The Central Committee of the PCP, meeting on March 12, 2024, analysed the results of the elections for the Assembly of the Republic and the elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, and the resulting political framework. It assessed aspects of the national and international situation and established lines of action, political initiative and strengthening of the Party, to respond to the demands that arise.

I - National situation – legislative elections and the resulting political framework

1. CDU's result in the legislative elections, with the decrease of its parliamentary representation and a number of votes and percentage lower than two years ago, is a negative development. With the election of 4 MPs, 3.3% and more than 200 thousand votes, this result was, nonetheless, an expression of resistance, all the more valuable and significant because achieving it meant facing a prolonged environment marked by hostility and belittlement, by the continued falsification of the PCP's positions to feed anti-communist prejudice and to narrow its space for growth, by the promotion of reactionary forces and conceptions, by the media promotion of others and by a forged dispute between two “candidates for prime minister " with the aim of reducing the choice to two similar options, whitewashing responsibilities and concealing alternative solutions and policies.

The result that was painstakingly achieved, countering predictions and mystifications, was based on a broad campaign of contact, clarification and mobilisation for the vote with the participation of thousands of men and women who know that the change of course which is necessary and possible requires more strength for CDU.

Faced with the new political framework, the workers and the people can count on the PCP, with its everlasting courage, to defend their rights, face the interests of economic groups and multinationals and affirm the values of April and what they hold as reference for the construction of a progressive and sovereign Portugal.

2. The predictable achievement, by a narrow margin, of the largest number of votes and MPs by PSD and CDS, with a strong drop in the electoral expression of PS, created a situation which highlights: a balance of forces at the institutional level that is even more favourable to big capital and the intensification of right-wing policies and regression of rights; the growth of forces that embody reactionary and fascistic projects; the resignation by PS in the face of developments in the political framework, thereby facilitating the political action of a future AD Government.

3. The result obtained by AD (PSD/CDS/PPM) in these elections, although short of the victory it sought and which some envisioned, constitutes a negative factor in responding to the problems that the workers and the people face. It facilitates the path of regression and attack on rights and favours big capital, as marks the usual path of PSD and CDS, and raises serious risks of democratic impoverishment, already lurking in various aspects of national life.

In a context in which the discussion and outcome of possible agreements, whether with IL or Chega, will fill the media debate, it is worth highlighting that this discussion must not conceal what the AD project in itself, and specifically the PSD and CDS programmes, represent. A project to attack workers' rights and worsen people's living conditions, wages and pensions, for further exploitation, degradation of public services, privatisations and an attempt to destroy the State's social functions to favour private business in areas such as healthcare, education, social protection or housing.

A project that, corresponding to the agenda of big capital, aims at attacking the democratic regime and the Constitution itself, which can only be achieved if they count on the complicity, by action or inaction, of the PS.

4. The result now obtained by AD and the result of PS, with a significant loss of votes and mandates, are inseparable from the PS government's options. The promotion of right-wing policies over the last few years, and in particular their imposition by the PS absolute majority, which has generated injustice and legitimate discontent and dissatisfaction with the growing difficulties for the workers and the people, favoured the demagogic discourse.

The lack of answers to crucial problems, which the PCP always warned about and presented proposals that the PS insistently refused, was used to hide the past action of PSD and CDS and their projects to now resume them.

5. The result of Chega, built on lies and the most abject demagoguery, and which the right-wing policy of successive governments favoured, reflects, beyond the reactionary, xenophobic and racist dimension and the hate speech that it promoted, the illusions to which many thousands of voters were led under a false discourse against corruption and injustice, of which this party is an active accomplice and promoter.

Without minimizing the reactionary and fascistic nature of this party, which must be warned against, it is necessary to reject the attempt to present this election result and outcome as a basis of support for the extreme right, of legitimisation for anti-democratic projects, or of questioning the democratic regime and what April represented and represents.

6. The PCP Central Committee salutes all those who built the campaign of contact, awareness-raising and mobilisation for the vote, the Party collective, its allies - PEV, ID -, citizens without party affiliation and young people, who embody the CDU, as well as all those who placed their trust and their vote in CDU, affirming to them all, to the workers and the Portuguese people, that they can count on the PCP's initiative and activity to respond and solve the problems and to affirm the patriotic and left-wing alternative policy.

Its initiative and intervention to defend an increase in wages and pensions, housing, healthcare, the rights of children and parents, women, youth, the environment and conservation of nature, Peace.

Initiative and intervention to, from the outset, confront right-wing policies and their promoters, fight reactionary projects, defend freedom and democracy.

