(Excerpts)
On behalf of the leadership of PCP, I want to salute the delegations of communist parties and other left and progressive forces that, independently of the difficult conditions under which they act and of the free choice of their paths, have brought their combative testimony and given greater strength to the internationalist component of our Festival. To all of them I wish great success, reaffirm the active solidarity of Portuguese communists, and assure them that we will do all we can to strengthen our internationalist cooperation and solidarity.
We celebrate this year the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution, the first victorious socialist revolution, an event of capital importance in the history of the labour movement and in the history of humanity, which left deep marks on the historical march of the XXth century and projects itself onto the present as an endless source of revolutionary inspiration. The October Revolution was not only an extraordinary act of heroism and liberation that advanced our society. The October Revolution corresponded to the demands for social development and marked the beginning of a new historic age, the passage from capitalism to socialism. Its particular importance and significance resides in its universal historic value. The accomplishments and the active policy of peace and internationalist solidarity of the USSR had an extraordinary influence on world developments. The victories of workers in developed capitalist countries; the decisive contribution to the defeat of nazi-fascism; the collapse of colonial empires; the expansion of socialism in the world; the defeat of the most aggressive aims of imperialism, like in Korea and Vietnam – all of this is inseparable from the October Revolution and the subsequent construction of a new society. These are realities that the dramatic defeats of socialism and the disappearance of the USSR do not erase. And, against systematic campaigns of historic falsification, we need not only remember those accomplishments but value them, learning from the lessons of history, errors and successes, deriving teachings for our intervention in the present.
The capitalist system, its capacity for regeneration and survival, has changed significantly during the 90 years that separate us from the heroic days of November 7th, but its nature of exploitation, oppression and aggression not only persists but, faced with the disappearance of the USSR, assumes increasingly profound and dangerous characteristics. Exploiting to the fullest the brutal imbalance in the correlations of forces in its favour, imperialism proceeds a violent counter-offensive on a global scale with the objective of reconquering lost positions; eliminate social and democratic advances; recolonized the planet; impose upon the world a new totalitarian order against the workers and peoples. The PCP alerts the Portuguese people to the gravity of a new arms race promoted by the Bush Administration and in particular the installation in Europe, on the border of Russia and with the support of the EU, of a US antimissile system, which is already leading to a militaristic spiral of unpredictable consequences.
The situation in the Middle East and Central Asia continues to worsen dangerously, with the US announcement of a colossal reinforcement of its military support to Israel and other countries in the region, the increasing threats of military aggression on Iran and other sovereign states, the tragedies in Iraq and Afghanistan, the hardening of the cruel occupation of Palestine and the genuine martyrdom imposed on its people. It is ever more urgent to end the interventionist surge of the US in the Middle East and Central Asia. The solution to the complex problems created in the regions can only be found on a basis of respect for the sovereignty of States and Peoples by withdrawing the foreign occupation forces from all the countries and territories and by creating an independent and sovereign Palestinian State in the territory of Palestine. With regards to Portugal, PCP will continue to demand the return of the Portuguese military forces in Lebanon, Afghanistan and other countries where they do not serve the interests of the Portuguese people or peoples of the region.
One word of solidarity dedicated to the people of East Timor where – with the open intervention of an ambitious regional power, Australia – a sophisticated conspiracy kept from power the great popular force that through its heroic resistance lead its people towards independence, and curtailed a policy of sovereignty and social progress. The coup took place, but struggle continues. The Timorese people and FRETILIN can count on the solidarity of PCP in its struggle for the right to build a state and a society according the sovereign will of its people.
The evolution of the situation in Latin America kindles great hopes for progressive forces all over the world. It demonstrates that even in the context of an unfavourable correlation of forces important partial victories and progressive and revolutionary advances are possible. It confirms, along with the example of socialist Cuba, that to resist is already to win and also that, in a diversity of processes where Bolivarian Venezuela stands out, sovereignty, democracy and social progress can only be conquered and defended with broad popular participation, with profound economic and social transformations and by choosing the path of socialism.
One additional word on Africa, always in the crosshair of imperialism that under the most varied of pretexts seeks to take possession of its riches, starting with petroleum. The creation by the US of a military command exclusive to Africa (AFRICOM) is a new and dangerous step. What the martyrized continent of Africa needs to surpass is subdevelopment is not more interference nor foreign military based, but mutually advantageous cooperation, free from patronizing prejudice and colonial aims. That is for PCP the central issue for the scheduled UE/Africa summit to take place in Portuguese territory. An embrace of solidarity to the Sahrawi people and the Polisario Front.
