficulties and obstacles to be overcome in the development of the PCP's organisational and practical work among working people, with a special emphasis on the atmosphere of repression and intimidation that the bosses and right-wing policies are creating at the work-place with their attempts to prevent workers' freedom of action and their political and trade union organisation.

But the discussion also displayed the determination, confidence and the strength we can rely on to overcome these difficulties:

- The enormous political and social force that wage-workers represent in Portuguese society;

- The organised strength of the PCP, based primarily on a high percentage of industrial and office workers (55.2% and 19.5% respectively), to which should be added the greater part of the 5.4% intellectuals and technical staff who are members of the Party, organised in factory and other work-place cells by professional sectors or in other types of branches, and possessing great influence in the main centres of economic life;

- The valuable and decisive contribution of thousands of communist workers who hold positions of responsability in the trade union movement, workers' councils and other workers' organisations;

- The great reputation of the PCP among workers that is the result of its firm and persistent political line and activity in defence of their class interests;

The National Conference of the PCP, held on 26 November 1994, attended by 904 delegates and hundreds of guests, coming from all the regional and equivalent organisations, as well as from specific sectors, allowed for the presentation and approval of the following decisions that form part of, and develop, the analyses and conclusions of the 14th Party Congress on these issues, as well as the views and measures adopted by local, regional and sectorial organisations throughout 1994 and during the preparatory debate itself.

1. To strengthen the PCP, to strengthen the working people. The meaning of communist work among workers, and the priorities for action.

Wage and salaried workers form the main, largest and the decisive social force for change and progress that exists in Portuguese society. A just solution to the country's problems is inseparable from the fulfilment of the interests and aspirations of the working people. A growing awareness by the working people of their strength and of their decisive role in the political and social life of the country, as well as the active involvement of workers and their representative organisations, are fundamental for the building of a real democratic alternative.

The PCP, the Party of the working class and all working people, by its class character and identity, its composition, political activity, social and electoral base, places at the centre of all its work the political mobilisation of working people for an advanced democracy and for socialism, for the extension and rigorous defence of their interests and rights, and for the struggle to put an end to exploitation.

The whole of the PCP's political, social, parliamentary and local authority activity must be constantly imbued with the aim of defending and advancing the rights and aspirations of the working people as the essential condition for the development, progress and fuller democratisation of Portuguese society.

The PCP's relations with the working people, its struggle and initiatives on their behalf, cannot and must not be left only to communist workers. Rather, it must be the constant concern and work of the entire Party.

Communist workers' cells and other organisations play a decisive role in raising the social awareness and class solidarity of working people, in forging a class identity that includes the new strata and generations of salaried workers, in enabling a shift from a social consciousness to a more advanced political consciousness, and in upholding the PCP. They are essential and decisive tools in the autonomous political organisation and involvement of working people in our society.

The strengthening of Party organisation and work among working people is also the way to fight against reformist and right-wing conceptions that attempt to mould and shape the attitudes and values of working people into the framework and ideological limits of capitalism; that seek to disassociate and isolate social and trade union activity in the work-place from political action, ousting the latter from the work-place and limiting it to institucional representation; that try to fragment and undermine workers' awareness of the mechanisms of exploitation, of the links between political and economic power, between problems and their causes, creating, in this way, a diffuse and divided view of things; that attempt to reduce workers' (as well as all citizens') political involvement to the mere occasional exercise of the right to caste a vote.

It is important, therefore, to stress the political and ideological aspects of the activity of communist workers' organisations, to stimulate their initiative and their own jugdements of problems, together with a better use of the Party press, the development of specific and continuous avenues of information and propaganda at all levels, an effective involvement in the drawing up of Party policies and proposals, with effective and continuous dialogue with workers, constantly explaining the position and analyses of the Party and the connections between the problems of working people and the political situation.

