The Central Committee of the PCP, meeting on February 8 and 9, 2025, discussed aspects of the international situation, assessed the national situation, the development of the mass struggle and defined lines of work and guidelines for the intervention and strengthening of the Party.
1. XXII Congress of the PCP – Affirmation, struggle, confidence
The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the importance of the XXII Congress of the PCP, held at the end of 2024, which, due to its dimension, content, connection to life, confidence and projection for the future, represents an important milestone in the struggle for the values of April, Democracy and Socialism.
Denouncing the dangers that the current situation – both national and international – holds, the XXII Congress identified real potential to resist, break with decades of right-wing politics and pave the way for a patriotic, left-wing alternative that responds to the aspirations of the workers, the People and the Country. A path that requires affirming the Party and strengthening it, taking the political initiative, fostering the struggle, strengthening the mass organisations and convergence with other democrats and patriots.
Faced with the demands of the current situation, the Congress demonstrated that it is possible to expand the PCP's social, political, ideological and electoral influence.
Implementing the guidelines adopted at the Congress is a requirement and a necessity for the entire party collective.
2. International situation
1. The recent developments in the international situation are taking place in a context marked by the structural crisis of capitalism and the exploitative and aggressive offensive of imperialism which aims to counter the relative decline of the United States of America (USA), as well as the other capitalist powers of the G7, and safeguard its hegemonic dominance, in the face of the continuing resistance and struggle of the workers and peoples and a broad process of rearrangement of forces at world level.
2. In the US, the Trump administration, with its profoundly reactionary agenda, despite differences and divisions, is continuing and intensifying the policy at the service of US economic and financial groups and the strategy of confrontation, interference and aggression pursued by the Biden Administration, with what this entails as promotion of exploitation, injustice and social inequalities in the US and a threat to peace, sovereignty and the rights of peoples.
Openly proclaiming the exceptional nature of the US and the primacy of its interests – which, among other examples, is expressed in its repeated claims of domination of Greenland and the control of the Panama Canal – US imperialism insists on subordinating its allies and attempting to isolate, encircle and suppress countries that assert their sovereignty, their right to development and their choices of international relations, particularly China, pointed as its main strategic target.
The US administration adopts anti-social and anti-democratic measures at home and increases trade and financial decisions, pressures and blackmail abroad, taking advantage of the dominance of the international financial system and military power to impose US interests.
At the same time, the US is continuing its commitment to militarism and the arms race, boosting the increase in military spending, particularly within NATO – whose member countries together already account for more than half of the world's military spending – an unacceptable aim as witnessed in the recent visit by NATO's Secretary General to Portugal.
Subject to NATO's warmongering orientation, the European Union is deepening the path of militarism and boosting military spending in order to further increase the arms escalation and war, at the expense of people's living conditions and rights, jeopardizing peace and security
War, arms escalation and sanctions only serve the interests of economic groups, especially arms producing groups. The warmongering by the US, NATO and the EU entails tragic consequences and serious dangers and is the most serious threat facing humanity.
At the same time, several countries are confronted with growing and blatant interference, the instrumentalization of electoral processes, the manipulation of information, the covering and promotion of terrorist actions, destabilisation manoeuvres, the promotion of openly reactionary and fascistic forces.
3. Portugal cannot continue to be an appendage in the warmongering strategy of the US, NATO and the EU. Portugal must safeguard national sovereignty and independence, defend the legitimate interests of the Portuguese people and uphold the principles of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, in particular by ensuring the conditions for the Armed Forces to carry out their constitutionally enshrined mission. Portugal must have its own voice, an independent foreign policy, diversifying its foreign relations, contributing to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, defending peace and cooperation.
4. The Central Committee of the PCP salutes the many thousands of people who took part in the demonstration “It's urgent to put an end to the war! All Together for Peace!” on January 18 in Lisbon, which, among other objectives, rejected the transfer of resources to war, which are so necessary for increasing wages and pensions, promoting the right to healthcare, education, social security, housing and improving living conditions.
The security of the peoples is not achieved with more and increasingly sophisticated and destructive weapons. Collective security is achieved by promoting diplomacy, political solutions to conflicts, agreements on disarmament and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter.
