Comrades,
The communist ideal and project are the revolutionary compass of our Party. However hostile the circumstances and whatever the immediate tasks and tactical alliances, we must never lose sight of the fact that the highest objective of our struggle and the raison d'être of our Party is the unrelenting struggle against capitalist exploitation and the construction in Portugal of a socialist and communist society.
The history of the international communist and revolutionary movement has shown that the march to socialism is more complex, bumpy and time-consuming than anticipated. The disappearance of the USSR and the defeats of socialism in eastern Europe represented a dramatic leap backward in the global revolutionary process and served as a pretext for a gigantic campaign, which continues, about the bankruptcy and “death of communism”. The ruling class uses the powerful means of ideological manipulation at its disposal to discredit the ideal and viability of the communist project. Presenting capitalism as the final historical system with no alternative, they seek to rob the working masses of any revolutionary perspective and stifle any confidence in the possibility of achieving a society free from the exploitation and oppression of capital.
In this context, PCP counters with the Marxist-Leninist analysis of social development; the experience of historical reality – that has already demonstrated and continues to demonstrate the viability and superiority of socialism (as in Cuba, China or Vietnam) –; the observation of the current international situation that, beyond the propaganda and appearances, clearly demonstrates the deepening of the structural crisis of capitalism.
A crisis wherein we must not underestimate the political, economic and military power of the United States and other great capitalist powers and the dangers that result for the very future of humanity from their aggressive militarist strategy, a strategy aimed at preserving the world domination of imperialism, that is in itself an expression of the system's decay and decline.
A system which, by its very class nature, has not only proved incapable of responding to the problems of the masses of people, but tends to exacerbate them brutally. The contradiction between the great achievements of science and technology and their perverse use by the ruling class to concentrate capital and wealth and to intensify the exploitation of workers and peoples is clear proof of this, as is the trivialization of fascism and war with the enormous dangers they entail for democratic freedoms, the sovereignty of peoples, and international security. As Marx put it, ”at a certain stage in the evolution of the productive forces, we see the emergence of productive forces and means of trade which, under existing conditions, only cause disasters. They are no longer productive forces, but forces of destruction." The revolutionary overcoming of capitalism thus becomes not only a requirement for the liberation of the proletariat, but a requirement for the survival of humanity itself, a situation that extraordinarily widens the field of forces potentially interested in the realization of the communist project.
However, capitalism will never fall by itself. The liquidation of capitalism requires the intervention of a revolutionary force. And while it is true that, with the sharpening of its contradictions, the objective material conditions for the revolutionary overcoming of capitalism have matured, it is clear that the necessary subjective conditions have not yet been met with regard to the organization and determination of the revolutionary forces and the organized struggle of the working class and the exploited and oppressed masses on the world stage. The strengthening of the communist parties and their internationalist cooperation, as well as the strengthening of the anti-imperialist front, is a need of our time.
Comrades,
The communist ideal is not a utopia. It is not, as it was for millennia, a spontaneous and generous aspiration for freedom and social justice. It is not the mere expression of a noble desire or a generous ethical requirement. With Marx and Engels, it became a real scientifically grounded possibility, and with the October Revolution it became a creative construction of the working and peasant masses in the concrete conditions of revolutionary Russia. The communist ideal is not an idealistic abstraction with no practical correspondence. One can state that, with natural imperfections, it lives and materializes in the very activity of the Portuguese communists, in the Party's class nature, in its close connection with the masses, in its democratic functioning, in its experience as a large party collective. In ”Party with Glass Walls“, comrade Álvaro Cunhal tells us of the "Party we are and want to be" and speaks of the communist ideal that animates our struggle.
In the Party's program, we point out the contours of the socialist society we aspire for Portugal. Naturally there is no "model" to be imposed on society. The program clearly presents PCP's revolutionary objectives to the Portuguese people, but it will be the people – in the concrete conditions that then present themselves and with the creativity inherent in all revolutionary processes – who will build the new society.
We are living a historical epoch of transition from capitalism to socialism, which the October Revolution inaugurated. As Lenin said, all peoples will come to socialism, but each will come in their own way. PCP defines its program based on our country's concrete situation. That was the case with the Program of the Democratic and National Revolution, which the April Revolution confirmed in its fundamental lines, including the possibility, which was for a time open, of advancing towards socialism. And that is the case with the current Program for "An Advanced Democracy, the values of April in the future of Portugal". This is the current stage of our struggle for the revolutionary overcoming of capitalism, for our project of building socialism and communism in Portugal.
Comrades,
We know that victory is not around the corner, the fight has been and will be tough. But we persist with conviction and confidence. We are certain, absolutely certain, that we are on the right side of history.
Long live the XXII Congress of PCP!
Long live the Portuguese Communist Party!