Initiative and intervention to boost the necessary convergence that may shape an alternative policy, affirming its own political project, determined by clear options of breaking with right-wing policies, confronting the interests of big capital, defending national sovereignty, once again raising the values, achievements and rights that April consecrated.

Initiative and intervention to further advance the struggle of the workers and people, which today, as always, is a decisive factor for resistance, transformation and progress.

7. The PCP Central Committee highlights the result obtained by CDU in the elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Azores, which represented a small increase in the number of votes and came close to the election of an MP, which, as four years ago, did not occur, but this time by a difference of just 85 votes. A result that, achieved in a context in which bi-polarising pressure weighed, fell short of what was necessary to directly influence the balance of forces in that Autonomous Region.

8. Holding elections for the Assembly of the Republic has not erased the problems and difficulties faced by the workers, the people and the country.

The national situation continues to be marked by strong inequalities and social injustice and insufficient economic growth. Low wages and pensions, and the resulting difficulties, contrast with the scandalous accumulation of profits by the main economic groups. At the same time, around 2 million Portuguese people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

The beginning of this year was marked by a new increase in the prices of essential goods and services, particularly in the prices of electricity, communications, food and house rents.

9. The most recent forecasts for the evolution of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) confirm signs of a slowdown, pointing to an economic growth of 1.2% – the lowest since 2014 -, which is associated with an investment whose real growth is just 2.4%, even during the full implementation phase of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

The consequences of the degradation of the national productive apparatus and the growing dependence on the tourism sector are obvious, threatening new imbalances in the trade balance. The impacts of an external environment marked by uncertainty and the downward revision of economic growth prospects in the European Union (EU) and the Euro Zone constitute cause for concern, given the country's degree of external dependence.

Maintaining interest rates at high values will prolong the draining of resources from workers and families, as well as companies - especially micro, small and medium-sized companies - to the banks, in addition to having a negative impact on the costs of State funding.

10. There is a deterioration of public services and social functions of the State, in particular in the National Health Service, with a continuing lack of professional staff and the closure of services, as well as in Public Education. This evolution is also visible in the deterioration of the situation of security forces and services, in the justice system and in Central and Local Administration as a whole.

11. Portugal needs a policy that tackles injustice and inequalities and that seeks the country's development and progress. A policy that refuses to submit to dynamics, both external and internal, that counter its interests and development needs. A policy that promotes the valorisation of wages and pensions, the defence of public services, the right to healthcare, education, social security, housing, transport, the development of national production, support for small and medium-sized agriculture and micro-small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, ensures fiscal justice, fights corruption and guarantees access to the justice system, promotes science and technology, safeguards the environment, defends national sovereignty, peace and cooperation between peoples.

12. The elections for the European Parliament, which will take place on June 9, are a particularly important moment to demand a different path for the country and for Europe. A path based on improving living conditions, on development, social progress, peace, mutually advantageous cooperation between sovereign States with equal rights, fighting inequalities, injustice and all forms of discrimination, ensuring a harmonious and sustainable relationship between human beings and Nature.

CDU is an indispensable and irreplaceable force, which counts decisively: to break with the path of inequality, dependence and subordination imposed upon the country; to confront, without hesitation, the impositions of the European Union, in particular the constraints associated with the single currency, budgetary restrictions, lack of investment, underfunding and weakening of public services, liberalisations and privatisations; in defence of public services and national productive sectors – in industry, agriculture and fisheries; in asserting national interests and for the full use of the country's capabilities and potential; to confront resignation, to assert national sovereignty and independence and to advance in the recovery of instruments necessary for Portugal's development; to fight for Peace, against war and the arms race.

The PCP does not separate the fight in the European Parliament to assert national interests from the fight for a Europe of cooperation, social progress and peace, which is inseparable from the fight to break with right-wing policies.

Anchored in the unique intervention of PCP MPs in the European Parliament over the last five years, which is important to continue to value and make known, and denouncing the broad similarity of the positions of PS, PSD, CDS, Chega and IL, in all the most negative aspects decided within the scope of the European Union in these years, CDU will intervene in the election campaign focused on redoubling awareness, information, mobilisation, struggle and affirmation of the necessary alternative path, in defence of the interests of the workers, the people and the country.

13. At a time when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, it is important to assert what April meant in terms of social, political, cultural, economic achievements and in asserting sovereignty, to combat falsifications and the whitewashing of fascism; to affirm the PCP's decisive and indelible role in resisting fascism and in the April Revolution; as well as in resisting the counter-revolution and the right-wing policies seeking to eviscerate it and to destroy its achievements. Popular celebrations are an important moment to affirm the struggle of the workers and the Portuguese people, for freedom and democracy, and to demand a policy that responds to the country's problems and the aspirations of the workers, of the youth and of the Portuguese people.

