"The historical need of Socialism"

Article by Rui Paz, Collaborator of the International Department

On undergoing a world economy review and the present capitalism crisis, the Political Resolution project for the PCP’s XVIIIth Congress underlines that " this crisis, that at the same time confirms the capitalism incapacity of liberating itself from the crisis that periodically shake it, reveals a deeper crisis, of structural and systemic nature, which, as the PCP has emphasized, shows the historic limits of the capitalist system and places its revolutionary overcoming as a demand of our times".

The Political Resolution approved during the XVth Congress (1996), said that " by its excessive volume, by its tendency to swell more and more, by the uncertain risk of its movement, the same financier-speculative fictitious capital, which soars upon the economy of the countries and the world, monetary instability and the danger of devastating stock market collapses ".

During the XVIth Congress (2000), once again, it was stated that "the permanent cash-flows of capital-money, specially of short-term and high risk, cause an increased instability within the development of the international financier and monetary system" and "the stock and real estate markets, irrationally inflationed, are nurtured by an untenable credit expansion, which increases the possibilities of danger and the disasters dimension". And during the last Congress (2004), the PCP, besides maintaining its analysis, warned that the US’s indebtedness was already equivalent to a quarter of the GIP.

Blind facing reality, the PS and PSD-CDS governments carried on preaching and practicing the capitalist globalization and the "god market" religion.

Not even at present , before the private capital State plundering and the destruction of national production have thrown the country unto an economic and social deep / serious crisis situation, they are capable of stating their blame, their "mea culpa". Rewarding thieves and abandoning the victims to their fate, always was a G8 and its satellites’ guideline.

In Portugal, any serious way out for the present crisis , should respect the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, which determines in its preface, the need "of opening the way towards a socialist society, in the respect of the will of the Portuguese people, regarding the construction of a freer, more just and fraternal country". For obvious reasons, just as what happened during the last thirty years, the monopolist capital governments will continue tearing apart the constitutional principles. For the assaulters, no law is good enough.

The conviction that only Socialism will liberate humanity from the capitalist barbarity, has led the communists, even throughout the darkest periods of History, during which the immediate success outlooks were only a glimpse, to assume the leadership of the resistance struggle against exploitation and oppression. Alike the struggle against fascism, in Portugal, democracy and social justice are intimately linked to the struggle for socialism. As the XVIIIth Congress thesis highlight, the goal of socialism, "the construction of a new society, free from exploitation of Man by Man is inseparable from the PCP’s identity".

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