After almost 11 years of war in Ukraine, reality is proving the PCP right, since it has always been in favour of a just and lasting peace, which requires taking into account the causes of the conflict. The US, NATO and the EU must put an end to their strategy of instigating and prolonging the war, and negotiation channels must be opened urgently in order to reach a political solution to the conflict, a response to the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe, and compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
Faced with the enormous dangers of imperialism's aggressive strategy, particularly with militarism and war, destabilisation and interference actions, the imposition of blockades and sanctions, the Central Committee of the PCP reaffirms the importance of developing the struggle for peace and internationalist solidarity, for a general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, in defence of the principles of the United Nations Charter, against the militarisation of the EU, for the dissolution of NATO and for the establishment of a system of collective security, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring peace and justice in relations among peoples.
5. Condemning President Donald Trump's deplorable statements, which explicitly proclaim the expulsion of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip and its occupation by the US, the Central Committee of the PCP salutes the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people and calls for continued solidarity with Palestine, demanding: an end to Israel's genocide and criminal policy; the implementation of a permanent ceasefire and urgent access to humanitarian aid; the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and an end to their attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; the fulfilment of the national rights of the Palestinian people, with an end to the occupation and the creation of the State of Palestine, in accordance with United Nations resolutions; an end to Israel's aggression against Lebanon and Syria and the withdrawal from the territories it illegally and militarily occupies in these two countries, as well as its repeated threats against Iran and Yemen; and a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which has been successively obstructed and boycotted by the US and Israel.
6. Welcoming the just and courageous struggle of the Cuban people in defence of their sovereignty and rights, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for the development of solidarity with Cuba, with the demand for an end to the criminal and illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade, as well as all other coercive measures and interference, destabilisation and aggression imposed by the US, aimed at affecting Cuba's economy, the living conditions of the Cuban people and its socialist Revolution.
7. At the start of the commemorations of the 80th. anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism in World War II on May 9, 1945, to which the contribution of the USSR and the Soviet people – who suffered more than 20 million deaths – was decisive, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for the defence of peace and truth, denouncing what Nazi-fascism was, the interests it represented and the crimes for which it was responsible, rejecting the rewriting and falsification of history, the whitewashing of fascism and the trivialisation of reactionary and fascist conceptions, fighting anti-communism and defending democracy, so that the barbarity of Nazi-fascism and war is never repeated.
8. The worsening of the international situation reveals with greater clarity that capitalism only has to offer humanity more exploitation, more injustice and inequality, more attacks on democratic rights and freedoms, more militarism and war, more predation of natural resources, highlighting the need to build a new society, socialism. The PCP will continue to contribute to the strengthening of the international communist and revolutionary movement, the deepening of its cooperation, the dissemination of the communist ideal and project, as well as to the development of a broad anti-imperialist front to confront the offensive of imperialism and strengthen the struggle for a new international order of peace, cooperation and social progress.
3. National situation
1. Recent developments in national life confirm the traits identified at the XXII Congress regarding the general course of the ongoing policy, its inclusion in the objectives and projects of pursuing and intensifying the right-wing policy and promoting the reactionary and anti-democratic agenda and conceptions.
A policy that has as a structuring factor for its implementation the action of the PSD/CDS government, with which Chega and the Liberal Initiative align and converge, both in terms of its economic and social policy options and in terms of the attack on democratic rights and freedoms. A policy at the service of the interests of economic groups and multinationals, which promotes the worsening of exploitation, injustice and inequality and the substitution of national interests by submission to the impositions of the EU and imperialism, binding the country to dangerous warmongering projects and ambitions. It is a policy that, beyond occasional verbalisations of distancing itself, the PS is associated with, particularly in favouring the interests of big capital, as was recently shown by helping pass the State Budget for 2025.
In view of this reality, the fight against right-wing politics and the struggle for an alternative patriotic and left-wing policy, inseparable from the defence of the democratic regime and compliance with the Constitution of the Republic, emerge as essential issues, for which the initiative and intervention of the PCP and the intensification of the workers' and people's struggle play a decisive role.