The upcoming days will not be easy for communists and other forces of social progress and peace. Faced with the difficulties of the realization of its policy, USAmerican imperialism seems committed to a dangerous escape forward, dragging along its allies and using the UN. Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, incapable of imposing on the world the «unilateral» dominance it dreamt of, the US opted for the path of confrontation, terror and war. However, there is no adversity that leads a people to relinquish its aspiration and, as in Portugal, all over the world we see resistance, a struggle for liberation and resurgence of the ascending universal path of social and national emancipation. And this path – which implies advances and retreats, victories and defeats, moments of exalting revolutionary advances and situations of sombre reaction – it is necessary to always retain socialism in perspective, not as a distant objective, but as a possibility and a demand of our time.
Capitalism has demonstrated it is incapable of surpassing its intrinsic contradictions and offering solutions to the problems of Humankind. Billions of human beings continue to live in extreme poverty or die of starvation. The mercenaries of the economic theory of capitalism sell us this situation as inevitable. It is indeed, if the system continues to be the same, feeding the wealth of the 900 multimillionaires worldwide, a number which continues to grow at the staggering yearly rate of 35%, while the income of more than half of the world population stagnated or decreased. This is why the so called financial crisis of subprime lending that burst this summer caused no surprise. It is inherent to the system, to the casino economy, to financial liberalization. It is a crisis that tends to spread, in a domino effect, and as always it will be the workers, the small and medium businesses and the young couples that ventured to buy a house that will pay the price, through restriction on loans, increased interest rates, and a decline in the economy. It is this reality that reveals the predatory nature of the capitalist system and underlines the demand for socialism and its profoundly humanist nature.
The defence of national sovereignty and independence assumes, presently, a decisive importance in the struggle for a better life. At this time, during the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, an unacceptable political manoeuvre is in march that has as its objective to impose on the peoples the essential elements of the incorrectly named “European constitution”, which was clearly rejected in 2005. The forces and interests that dominate the European capitalist integration devise and prepare its re-presentation as if it were a new and substantially new “treaty”, seeking to avoid the realization of referenda. It is a political fraud that counts on the specific role of the Socialist Party government who, subservient to the great powers and big capital, offers its services towards the completion of a projects against the interests of workers and peoples. With the treaty now being prepared, these forces aspire a new and significant federalist, neoliberal and militarist step, seeking to materialize and found a European Union as an imperialist block. A project and a treaty that we firmly and clearly reject! If accomplished, this treaty would have profound consequences for the national sovereignty and independence, for the collective future of the Portuguese people and Portugal. For this reason the realization of a referendum is a democratic demand that would embody a profound act of national sovereignty. The Portuguese people have the right to pronounce themselves and decide! If the treaty is as good as they say, why do they fear the enlightened opinion of the peoples? The Portuguese presidency should also be used to raise within the European Union the real problems and needs faced by the Portuguese workers and the country, as well as the political proposals that would answer them. But that was not, nor has it been the option of the Socialist Party government. Proposals such as the Pact of Stability, the reform of the European Central Bank and its monetary policies, a profound revision of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the creation of jobs, the rights of workers, the promotion of public services, the improvement of living conditions. Proposals that persist as battlefronts for another Europe, of cooperation between sovereign states with equal rights, of economic and social progress, and peace.
In our country, now in its third year of the Socialist Party Government of José Sócrates, we have a more unequal and more unfair country. (…) We do not limit ourselves to criticism. We fundament it! We now have more than half a million unemployed workers and unemployment is today a problem that worsens in all dimensions. (…) With the Socialist Party government, unemployment increased like it hasn’t grown in some time and emigration is once more the way out for thousands of Portuguese. Precariousness became a social plague that spreads everyday. (…) More than 860 thousand workers have short-term contracts and already more than one million workers have precarious jobs. We now have one of the highest rates of precarious employment in Europe. We are among the countries with the lowest wages and pensions in Europe. With this Socialist Party government, instead of improvements in workers lives they become worse, with a new reduction in real wages in 2006, the largest since 1984. Public administration workers were and are the target of the most brutal offensive in memory. (…) The richest 20% in Portugal have today incomes 8.2 times larger than the poorest 20%. A new step backwards in the struggle against inequality. Portugal was the European Union country where the income gap increased the most. (…) The two million poor, most of which are workers or pensioners, are now poorer, as are all workers. The prices of essential goods and services increase non-stop. (…) Debt and the increase in interest rates became, over the last year, a worrisome and serious social problem. (...) It is necessary to put a stop to increases and the portuguese government cannot continue to follow the positions of monetary fundamentalists!
