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Contribution of the Communist Party of Australia |
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Quinta, 09 Novembro 2006 |
Dear Comrades,
I join with others in thanking the Portuguese Communist Party for their friendly welcome and for arranging this international conference and making its facilities available to us.
Firstly, some words about the international situation.
We are living in a period of great change based on the huge proliferation on every continent of mass struggles by the common people – the working class, peasantry, intelligentsia and even some sections of the bourgeoisie.
It is a period of great promise but, at the same time, great dangers in the form of major wars and climate change which could also have devastating effects on the livelihood and even the lives of millions of people.
The issues of struggle are many – poverty, health and education, housing, democratic rights, jobs, water, the environment and, of course, the independence and sovereignty of countries.
Imperialism is suffering a cycle of defeats – the historic continental shift in Latin America, in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Nicaragua, the Cuban revolution which won an overwhelming majority in the United Nations this week to reject the US blockade. The Cuban revolution led by its Communist Party has won a world-wide stature as a political leader showing exemplary wisdom, morality, economic achievement, selfless aid to many other countries, and courage in the face of the evil empire with all its military might, but which on the inside is rotten to the core.
The slow and painful progress of the African continent which has suffered all the evils of decades of exploitation at the hands of the imperialists is now being helped by massive assistance from socialist China.
Some of the biggest international meetings are taking place these days in Beijing and other Chinese cities, witness the meeting of 56 heads of government of African states only a few days ago.
Here too, new governments have emerged and are consolidating their commitment to serve the people of their countries – South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Zimbabwe and others.
The quagmire which the US, Britain and Australia have created for themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan with its consequences in this week’s sweeping rejection of George Bush in the mid-term US elections is also of great significance.
While there have been justified celebrations at the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein as a consequence of his dictatorial rule and his savage repression of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, there were others not aligned in the dock with him.
Saddam Hussein may have killed many thousands of Iraqi citizens but who is to pay for the estimated 650,000 Iraqis who have been killed as a consequence of Bush’s war?
In the docks should have been Bush, Tony Blair and Australia’s John Howard. If Saddam Hussein is a criminal – so are they.
No less significant is the military defeat inflicted on Israel by Hezbollah, the CP of Lebanon and other patriotic forces when Lebanon was invaded and suffered criminal bombing by Israel which led to substantial loss of life and the massive destruction of Lebanese houses and infrastructure. In this case, the Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, should also be in court tried as a war criminal.
Asia is marked by the dramatic emergence of socialist China as the new manufacturing and trading giant of our times. But it is not only in economic terms that we can measure this world historic development.
It is a China that persistently implements the communist principles of non-interference, equality, acceptance of the sovereignty and independence of all countries, mutuality in trade and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
These principles impose mighty restraints on what would otherwise be an unimpeded imperialist rampage. They are helping to protect Iran, the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea and other countries that are experiencing overt imperialist pressures and threats.
We must add to this picture the emergence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the significance for the world of a Chinese, Russian and Indian trading and politically friendly relationship which is objectively anti-imperialist.
Little is known internationally about the developments taking place in the South Pacific but they also fit into the world-wide pattern of struggle against imperialism and the emergence of independence movements.
Here we have a number of small island states -- the Solomon Islands, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu and to the west, the world’s newest state – Timor Leste.
In the middle sits Australia, the largest and by far the strongest economic and political state with unashamed colonialist ambitions.
Using the arguments of “failed states” the alleged “war against terrorism” and the concept of “pre-emptive strike”, Australia sends its armed forces, its police and men in suits who claim to be administrators – all working for Australia’s power and interests.
The Police Commissioners in Fiji and the Solomon Islands are Australians as are many government administrators. A large contingent of Australian military and police personnel are occupying Timor Leste and the Australian Government refuses to put them under the command of the United Nations that also has a contingent there. The Australian Government was responsible for the removal of the progressive Prime Minister of Timor Leste and they hope to complete the process of regime change in elections next year.
But in these states, too, the demand for independence and sovereignty is moving ever higher on the agenda and it will not be long before we hear the demand “Ozzie go home!”
Of course many of these events are familiar to this audience. When they are added up – and this is not to disregard the economic, political and military might of the empire – we must conclude that our optimism is justified – that a new world order is coming into existence with incredible pain and suffering. It is none-the-less emerging – a worthy fulfilment of the new dawn presented to the world by the October Revolution and the Chinese revolution consummated in 1949.
Now something about Australia itself.
We have one of the most reactionary governments in the world.
It imposes neo-liberal economic policies, it is steadily winding back even long held bourgeois democratic rights, it promotes religion at every opportunity, it is implementing the most extreme anti-trade union legislation, is devoid of morality and imprisons refugees for years. The Government has established its own Guantanamo type off-shore prisons.
Up until recently it denied the existence of climate change. We are now suffering extreme drought and a major water shortage even in some big cities and country towns.
Besides the danger of nuclear war and weapons in space, climate change has now reached such obvious and advanced dimensions that it must also be regarded as a major threat to life on this planet.
It is man-made, it is capitalist made and demands a radical social change in the direction of socialism with its economic, social and scientific planning.
In response to the economic attacks on the working class and the attempted strait-jacketing of trade unions there is at last an awakening.
Having suffered several decades in which social democratic leaders, by imposing class collaborationist policies, put the workers and trade union leaders to sleep, there is now a fight-back occurring.
At the end of this month there will be massive trade union actions in which tens of thousands of workers are expected to take part by strikes, demonstrations and mass meetings.
Our own Party will, of course, take part in these actions.
There will be further actions next year in the lead-up to national elections which could see the defeat of the present conservative government. It will be a small contribution to the world-wide struggle for social change.
We communists see in these developments a vindication of our Marxist-Leninist ideology and its theories of class struggle and social change.
There is a strong red thread connecting the events of the last 90 years—the Bolshevik revolution, the defeat of fascism, the creation of the socialist states in Eastern Europe, the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Cuban revolutions, and the national liberation movements and the smashing of colonialism.
Yes, we have also faced setbacks, the restoration of capitalism and the break-up of the Soviet Union, engineered by traitors to our course and the overthrow of socialism in the East European states.
Now today, we have the second revolutionary wave with the Communist Parties made wiser by learning the lessons of our own defeats and made stronger for that reason.
Part of the lessons is the recognition of the damage caused by the left and right expressions of petty-bourgeois ideology. The left sectarians who are influenced by Trotskyist ideology in the main and the right revisionists whose ideas may lead to the liquidation of a communist party and have contributed to the overthrow of socialism in several states. Both have to be vigorously opposed.
None-the-less, this new wave is imperialism’s tsunami.
That’s why we proclaim that the 21st century – and there are still 93 years to go – will be the century of socialism.
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