2. No matter how much they try to hide it, the contrast between the profits made by the economic groups and the low wages and pensions marks the national reality. Profits that, like the dividends distributed, are increasingly going abroad. This economic development confirms the impact of the right-wing policy and the constraints resulting from submission to the EU, imposing low levels of investment, the degradation of public services, limitations on the productive apparatus, privatisations, a narrowing of trade and foreign relations and the maintenance of structural deficits: productive, energy, scientific and demographic.
The attack on the rights and living conditions of workers and pensioners continues, with widespread economic and social vulnerability and even poverty. Prices are rising for essential goods such as food and energy. Difficulties in access to healthcare are deepening in the face of the economic groups' assault on the resources of the National Health Service (NHS). In other public services, particularly public schools, where material and human resources are lacking, the situation is worsening. Difficulties in access to housing are growing. In transport, the restrictions on public companies and the favouring of private groups and concessions prevent the increase of supply.
The PSD/CDS government, with the adoption of daily measures as part of a broader programme, is continuing its offensive, with emphasis on: the worsening of fiscal injustice, including the lowering of corporate income tax for large companies; the acceleration of TAP’s privatisation process, as part of a wider privatisation plan; the renewal and preparation of new Public Private Partnerships – healthcare, road, rail; a new assault on public resources by the multinational Vinci under the pretext of the New Lisbon Airport; the acceleration of the process of privatising primary health care, and handing over the management of several hospitals to the Mercy Hospitals; the threat of increases in tuition fees; the encouragement of real estate speculation and capitalist accumulation with the current changes to the Land Law; the transfer of more resources to big capital under the pretext of difficulties in implementing the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP); a vast programme of attacks on Social Security and its public, universal and solidarity-based nature, with options aimed at weakening it and robbing of its resources by capital, including the abusive use of lay-offs and the possibility of not paying the Social Security Tax on bonuses from 2025 onwards; new threats to workers' rights, including in terms of labour legislation.
The Country is witnessing the implementation of a policy that, instead of solving problems, instrumentalises them and puts them at the service of speculative interests and new business areas for capital. Demagogic and reactionary actions are also intensifying, aimed at concealing the class interests at stake, diverting attention, dividing workers, spreading fear, promoting the discrediting of democratic values and institutions, encouraging racism, xenophobia and other anti-democratic discriminations and conceptions.
The workers and the people are facing a political and ideological offensive that is contrary to their interests, and it is necessary to fight it. In the current situation, it is possible to resist, defend rights and move forward, as shown by some positive measures, such as the elimination of tolls on ex-SCUTs (Tolls at no cost to the user) or the re-establishment of 302 parishes, which were adopted against the government's wishes and are inseparable from the people's struggle and the PCP's persistent initiative.
3. The response to injustices and inequalities requires the fulfilment of the rights enshrined in the Constitution, the improvement of living conditions and the defence of national interests. Wages, pensions, rights, public services, housing, national production, public companies, economic planning, social justice, sovereignty, democracy and peace are central elements of the policy that the Country needs and for which the PCP is fighting.
4. Taking the initiative
1. The evolution of the national situation calls for taking the initiative in political intervention, in the mass struggle, in strengthening its unitary organisations, in involving democrats and patriots, in preparing for electoral battles and in strengthening the Party.
2. In the aftermath of the success of the XXII Congress, the Party, materialising its orientations, intervenes and takes the initiative. This includes intervention on the problems and struggles of the workers and people, with an emphasis on increasing wages and pensions; denouncing exploitation, the rising cost of living and the concentration of wealth; initiatives on the economy, national production and development; the fight against privatisation and for public control of strategic sectors; initiatives in defence of public services and the social functions of the State, especially the NHS, Public Schools, Social Security and Housing; the rights of children and parents; the rights of youth; for equality and women's rights; intervention in local problems and affirmation of the CDU in the run-up to local elections; action in defence of freedom and democracy, against racism, xenophobia and reactionary ideas and projects; the fight for peace, against war and the arms race and action in solidarity with peoples in struggle, particularly the Palestinian people.
3. The Central Committee welcomes and values the very significant number of struggles that have taken place in the period since the PCP's XXII Congress.