This last year the Socialist Party majority approved its Social Security counter-reform. (…) The government imposed a reduction in pensions and an increase in the age of retirement. Workers are sentenced by this government, which calls itself left-wing and socialist, to work longer and receive a smaller pension. In education, there were attacks upon the public school and other measures that signal significant advances in the process of privatization of education. (…) In healthcare, Portuguese have also been confronted with a set of measures that, under the guise of a phoney concern with public service efficiency (…), merely seek to justify a policy of abandonment by the State of its constitutional responsibilities and open the field to private groups and thus destroy the National Healthcare Service. (…) In the fight against economic crime and corruption we see a continued insufficiency of investigation means. What we see is a great concern of the government in protecting big interests, with measures that avoid affecting more sensitive sectors and areas, while the mesh tightens for the small fish. (…) Although this is the reality, the government is preparing to broaden its offensive. Now, against the fundamental labour rights of workers (…) aiming to facilitate layoffs without just cause, liberalizing the work schedule, reducing wages and remunerations, attacking collective bargaining, weakening trade unions, maintaining an inaccessible labour justice system and an ineffective workplace inspection. Before this situation, the PCP is initiating in the «Avante!» Festival a national action against unemployment, flexsecurity, precariousness, the low living standard and social injustice, and for dignity in work and work with rights, under the theme «Enough injustice, policy change for a better life». (…) The national action, whose first stage takes place until the beginning of November, includes an important phase of information and clarification, using electronic means, contact with workers at their workplaces and with the population, street events, sessions, debates and rallies.
(…) The government relies increasingly on threats and intimidations leading to an antidemocratic drift. (...) The continued offensive against social and economic democracy has, already today, unmistakable consequences on the quality of our democracy, not only its impoverishment but also a growing restriction on citizen’s liberties and guarantees. In the Military Institution, the present situation is not only concerning but absolutely unacceptable. Not a month goes by in which one or more military isn’t punished on account of activities of a socio-professional character. We re-affirm our solidarity with the nearly 50 military punished for exercising legitimate rights, rights conferred by our constitution, rights that dignify those that exercise them and bring prestige to the Military Institution. Also in the area of internal security, the proposals and processes being undertaken entail new and dangerous authoritarian conceptions.
(…)It is in this context of offensive against our political democracy that we need consider the growth of activities by extreme-right forces, the intensification of a campaign of rehabilitation of fascism and its main culprits, the insidious campaign against political parties (…), the growing limitations on the right of propaganda and the reinforcement of the anticommunist campaign and the attacks on PCP. (…) The global offensive against economic and social rights conquered by the workers and the people and the multiple forms of reducing democracy (…) are the central element of a renewed crusade of expropriation and forced concentration of wealth in favour of big capitalist monopolies. Crusade of expropriation and concentration that a economic and monetary policy has intensified with the implementation of new privatizations, by increasingly favouring parasitic and speculative activities, namely financial, land and real estate speculation, by protecting sectors dominated by capitalist monopolies, like the energy or telecommunications sector, the large distributing chains, among others, in detriment of our agriculture, our fisheries, our industry. (…) This policy of favouring the concentration of wealth and parasitic and speculative activities is leading our country into deterioration, stagnation and crisis. Policy that is incapable of inverting the present situation and resolving the countries problems. (…) With this policy the large majority of Portuguese lose and only a minority gain – the minority of banking oligarchies, big speculative businesses, the minority of the large monopolies and the CEO elites.
(…) It is this right-wing of interests that supports and cheers the present global offensive of the government and conceives and promotes the present policy of «strategic cooperation» – not only as a fundamental instrument of implementing that offensive, but also as project of power for the near future. (...) It is these sectors – the right-wing of the big economic and financial interests – that are increasingly committed to extending the lifespan the Socialist Party Government of José Sócrates. (…) It is important to remember that the Socialist Party is not immune to instability and crisis. (…) The instability we witness is, first of all, the result of the bankruptcy of the right-wing policy the Socialist Party continues to apply and that has been implemented over thirty years of alternation without alternative between the Socialist Party and the Social-Democratic Party. Situation that has lead to the discredit of political activities in broad sectors, but also the mistaken and sterile idea that political parties are all the same.