It is necessary that cells and other communist workers' organisations do not limit their activity to workers' professional and social questions alone. Rather they should constantly base their activity on, and by their own initiative contribute to, the Party's general political tasks and priority political struggles. These structures have an essential role to play in explaining the link between the concrete, day-to-day problems of working people and the policies that give rise to them, in the struggle against the hegemonic intentions of the Socialist Party (PS) and its convergence with the right-wing, in linking the social struggle for immediate interests with the necessary political struggle to defeat the disastrous administration of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) government and to build a democratic alternative, in the indispensable understanding by working people that a real alternative implies new policies that are only possible with the involvement and strengthening of the PCP, together with wider and fuller support for it from working people. Therefore, a fundamental direction of their activity must be to immediatly encourage the involvement of communist workers and others, supporters of the United Democratic Coalition (CDU), in preparation of the next general election, with the aim of increasing support from the working people for the PCP.

In a political, social and economic situation characterised by an intensification of exploitation of workers, and by a fierce and intense ideological offensive against the working class, working people in general and their organisations,all the more important is the contribution made by communist workers, their cells and other Party organisations, towards a stronger class organisation, unity and solidarity and in the development of the working peoples' struggle against the disastrous, right-wing and anti-social policies of the PSD, for employment, a real growth in wages and salaries, work with rights, further and better social security, and for an improvement in the quality of life for the working people.

The following are priority objectives for communist workers' activity towards a strengthening of class organisation and the unity of working people:

- a strengthening of the influence, organisation and roots among working people of the broad trade union movement,which has in the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP-IN) the recognised trade union central of the Portuguese workers;

- the defence of the values and principles of a broad, democratic,autonomous mass, class-based trade union movement , and permanent opposition to reformist and divisionist ideas in the trade union movement - of which the General Workers' Union (UGT) is an expression - which attempt to uphold an institutional "reconciliation" of antagonistic interests at the expense of an increasingly necessary and decisive militant trade-unionism which, while not rejecting negotiation, rests upon the active involvement, demands and mobilisation of the workers;

- the defence and deepening of the unity and class solidarity of the working people and their organisations on the basis of their common interests and aspirations, combined with the necessary defence and representation of specific interests of professional strata and groups of workers;

- full and active support for a necessary and profound restructuring of the trade union movement so that, with an organisation adapted to the changes taking place in the productive apparatus and conditions of work, as well as to the present balance of forces and means, it can provide a more effective answer to the challenges and present problems of the labour world;

- a constant effort to recruit workers to the trade unions, to strengthen their organisation at the work place and to find correct and effective means of contact and organisation of workers, and to strengthen their involvement in union activity;

- activating and enhancing the Workers' Councils, helping to form new ones in an expansion of this movement, the defence and proper exercise of their rights and powers, with co-operation and co-ordination of their actions with the those of trade union movement.

The defence and exercise of workers' political, social, union and professional rights and the struggle for their extension are necessary and indispensable in confronting and overcoming the barriers of fear and repression with which the Government and capital are attempting to undermine the dignity of working people, to isolate, divide and single them out, and to force them to give up their rights and to remain unaware of their organised force.

The battle for workers' rights is inseparable from the struggle against capitalist and social-democratic ideas that, in the name of "realism" and in defence of "competition" and profit, aim to destroy the historic social conquests of the working class movement and to turn back labour relations and the conditions of working people. It is part of the assertion, by workers and by the PCP, that the extension of rights and rises in the living standards of the working people, who are the producers of wealth, are necessary conditions for real progress and sustained development, an integral part of a real political, economic and social alternative.

2. Main directions for the renewal and strengthening of Party organisation and work among the working people.

The first condition, and point of departure for effective development of Party activity, for the setting of objectives, measures and plans of work, is a precise and full understanding of economic and social reality, of the situation in companies and work-places, as well as at the regional, national, and even international context, and of the problems and real living and working conditions of working people. There are no universal recipes or pre-established schemes only guiding principles for the activity of a revolutionary Party.

Leadership that allows for linking Party activity with work in the general movement and for synchronising activity in the work-place or professional sector with involvement at the place of residence, on the basis of a clear definition of priorities and compatibility, leads to a fuller utilisation of a Party member's militancy and increases his/her revolutionary availability.