Of particular note are the struggles in companies and sectors, which involved thousands of workers in a significant number of actions, namely: in Public Administration (health care, education, justice, security forces, museums); in the State Business Sector; in waste; in transport; in commerce and services; in the postal services; in apparel industry; in paper industry; in the automobile sector; in the electricity sector; in contact centres; in the social sector.
Also noteworthy are the actions carried out by other social strata and sectors on the right to housing, in defence of the NHS, against racism and xenophobia, regarding anti-fascist resistance, as well as the actions of solidarity with the Palestinian people and for peace, particularly the large demonstration in Lisbon on January 18.
The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the importance of continuing and intensifying the workers' struggle for higher wages, for career and professional valorisation, for shorter working hours and against their deregulation, for permanent contracts and against precarious work, for the defence of rights and better working conditions. It stresses the importance of the fight to defend and strengthen the NHS, Public Schools and Social Security. It emphasises the need for action by different social strata and sectors around their specific objectives and for the right to housing, transport, mobility and culture. It emphasises the importance of defending democratic values, solidarity and the fight for peace. Alongside the specific dynamics of the struggles, it emphasises the importance of their convergence.
In the context of International Women's Day, we highlight the National Women's Demonstration promoted by the MDM on March 8 all over the Country, as part of the struggle for equality, social justice and peace, along with the Equality Week promoted by the CGTP-IN/CIMH, from March 5 to 12.
The importance of the struggle of the youth, the actions planned for National Student Day (March 24) and the national demonstration of young workers to be held in Lisbon on March 28, called by the CGTP-IN/Interjovem, should be highlighted.
At a time when reactionary forces are stepping up their anti-democratic action, the commemorations of the 51st. anniversary of the 25th. of April will be an important moment to affirm the values of April and demand compliance with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
The May Day journey called by the CGTP-IN calls for a great deal of commitment in its preparation and mobilisation in companies and workplaces, to affirm the class interests of the workers and the masses.
4. The upcoming electoral battles – for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, scheduled March 23, for Local Government next autumn and for President of the Republic at the beginning of 2026 – are important moments for political intervention, mobilisation and clarification which, with the particularities inherent to each one, will require the commitment and action of Party militants and many other democrats.
The early elections in Madeira – the third in a year and a half – are inseparable from the decades-long continuation of the PSD's policy in the region and culminate a short legislative term that began after elections stemming from an as yet unfinished judicial investigation, with the current PSD/CDS government coming into office, only possible with the complicity and viability of Chega.
Elections that are an opportunity for the workers and people of the region to ensure, with their vote, the return of the CDU to the regional parliament, thus ensuring the presence of MPs who represent the real expression of an alternative policy and constitute the force that will consistently stand up to the PSD and other reactionary or inconsequential projects. An opportunity to bring back the voice and intervention that, with determination and courage, makes a difference in affirming the rights and aspirations of the workers and the people.
With a history of defending the interests of the people, the CDU is standing for the next local elections with a recognised heritage of work, honesty and competence, carrying a distinctive project and work that is indispensable for the qualification and improvement of living conditions at local level. The local elections require determined action to ensure the presence of municipal candidates throughout the country and in the largest number of parishes, launching a broad unitary and popular front capable of uniting thousands of candidates and supporters, with or without party affiliation, in the CDU, affirming it as a space for democratic realisation, convergence and participation.
At a time when demagogic projects are germinating, where forces that essentially share the same conceptions appear as false alternatives, when apparent ‘independent’ candidacies are being forged and promoted, many of which are associated with ill-disguised economic and personal interests, the affirmation of the CDU, its project, its work and the proven dedication and ethical stance of its elected representatives, are the guarantee of management at the service of the public interest and the enhancement of local life. A presence that is all the more important and decisive as the government intensifies a policy of disregard for the interests of the people, of abandonment and commercialisation of essential aspects of well-being, which demands a coherent and determined attitude in the representation of popular interests and in the demand for the rights that is the State's responsibility to guarantee.