Contrary to what it wants us to believe, the Socialist Party government is not broadening it social and political support base, but narrowing it. Thousands of electors that voted for the Socialist Party in the past are now with us in the struggle of resistance against right-wing policies. It is to these thousands of electors, to all those that suffer – in their lives, in their interests and rights – the consequences of the unfair and mistaken policy of the government, to all the Portuguese concerned about their country, to those disappointed with alternation and false alternatives that we address our call to broaden the protest and struggle, to join us in resistance and struggle in stopping and defeating the offensive and demanding a new policy, a left policy.
(…) We know that maintaining the hope and confidence forged in the struggle, without fear of defeats and without rest in victory, demonstrating to the workers and people that strengthening PCP is crucial to changing the course of the national political life, affirming our project, we shall persist for as long as necessary the objective of a different policy and a better life for Portugal and the Portuguese. And to the many that tell us «fight for us», we say: fight with us and things will change. (…) Before the enormous body of popular mobilization, we salute the hundreds and hundreds of thousand of Portuguese that, over the last twelve months, voiced their discontent, their protest, their demand for change all over the country. We salute those that all over the country rallied in numbers never seen before, in defence of public services, in particular the National Healthcare Service and against closing schools. To the young workers that in the most diverse manners and in the large rally on March 28th voiced out loud the defence and application of their rights. We salute the Central and Local Public Administration workers, the teachers, the healthcare professionals, the justice system workers, all those workers that made the rallies on October 12th, March 2nd and July 5th memorable, all those that made the powerful General Strike on May 30th the largest day of struggle against this government or any Socialist Party government, with more than one million and four hundred thousand strikers. (…) We salute CGTP-IN, the large trade union confederation of Portuguese workers, that one again affirmed itself – by its nature and principles, proven through its intervention and struggle – as the irreplaceable social organization for workers and their fight. We appeal everyone to engage in rallying participation for the great national demonstration called for by CGTP-IN for next October 18th (…) on the occasion of the Summit of State and Government leaders of the European Union countries.
(…) There is an alternative to the right-wing policy. In order to prove that there is an alternative road to right-wing policies, the Central Committee of PCP called for a National Conference on Economic and Social Issues, that will take place on November 24th and 25th. (….) A Conference where we realize a global and integrated analysis of the economic and social problems of the country, based on a connection to and knowledge of reality, through rigorous and methodical study, and as a result of reflection and proposals that answer the absolute need of «another path and a new political policy at the service of the people and the country».
On this 31st «Avante!» Festival, looking back at the time since we met during the last Festival, we see a year of intense struggle and intervention, and feel great satisfaction having fulfilled our duty. Here is the Party that is the true opposition to this government and its policy. Opposition in word and action. Coherent and determined opposition. A force that struggles, defends a break with the policy of social injustice and national downfall, demands a change and proposes solutions for the future, a new path, a new policy at the service of the people and the country. A strong party that grows stronger. We launched a great membership drive, that proved the possibilities of a stronger PCP. More than 3,500 new militants over the last year, a large part of them youth, hundreds of organization assemblies were held. We are stronger, but we have insufficiencies and above all need a stronger party to accomplish its irreplaceable role. We go forward, conscious of the demands and difficulties, we pursue our path prepared for everything, to fulfil our role as communist party up against all situations and all eventualities.
We carry on and shall carry on. Rooted in the heroic history of an immense collective of succeeding generations. Inspired by the communist example of Álvaro Cunhal, whose selected works we have begun publishing. (…) This is how we are, how we want to be, how we struggle and shall struggle in these times of resistance, transformation and advancement. This is our ideal, our project and our unique party. (…)We do not surrender, conform, or give up. We want a more developed and more just country, a Portugal with a future. We shall build it. We want a new society. We shall achieve it. A society of progress by human measure, a socialist society, with its distinctive characteristics, benefiting from the extraordinary advances and achievements of the October Revolution and the experiences building socialism, learning from its mistakes and detours, and always, always, based on the creativity and will of the workers and the people.