In a context in which reactionary expressions of a racist, xenophobic and anti-democratic nature are on the rise, in which the fight for peace gains particular importance, it becomes even clearer that it is by defending and asserting the values of April and by materialising the Constitution of the Republic and implementing its goals, values and project of national development and individual and social emancipation, that lies the real possibility of a Portugal with a future.

II - The development of the mass struggle

1. The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the value and importance of the mass struggle to confront the attack on rights and living conditions. It emphasizes the role of the workers' struggle with hundreds of actions in companies and workplaces, in defence of higher wages, rights, working conditions, to reduce working hours and combat precariousness.

Actions by Central and Local Public Administration workers are to be highlighted and hailed (namely, in healthcare, education, justice, the security forces and services), as in the State Entrepreneurial Sector, in the media, in banking, in the hotel industry, in the social sector, in large retail, in the food, energy, metallurgical, chemical, mining, electrical material, textile, clothing and footwear industries, in transport, cleaning, service providers, aviation and culture.

It also stresses the struggle of other social strata and sectors and communities, such as the struggles of farmers, students and retired people, the struggles for the right to housing, in defence of the National Health Service, against racism and xenophobia, as well as the many actions in defence of peace that have been taking place throughout the country, particularly in solidarity with Palestine.

2. The Central Committee of the PCP highlights the success of the XV Congress of CGTP-IN, the great trade union Central of Portuguese workers, which constituted a powerful demonstration of confidence, encouragement and affirmation of an organised, influential and mobilising force, a decisive factor in the struggle that continues and will develop in defence of the class interests of the workers.

3. The Central Committee of the PCP appeals to the PCP and JCP organisations and activists, to all democrats and patriots, the youth, to commit themselves to the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution, valuing popular celebrations, in their various expressions.

The PCP also calls for participation in the actions scheduled for the coming days, namely the demonstrations by Higher Education students, on March 21, and the national Women's demonstration convened for March 23 by the Women's Democratic Movement.

The PCP also highlights the holding of equality week, from March 10 to 22, the national demonstration of young workers, in Lisbon and Porto, on March 27, and calls for a strong contact and mobilisation action for the May Day celebrations promoted by CGTP-IN, a time to affirm the workers' determination to defend and conquer rights.

These actions are, in the current context, important moments that are part of the path of struggle, rupture and alternative that Portugal needs.

III - In defence of Peace, against militarism and War

1. For all those around the world who genuinely care about the present and future of Humanity, the intensification of US, NATO and EU policies that increase international tension, instigate confrontation, militarism and war, particularly in Europe, the Middle East or Asia-Pacific, which are accompanied by increased exploitation and attacks on rights, can only be a matter of concern.

This policy finds expression in the support and complicity with Israel's occupation policy and crimes in occupied Palestinian territories and in the Middle East. Its current and brutal aggression, particularly in the Gaza Strip, is responsible for over one hundred thousand victims, mostly children and women, around two million displaced people, the denial of the most essential living conditions, which constitute a genocidal policy by Israel.

A policy that is also expressed in the rejection and boycott of calls and initiatives aimed at dialogue and peace, in the insistence on the escalation of armaments, in the prolongation and worsening of the war in Ukraine, with the serious consequences and serious dangers it poses for the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, for the peoples of Europe and the world.

This is the same policy that guarantees billions of profits for economic groups in the arms industry, energy, food, retail or banking, at the expense of the workers and people, who are paying the costs of the escalation of war and sanctions.

Portugal must not continue to align itself, to submit and serve as an instrument of interests that are contrary to those of the Portuguese people and the peoples of the world. Portugal must contribute to the peaceful solution of international conflicts, to general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, to the dissolution of political-military blocs and the establishment of a collective security system, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring peace and justice in relations between peoples, as established by the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.

The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the responsibility of the USA for Israel's crimes and denounces the veto of the US administration on initiatives within the framework of the UN seeking to implement an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and urgent humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population, as well as obstructing a political solution to the conflict that may guarantee the implementation of the right of the Palestinian people to a sovereign and independent State, with the 1967 borders and capital in East Jerusalem, and the materialisation of the right of return of refugees, as determined by UN resolutions.

Likewise, the PCP Central Committee reaffirms that the US, NATO and the EU must stop instigating and fuelling the war in Ukraine and open paths of negotiation with all involved parties, namely the Russian Federation, with a view to reaching a political solution to the conflict, a response to the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe, compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.