Also on the horizon are the elections for President of the Republic, at the beginning of 2026, in which the PCP will assume its own intervention on how it sees and defends the exercise of the functions of the President of the Republic and to contribute to ensuring respect for and compliance with the Constitution of the Republic. At a time when the aim is to valorise images or concepts such as ‘authority’ or ‘strong power’, and when openly reactionary and anti-democratic candidates are emerging who are identified with the interests of monopoly capital and the promotion of war, what is needed is to promote and defend that the President of the Republic assumes democratic criteria, being respectful of rights, freedoms and guarantees, identifying with the interests of the workers and the people and committed to the Constitution and the duty to comply with and enforce it.
5. The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the importance of the political initiative of the Party's organisations focused on the problems of the workers and the people and highlights, within the scope of its activity, the promotion of initiatives of particular political significance.
The development and finalisation of the National Action “Increase wages and pensions. For a better life!” with contact and dialogue work with hundreds of thousands of people, reflected in the clarification and signing of the petition addressed to the Prime Minister.
The celebrations of the Party's 104th. anniversary, under the slogan “Project, struggle, confidence”, namely the rally on March 6, in Lisbon.
The celebrations of the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution, which included the public session “50 years of the Agrarian Reform”, and which will be expressed, in particular, in initiatives on nationalisations, on March 15, and on Democratic Local Government, on April 6.
Actions on March 8, International Women's Day, March 24, National Student Day and March 28, National Youth Day, popular commemorations of the 51st. anniversary of the April Revolution and May Day, International Workers' Day.
The 13th. Congress of the JCP will be held on May 17 and 18, under the slogan ‘In our hands the new world. Organise, unite, fight’, which is an important event for the affirmation of the JCP and the struggle of the youth.
The initiatives on the Centenary of Carlos Paredes, the 5th. Centenary of Luís de Camões, the 80th. anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism and the preparation of the Avante! Festival which will take place on September 5, 6 and 7, with an emphasis on its dissemination, namely at the promotion day taking place between10 and 13 April.
6. The Central Committee of the PCP points to the need to set in motion the movement to strengthen the Party's organisation in conjunction with boosting the political initiative and connection with the masses and, in this regard, points to the following as immediate tasks:
The discussion of the conclusions of the XXII Congress in the bodies and the general planning and in each organisation on the work of strengthening the Party and its initiative and action;
The materialisation of the general movement to strengthen the work of leadership and structuring, articulated with giving responsibilities to cadres, recruitment, political and ideological preparation, militancy, the means of propaganda, the press, financial independence;
The adoption of urgent measures to give broad responsibility to cadres, to identify and decide on new cadres for Party officials and cadres to strengthen the leadership's capacity to respond to this year's demands, within the framework of making a thousand cadres responsible for regular tasks, decided at the Congress;
The development of political and ideological training, at various levels and in its various components;
Intensifying efforts to recruit and integrate new militants;
The strengthening of leadership bodies at various levels, the creation and dynamization of more bodies - namely company and sector cells, within the framework of the objective of 100 new cells, decided by the Congress - bodies with comrades from workers’ representative organisations, local bodies and in various areas of intervention, with their own initiative and life, linked to the realities in which they operate and driven by the general orientation;
The adoption of measures to strengthen the means and structures of propaganda and information and to boost the sale of Avante! and O Militante;
Guarantee the Party's financial independence by increasing revenues, particularly dues, ensuring that more comrades pay them regularly and increase their value.
7. Following the decisions of the XXII Congress, the Central Committee of the PCP assessed the measures taken with regard to the support structures for the work of the central leadership, in particular with regard to companies and sectors at national and multi-regional level, thus giving concrete form to the structuring of leadership work and the definition of tasks and responsibilities, which are indispensable for boosting the Party's intervention.
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In an international situation that denotes the nature of capitalism and imperialist action, when Portugal is suffering the consequences of the domination of big capital and external submission, which confronts sovereignty, exacerbates exploitation, inequalities and social injustices and strikes at democratic values, the Central Committee of the PCP emphasises the relevance of the communist ideal and project, the need to break with the right-wing policy and national abdication, for a patriotic and left-wing alternative, emphasises its confidence in the strength of the workers and the masses and highlights the affirmation of the PCP shown by the XXII Congress, the force with the capacity, the resistance, the courage, the initiative and the will to fight and win, the Party of the workers and the people, of democracy and socialism.