The false division drawn between the work of mobilising and organising the working people and raising the level of their struggle on the one hand, and other forms of Party work on the other, must be countened.

Party work must necessarily take into account the strong constraints to workers' action and to communist political activity resulting from the offensive against workers' rights, from management repression, and the anti-worker and anti-Communist ideological campaign. But it cannot and must not relinquish a constant and active battle for political and trade union freedom in companies and work-places. This demands that Party organisations adapt their activity and initiatives to this reality, and find organisational forms that better guarantee and safeguard Party contacts and links with working people in an effective defence of their rights and interests.

Leadership Measures

General guidelines - The priority character and central role that the organized and militant working-class rank and file has for the PCP requires, a proper management of its forces, which calls for a number of leadership measures including:

Giving attention, and making available means to strengthen and renew Party organisation among workers with, in particular, the allocation of cadres (including full-timers) and a greater involvement of Party leaders.

The setting of priorities, this means materializing the goal which the 14th Congress considered a top priority: "...work with the working class and working people, and the involvement of communists in the trade union movement, in Workers' Councils and other broad-based mass organisations." It means selecting goals and directions for work, taking leadership measures and checking on decisions taken, following up their implementation, and a thoughtful analisys of their results and implications.

The opening up at all levels of the Party, and in particular the central and regional leaderships, of opportunities for a greater attention to the Party organisations among workers. This is to say, simple rules to enable regular and systematic consideration at meetings of the problems of working people, proper agendas, setting of priorities with allocation of means and cadres, and checking on the implementation of set tasks and decisions.

The development of organisational work and of the communist`s activity among the working people, as tasks of the whole Party, must be the concern of all Party organisations and not only of those that have this objective as their central or exclusive task.

The establishment at the level of regional and, where appropriate, local committee leaderships, of lines of accompanying, co-ordinating and supervising Party work among workers, forming for this purpose appropriate commissions and structures.

Central co-ordination and leadership of activity among working people - In accordance with the Political Resolution of the 14th Congress, it is important "...to give more attention to companies and sectors at the national and multi-district levels, with improvements in co-ordination, closer attention by the Centre to communists working in the broad-based movements at national level, appointment of comrades with national responsibilities for co-ordination and suprevision, while guaranteeing at the same time an effective role for regional leaderships". The Central Committee and its executive committees must consider for the future the necessary means and steps for the implementation of this guideline.

Renewal of Party organisation and work

The renewal of Party organisation and work is an imperative question. It is of paramount importance for a stronger PCP.

This renewal must be considered and examined in several ways, by content and lines of work, with special emphasis on the following:

Firstly, recruitment: there are thousands of workers who can become Party members. In this sense, it is necessary to overcome passivity; to establish objectives and plans of work that define responsibilities for contacting and talking to workers with a view to their recruitment, in particular with those who stand out in the social struggle; and using, in this task, the prestige that the PCP and its cadres have in the working class movement.

The development of Party activity among young workers: recruiting, training, integrating them and giving responsibilities to young people in cells and other labour-related organisations; developing lines of Party political and mass movement work, in formulating demands, in cultural and association work, etc., for young workers.

The strengthening of organised and active involvement of women members of the Party, especially through recruitment, the setting of aims to give greater responsibility and involvement in the organisation, and the necessary changes to its functioning.

Winning over for an active involvement who those Party members who have never held responsibilities, to whom no task has ever been suggested, or who have become inactive.

The broadening of the organised activity of the Party in the direction of new sectors and work-places, with special attention to the development of the service sector and the highly qualified professional strata, as well as to those with a greater weight in the economic, social and political dynamic of the country.

The renewal of forms and styles of Party organisation work and methods of dealing with problems, together with a battle against routine, with particular attention to the content and organisation of meetings.

Other guide-lines for organisation work Organisation and allocation of cadres.

