The Central Committee of the PCP, meeting on June 28, analysed the national and international situation and adopted decisions regarding the XXII Congress.
I - National situation
1. Three months after the AD government (PSD/CDS) took office, the concerns expressed by the Central Committee of the PCP when it assessed the situation after the parliamentary elections have been confirmed.
On the one hand, the problems are growing, with the continuation of low wages, the postponement of the valorisation of careers and professions, the deterioration of public services, the situation in the National Health Service and public schools being worrying examples, the difficulties in accessing housing, and also in mobility and transport, along with the postponement of public investment, which is essential to the country's development.
On the other hand, the PSD and CDS are seeking to take further the right-wing policy that the PS has been pursuing, at the service of big capital, attacking workers' rights, increasing exploitation, handing over public services to private businesses, privatisations, privileges for economic groups, while deepening the difficulties for micro, small and medium-sized companies and the vast majority of the people.
In close co-operation with the President of the Republic, counting on the willingness of the PS to converge in the interests of capital, knowing that it can count on its proxies from Chega and IL, the government insists on a policy of worsening injustices and inequalities.
A situation that makes it clearer that what is needed are not the artificial disputes that the PS feeds on, nor the one-off measures that it refused while in government, nor the reactionary action with which Chega and IL seek to enhance this path, but a break with right-wing policies and the implementation of an alternative policy and a political, patriotic and left-wing alternative.
An alternative policy that places work and workers at the centre of its priorities, with the valorisation of wages and rights; the defence of the social functions of the state and public services; public control of the strategic sectors of the economy; fiscal justice, making big capital pay; the proper functioning of justice, including a firm fight against corruption; the defence of national production and sovereignty; a foreign policy of cooperation, peace and friendship between peoples; the defence of democracy; compliance with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the urgency of this path, which has April and its values and achievements as its main reference point. A path that requires the development of the struggle and the participation of the masses, the convergence of democrats and patriots around this mobilising objective and in which it is essential to strengthen and affirm the PCP, an indispensable and irreplaceable force, with its distinctive project, proposals and values. Various scenarios can be speculated, but without the strengthening of the PCP, the aspirations for change for a better life that run through Portuguese society will not be realised. The PCP, its affirmation and strengthening, with its identity, its project, its programme, the alternative policy it holds, its commitment to the workers, the people and the country whatever the circumstances, its political courage, consistency and determination, cannot be lessened and are a decisive factor for the path that Portugal needs.
2. The Central Committee of the PCP values and salutes the hundreds of thousands of workers who have been fighting in recent months for better wages, shorter and more regulated working hours and improved working conditions and highlights the success of the week of clarification, action and struggle promoted by the CGTP-IN from June 20 to 27, with hundreds of actions - plenary sessions, concentrations, demonstrations, stoppages and strikes.
These struggles mark the national reality and condition the actions of the government and big business, but they also open the path for concrete progress in the claims for wages and rights in companies, workplaces and sectors.
A struggle that will continue, even during the summer period, for the resolution of the concrete problems of workers in each company and workplace and for their broad aspirations, for better wages, better working hours, jobs and careers, but also of the pensioners, youth, users of public services, the population, as well as for housing, the environment and peace.
3. The Central Committee of the PCP values the Party's intervention and action and reaffirms the guidelines of its most recent meeting.
II - International situation
1. The Central Committee of the PCP alerts to the seriousness and dangers of the policy of the US, NATO and the European Union of increasing international tension, instigating confrontation, militarism and war, particularly in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, which will be evidenced at the coming NATO summit and which is accompanied by worsening exploitation and attacks on rights, sovereignty and democracy.
Denouncing and condemning the support of the US and other NATO and EU powers for the occupation of Palestine and their complicity in Israel's crimes, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid for the population, an end to the violent repression in the West Bank, the materialisation of the Palestinian people's right to a sovereign and independent state, with the 1967 borders and capital in East Jerusalem, and the implementation of the refugees' right to return, as determined by UN resolutions.
The Central Committee of the PCP, in view of the continuation, impacts and risks of the war in Ukraine, reaffirms that the US, NATO and the EU must stop instigating and fuelling this conflict and that negotiating channels must be opened with the other parties, in particular the Russian Federation, with the aim of reaching a political solution, responding to the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe and complying with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
The Central Committee of the PCP calls for the development of the struggle for peace and solidarity with the peoples.
2. The elections for the European Parliament took place in the context of a wide-ranging operation seeking to create the conditions for the deepening of European capitalist integration and its neoliberal, federalist and militarist character, supported in particular by the alliance between the right and social democracy, including the various variants that both assume, which has fundamentally determined the course of the EU, a course now reaffirmed in the EU's Strategic Agenda for the next five years, approved by the European Council.
It is this alliance, which includes PS, PSD, CDS and now IL, that will once again decide the distribution of institutional posts in the EU, determined by what it represents as a process led by the main European powers and at the service of the interests of transnational capital. Thus, the holders of the posts in question, members of the political forces that share them among themselves, not only do not contradict the essence of this process and project but are also part of it.