2. In a situation in which difficulties and contradictions are growing and in which its subordination and dependence on US interests increases, the European Union promotes its neo-liberal, militarist and federalist policies, that are expressed, among other serious aspects, in the maintenance of high interest rates by the European Central Bank, in even more restrictive budgetary policies, in new liberalisation processes, in attacks on freedoms, rights, sovereignty and democracy and in encouraging and supporting war.

The EU and its policies prove to be essential factors in worsening exploitation, attacking rights, even greater accumulation and concentration of wealth, the imposition and deepening of relations of economic dependence and political dominance, with the resulting deterioration in living conditions, the increase in social injustices and inequalities, the worsening of development asymmetries between countries.

The EU's support for militarism and war is particularly serious, expressed in the tens of billions it channels into the escalation of armaments and war or in the proclaimed objective of transforming it into a new warmongering political-military bloc, complementary to NATO. This drift is accompanied by a propaganda campaign that seeks to impose a single thought and distort and marginalise those who defend Peace and reject militarism and war.

In this respect, the Central Committee of the PCP values the “Joint Appeal for the elections to the European Parliament”, which was launched by different political forces from different countries in Europe and which represents a sign of hope, confidence, convergence and determination in the fight for a better life, for equality, for a Europe of peace, cooperation and social progress, for a Europe of workers and peoples.

IV - Strengthening the Party, propelling political initiative

1. The PCP Central Committee salutes the organisations and members of the Party and JCP for their militant intervention in the electoral battle and beyond, testifying the determination, courage and confidence that the situation demands, regardless of obstacles and difficulties.

2. The current situation, capitalism and its nature, the action of imperialism, the dominance of big capital over Portuguese society, the associated reactionary projects with the aim of striking a deep blow and completing the destructive work against April, place with increased relevance an alternative, the project and values of April and affirm the need and importance of the Communist ideal and project, of freedom, democracy and socialism, of the role and action of the Portuguese Communist Party.

The election results, which are inseparable from the specific circumstances in which they occurred, are negative for the workers and people. Regardless of the demagoguery and dissimulation of the right, the election results represent real dangers and threats. The strength of the workers and the people, using all the rights that the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic enshrines, has the scale capable of confronting the dangers, defeating reactionary projects, breaking with the right-wing policy and national abdication, with the dominance of big capital and paving the way for a patriotic and left-wing alternative with the values of April in the future of Portugal.

The PCP Central Committee reaffirms that, whatever the circumstances, the workers and the Portuguese people can count on the Portuguese Communist Party, as they have always counted on throughout its 103 years of history. This is a necessary, indispensable and irreplaceable party in defending their interests and rights.

3. The PCP Central Committee considers that, regardless of the in-depth analysis of the situation in its various dimensions, this is the moment to take the initiative, to clarify and mobilise, to confront dangers, to promote a break, to affirm the alternative, to build and move forward.

The PCP Central Committee reaffirms the importance of the guidelines of the National Conference “Take the Initiative. Respond to new demands. Strengthen the Party” which it is necessary to continue implementing in all its dimensions, articulating its various aspects.

In the follow up of the elections for the Assembly of the Republic, in a political and social situation with great demands, there is a need for political intervention, the development of mass struggle, the strengthening of broad-based organisations of workers and other sectors of the population, work with other democrats and patriots, strengthening the Party, as central aspects of the action of Party organisations.

Thus, the following is required: the Party's initiative focused on strengthening links with the workers and the popular masses; the necessary discussion of the situation, guidelines and tasks and initiatives namely with the rallies in Lisbon, Setúbal and Porto, and the contact action with the workers and the people from March 21 to 24; the continuation of the celebrations of the Party's 103rd anniversary; the adoption of measures to ensure a widespread commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, also with our own initiatives, including the holding of the session 25th April, a Liberating and Emancipating Revolution, April is More Future, on April 7, and the Youth Festival, More April initiative, on April 13; the contribution to the great May Day celebrations organised by CGTP-IN; the participation in the battle of the European Parliament elections on June 9; the preparation of the Avante! Festival which will take place on September 6, 7 and 8, the affirmation of the Party, its ideal and project.

Strengthening the Party is a central issue, particularly in terms of giving responsibilities to cadres, recruiting and integrating new members, intervention and organisation in companies and workplaces, measures in terms of communication, information and propaganda, including the campaign for the circulation of Avante, and to guarantee the Party's financial independence.

★★★

With confidence in the workers and the popular masses and in the development of the struggle, with the strengthening of the Party and its connection to the workers and the people, the PCP, force of April, with its ever-lasting courage, will be able to respond, whatever the circumstances, to the construction of the patriotic and left-wing alternative, of an advanced democracy with the values of April in the future of Portugal, to the struggle for socialism and communism.