In the allocation of each member of the Party (by place of work, residence, profession, Party responsibilities, etc.),priority should normally be given to the place of work (according to article 40.2 No.2 of the Party Rules).

In the case of member holding various Party responsibilities, the main organisation where they belong should be closely defined. With members holding responsibilities in cells or in organisations based on profession, this should in principle be their main task. In any case, both a dispersed and anarchic activity, and a compartmentalized division of work which rules participation difficult, whether at the place of work, residence or in other areas of work, should be firmly rejected.

Special attention should be given to dealing with changes in the professional (or other) situation of a Party member and the resulting organizational links. It is necessary to avoid a loss of contact, ensuring information about the new place of work, professional situation or profession, etc; to democratize and be prompt when dealing with records, renewals and changes of address, etc ;to take timely measures to maintain organisational contact with communists who are victims of sackings, insecurity of employment, or who belong to companies subject to dismemberment, relocation or closure.

Workers with insecure or temporary employment and who are active in a company, or who are facing retirement or early-retirement, can take part and be organised in the respective work-place cell. Workers subject to sacking should remain in contact with their original cell until another organisation has been allocated.

Rank-and -file organisations of communist workers

Our central concern is how to organize communist workers for activity together with other workers by means of various forms of organisation, all of which have as their final aim activity at the place of work and the organisation of work-place, or company cells.

The practical difficulties and obstacles encountered in many places to the formation of work-place and company cells impel us in two complementary, but not contradictory, directions:

I) The formation of cells in all work-places where our forces and objective conditions permit. Special attention should be given to maintaining and encouraging existing cells, and resisting any tendency towards their dissolution in the face of adverse conditions;

II) The development of various forms of organisation and contact - organisation of workers in companies by geographical area, assemblies of workers by ward,municipality, by sector, inter-company organisation, professional group, etc. - all that are capable of linking the Party to these communist workers, enabling their activity together with work colleagues, and opening the way, even is only in the long term, to organisation and activity inside places of work.

Another important question in dealing with this problem is the concept of what today is a work-place or company cell, that overcomes schematic or inedequate ideas. By the Party Rules (Article 48), a cell "is formed by a group of at least 3 Party members, organised in companies or places of work..." Thus, there should exist a cell (whether or not it coincides with its own leading body) whenever in a place of work there is a minimum nucleus of Party members capable of linking the Party to the other members of the cell, of working in the mass movement and mass struggles, of explaining to workers the connection between their actual problems at work, as citizens, as members of a family group, and the policies of the right-wing and of capital, and able to resolve the problems of functioning - place, regularity and type of meeting, contact with other communists, etc. - as appropriate in each specific case.

Encouraging the initiative and activity of cells and other rank-and-file organisations requires studying and improving the content of their meetings and activity. There should be an audacious and creative approach to both the large and small, concrete problems of the workers, whether individual or collective, old or new ones.

The consolidation and development of organisations is linked to the handling of problems at the work-place, in the company or economic group, sector or business, and, in particular, in the response given to "novelties" introduced by changes in the economic structures. It is in the handling of these concrete questions that we shall manage to advance and surpass the difficulties and obstacles in our path, link the Party to the working people and enhance its reputation.

A work-place or company cell has to act directly in the analysis of the situation, in explaining and mobilising workers, in the organisation and struggle of the labour collective, in encouraging the work of their brood-based organisations, albeit without reducing its own activity to this otherwise important component of its work. It is necessary to fight decisively against reductionist, "trade union" or subsidiary views of the cell by correctly combining Party and mass-movement work.

The cell should operate as the place for the co-ordination of the work of communist activists who make up the nucleus at the work-place - those who hold Party and mass-movement responsibilities.

The cell's multifaceted activity, as an instrument for the transformation of the social consciousness of workers into a political consciousness, demands constant efforts in the distribution of the Party press, in the development of its own channels of information and propaganda (newsletters and statements), in political initiatives for meetings and debate, in connection with institutional political activity, in proposing policy for the sector, in adequately participating in the more general political struggle of the Party, including elections, which should not lead to any dispersion or weakening of organised activity but, on the contrary, should compel it into action, strengthening its own internal unity and initiative.