The far-right forces, which have been benefiting from promotion by economic power and its media instruments and which are increasingly openly aligned with and incorporated into the EU, defend the same class interests, the intensification of exploitation and the attack on democracy, rights and freedoms that the EU heads and promotes.
3. The PCP will continue to intervene in the European Parliament in defence of the interests of the workers, the people and the country, national sovereignty and democracy, for a Europe of cooperation between sovereign states with equal rights, for social progress and peace.
III - XXII Congress of the PCP
1. The Central Committee of the PCP has decided that the XXII Congress of the PCP will be held in Almada, at the Municipal Sports Complex - City of Almada, on December 13, 14 and 15, under the slogan "Force of April. Taking the initiative, with the workers and the people. Democracy and Socialism".
2. The XXII Congress of the PCP is held in a particularly demanding international, national and Party intervention situation.
Capitalism reveals its exploitative, oppressive, aggressive and predatory nature and its structural crisis, imperialism is stepping up its offensive to maintain its dominance, the arms race is growing and the risk of spreading the war is increasing, as is the promotion of reactionary projects and forces, against a backdrop of the rearrangement of forces on an international scale, the affirmation of sovereignty and the resistance and struggle of workers and peoples.
The EU's process of capitalist integration is developing with a heightened neoliberal, federalist and militarist character, with constraints and conditions for the countries and peoples of Europe and negative impacts on the international stage.
A national situation, when celebrating the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution, in which the values of April remain but the consequences of the counter-revolutionary process and capitalist integration in the EU are weighing increasingly heavily. A situation in which, in a certain arrangement of forces and within the framework of a prolonged class confrontation, a decision is being made between the conclusion of the counter-revolutionary process or its interruption and the opening up of the path to the future, with the project and values of April. An economic situation marked by structural weaknesses, a social situation in which exploitation, inequalities and injustices are reflected. A structure dominated by monopoly capital, where the strong presence of foreign capital is heightened, with multiple instruments at the service of its strategic objectives, namely the policy of reconfiguring the state and the means of ideological domination. A situation that is marked by changes in the political and institutional correlation of forces, in a context of a prolonged reactionary onslaught with a strong anti-communist character, but also by the Constitution of the Republic, with the values and project it enshrines, by important mass actions and organisations and by the Party's high capacity for resistance and intervention.
A situation in which political, economic and social developments and the prospects for their evolution cannot be separated from external constraints, in which dangers and potential coexist.
A situation in which the PCP is called upon to assume its vanguard role, with the affirmation of its own project, identity and objectives, as the decisive force in the struggle for an alternative policy and in uniting those who aspire to a real break with right-wing policies.
It is in this context and under these concrete conditions, both objective and subjective, that, on the basis of the XXI Congress and the National Conference "Taking the initiative, strengthening the Party, responding to new demands", the XXII Congress of the PCP is called upon to make a general assessment of the international and national situation, of the struggle and of the mass organisations and movements, and of the Party's action, influence, organisation and objectives. To evaluate and envisage the affirmation of the Party's role, tasks and objectives of the struggle in the context of the national and international correlation of forces in which it intervenes. Evaluate and put into perspective its strengthening and the indispensable role of its own action in the struggle for a political alternative, democracy and socialism. Reaffirm its identity, ideal and project of building a new society as an alternative to capitalism, identifying in its revolutionary overcoming the condition for a developed and sovereign Portugal, free from exploitation.
3. The Central Committee of the PCP believes that the Party's Programme and Constitution, which define and differentiate the Portuguese Communist Party, its identity, project, objectives and characteristics, respond to the current situation.
4. The Central Committee of the PCP has adopted the "Rules for the debate in the Party and for the election of delegates to the XXII Congress", which will start at the beginning of October, following the Central Committee's decision on the Theses - Draft Political Resolution.
5. The Central Committee of the PCP adopted the criteria for drawing up the list of the Central Committee to be elected by the XXII Congress.
The Central Committee of the PCP should maintain its characteristics, particularly in terms of its competences and size, although it may be reduced somewhat. The Central Committee must retain a large majority of workers and employees, with a strong working-class component. The Central Committee should include Party cadres - officials and non-officials - with responsibilities in leadership work, from companies and workplaces, participants in mass organisations and movements, who stand out in various areas of national life. Renewal must take into account a composition that combines the participation of more experienced cadres with the empowerment of young people, as well as strengthening the participation of women.
6. The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the importance of the XXII Congress and calls on Party militants to participate strongly with their reflection and contribution, essential factors to guarantee its success, ensuring the strengthening of the Party and the materialisation of its role, decisive in responding to the interests of the workers and the people and the country, in the struggle for the alternative, for an advanced democracy with the values of April in the future of Portugal, for socialism and communism.