The Party Press and information and propaganda work directed towards working people

Within the context of the present situation of the mass-media in Portugal, of the brutal anti-Communist and anti-worker ideological offensive, and the silence maintained about PCP activity, information to workers about national and international problems, the problems of companies or sectors, and PCP policy, is a decisive question that demands:

A wider readership among Party members of Avante! and of O Militante (respectively, the PCP weekly newspaper and by-monthly organisational magazine), together with the adoption of necessary organisational measures;

More initiatives by cells and other Party organisations themselves in information and propaganda work, encouraging varied forms of communication with workers - newsletters, statements, news conferences, wall-newspapers, etc.;

The establishment of central and regional lines that, on the basis of experience already acquired, would guarantee permanent and relevant communication work directed towards working people, namely consideration of regular publications and propaganda campaigns.

Cadre Policy

A correct cadre policy continues to be a key question for a Party of the working class and other working people. Important aspects are selection, training, guidance and assignment of responsibilities to working class cadres and workers. Some main guidelines are:

The need to fight attitudes of compartmentalisation of cadres' responsibilities or activity so that, without in any way disrupting the main direction of their work, and their activity in their organisations, nor giving rise to their dispersion and consequent loss of responsibility, full use can be made of the enormous political potential and capacity of action of the great nucleus of activists that makes up the Party collective.

Careful and further assistance should be given to communist cadres holding responsibilities in the working class movement. It is decisive to win them not only to be available at the level of mass-movement organisations, but also for Party activity, which raises the level of communist organisation in the work-place or professional sector, the recruitment of new workers, and the growth of Party organisation, influence and prestige.

The first school for training of cadres is in the concrete work at grass-roots level. The development of a cadre's work at this organisational level is fundamental to his/her maturing, political and ideological training forged in class conflicts, and to gaining experience in organisation, action and leadership. But this should not lead to any underestimation of theoretical training through courses and lectures, and especially through "Avante!" and "O Militante".

The need to consider cadre policy in the medium to long term, fighting against short term and immediatist views. The formation of cadres can only be assured in this way. Organised members in work-places and companies, who are available and active, politically capable and dedicated to the Party should not be withdrawn to other tasks without careful and full evaluation.

A decisive role falls to the Party's leading cadres who, by their experience, knowledge and activity in various fields of work, will be able to make an invaluable contribution to the training of more and new cadres.

Organisation and activity of specific groups and strata of workers.

The solution to problems relating to certain groups and strata of workers demands a constant ideological struggle and a clear understanding of the class outlook of communists, as the basis of their Party and trade union organisation, and permanent efforts towards their unity of action in defence of their interests.

Young workers

The development of the struggle and organisation of young workers against capitalist oppression and exploitation is a task of the utmost importance in the renewal and strengthening of the Party and of the mass-organisations.

Activity directed towards young workers should be stepped up by communists, seeking forms of organisation and political action that take into account the reality of young people today, establishing a permanent dialogue and bringing them to understand the importance of the Party and Portuguese Communist Youth [JCP].

The involvement and organization of young workers in the JCP, and the strengthening of its organisation and activity in this field, play a very important part in this work. These aspects should be encouraged and supported.

But it is indispensable that, along with its contribution to the strengthening of the communist youth organisation, the Party itself pays particular attention to the problems of young workers, and to answering their aspirations. It is equally necessary to work for the recruitment and organised involvement of young workers in work-place and company-based cells and other branch organisations. It is indispensable to ensure that young people have the opportunity to be active in the life and work of the Party.

Working women

The right-wing offensive and the intensification of exploitation of workers are felt in a special and ever more obvious form by women who in Portugal represent more than 40% of wage and salaried workers.

The strengthening of the Party, by means of improved contacts with working women, demands of communists more attention and action in the area of information about working women's rights and in mobilising for their defence and fulfilment, as well as about the Party's struggle for equality in work and life.

The bringing of more women activists into mass movement structures will result in a greater awareness of the role of the PCP and of the necessity for women to participate in its organised structure.

Workers without security of employment

One question relates to the development of lines of work for the regularisation of their employment situation, fighting against the continuation of insecure and temporary employment, developing specific actions and solidarity in defence of these workers' rights, demanding a withdrawal of legislation and management practices that create insecurity in employment.

Another problem concerns their general integration into Party organisations (cells and others),conveying and emphasising their own particular demands, with special attention to the instability and fragility of their work situation before the arbitrariness of employers.

Everything must be done to undo and fight against division lines that can develop between temporary and permanent workers. To unite on the basis of concrete objectives and class principles is the way to reply to this grave offensive which seeks to divide workers into two large groups.

Special attention must be given to the position of temporary workers from other ethnic groups,intransigently combating the growth of the phenomena of super-exploitation, segregation and racism.

It requires effort and insight to fight for the integration of temporary workers into working collectives, and a careful approach to the problems of co-operation and unity.

It requires a persistent battle to end to their temporary status, to consolidate their links with the company or place of work organisations, and to achieve full exercise of their constitutional rights as Portuguese workers.

The Unemployed

A resolute political struggle is necessary at all levels of Party and trade union organisation against sackings, for the development of employment, and for the fulfilment of employer and State obligations towards unemployed workers.

There has to be a move towards forms of Party organisation - the formation of larger or smaller groups of unemployed with small leadership organisations - capable of becoming rousing points for the struggle for the right to work and employment, and of bringing together and articulating with other workers' organisations and encouraging a social struggle against the situation, and in defence of their rights.

3. The Conference and future action.

Implementation and follow-up of its resolutions

So that the resolutions adopted, the impulse given and the awareness generated in the Party collective, are not lost in the intricacy of the tasks and demands that communists and their Party have before them in 1995, it is necessary to establish some lines of work that allow the Conference to be also a point of departure.

Since the resolutions of the Conference are neither "recipes nor panaceas", it falls upon the leadership organisations, involved at different levels of the Party structure, to adapt them to regional, sectoral, local and company conditions, with appropriate management of existing means and cadres, and without undermining the main guidelines decided upon.

The work for the implementation of the Conference's conclusions and guide-lines, as well as the measures approved during the preparatory debate, have as their horizon the next Congress of the Party, which will undertake a full evaluation of the course taken and the progress achieved.

Meanwhile, continuous checking on work and measures in this area must be undertaken, with special responsibility in the follow-up and fulfilment of the guide-lines falling on the executive organs of the Central Committee, the regional organisation leaderships, the Organisation Commission, the national co-ordinators for the large companies and professional sectors, and the other central structures responsible for questions of the working people.

A meeting of the Central Committee to analyse and sum-up experience must be considered for 1996.

Aspects that must be taken into account in following up the implementation of the Conference

Resolutions are: recruitment; the degree of involvement of young people and women in Party organisations; the formation of new cells and branch organisations; the regular and up-to-date payment of quotas; progress of the Party press; specific actions in the field of information and propaganda work - statements, bulletins; and the promotion of other initiatives.

Special attention must be given to the involvement of cells and other organisations of workers in the electoral battle of the 1995 General Election.

Only timely consideration, careful planning and a creative approach to electoral activity with their own lines of work can allow for both these objectives to go hand-in-hand:

- to continue to devote the utmost attention to the internal strengthening of Party organisations, and to step up political and mass-movement activity of working people in defence of their rights.

- to link these battles to a strong contribution to a good electoral result for the PCP, for a resolute and effective electoral campaign that shows up the deep bonds connecting the real-life problems of the working people, both inside and outside of the work-place, to the right-wing policies of the PSD-Cavaco Silva government, and making a clear call to workers to vote for the PCP as the necessary vote for new and alternative policies capable of responding to the interests and desires of the working people.