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The evolution of the national and international situation confirms the essential aspects identified at the XXI Congress of the Party held in November 2020.

There are, however, fast developments in aspects identified at the time. In the international context, characterised by instability and uncertainty, imperialism's offensive, namely its innate policy of confrontation and war are heightened, articulated with the resurgence of the ideological offensive, aiming to justify the deepening of exploitation, the attack on rights, freedoms and guarantees. At the national level, the economic and social situation is worsening, along with changes in the political framework - in which the absolute majority of the PS in the Assembly of the Republic and the expression and promotion of reactionary forces and projects - and the anti-democratic offensive, with a strong anti-communist bent, which aims to limit and condition the action of the Party and mass organisations and attack the interests of the workers and people.

These developments place special demands on the organisation and intervention of the Party, on the struggle of the workers and the Portuguese people. To fulfil its role, the Party must carry out a meticulous assessment of the reality and accurately determine the guidelines, priorities and lines of political action and intervention that respond to the evolution of the situation.

In view of this, the Central Committee of the PCP convened the National Conference of the PCP "Taking the initiative, strengthening the Party, responding to the new demands" with the aim of contributing to the evaluation of the situation and its developments, focused on responding to the country's problems, on the priorities of intervention and strengthening of the Party and on the affirmation of its project, fostering a broad involvement of the party collective and promoting a confident perspective of the future.

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2.1. Capitalism reveals its contradictions, its exploitative, oppressive, aggressive and predatory nature, and its structural crisis, which are expressed in a wide-ranging way in the evolution of the situation of the Country and the world. Capitalism confirms its incapacity to respond to humanity's main problems, and, on the contrary, it creates or exacerbates on the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental fields. The use of both the pandemic and the instigation of confrontation and especially of sanctions, including the intensification of the war in Ukraine, has meant a growing exacerbation of exploitation, inequalities and injustices and a rapid accumulation and concentration of capital in the hands of multinationals – which promote speculation –, namely in the financial, energy, pharmaceutical, agri-food, large-scale distribution and arms sectors. In the first few months of 2022 alone, more than 260 million people fell into extreme poverty. A small number of capitalists accumulate more wealth than billions of people.

Imperialism is stepping up its offensive, tries to impose its hegemonic domination, thwart the process of rearrangement of forces that is taking place all around the world and curb the struggle of the workers and peoples. An offensive that increases with the attack on rights, democracy and sovereignty, with the promotion of interference, destabilisation and aggression, with the escalation of a policy of confrontation and war, which comprises, not without contradictions, the militarist strategy of the United States of America (USA) and its allies, namely the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), with its continuous expansion and global intervention, and is inseparable from its warmongering and offensive nature.

An offensive that includes an increasing tension and provocation against China, pointed by the USA as its main target, and the confrontation with Russia, which is not limited by the fact that it is a capitalist country, with the class interests it holds which includes the war in Ukraine and its continuation. The European Union (EU) is part of this offensive in an unprecedented position of submission and dependence to the interests of the USA and deepening its neoliberal, federalist and militarist nature. A process that includes the right-wing and social-democracy forces.

This offensive, accompanied by the whitewashing and promotion of fascism and war holds the danger of a global confrontation with serious consequences for Humanity.

Imperialism seeks to withhold people's awareness of their legitimate rights and aspirations, as well as of the alternatives for development and paths of emancipation. The attack on freedoms and rights, falsification, discrimination, manipulation, lies and censorship of information are intensified, aiming to impose a single thought and popularise reactionary and fascistic conceptions, promoting anti-communism, attacking democracy.

Instrumentalising real problems and dangers - inequalities, discrimination and injustices, poverty and social exclusion, environmental degradation and climate change, epidemics, among others -, big capital and its powerful means of ideological conditioning do everything and use it to forge and disseminate threats and blackmail, promote hate, individualism, isolation and fear, with the aim of breaking class and social solidarities essential for the necessary combat against these problems and weakening confidence in humanity's capacity to overcome them.

A reality that is also marked by the resistance and struggle of workers and peoples, which take place all around the world, and by the action of very diverse forces that oppose imperialism’s strategy. In an irregular and complex path, this reality confirms that, despite existing risks and threats, there are real possibilities not only to defeat imperialism’s aims, but also to achieve advances and ruptures on the path of emancipation that marks the march of the history of humanity.

2.2. Portugal is strongly affected by the negative developments at the international level, the consequences of which are reflected in the country's life.

A situation that is inseparable from decades of PS, PSD and CDS governments committed to big capital, which launched Portugal into a prolonged crisis, with economic stagnation, increased exploitation of workers and strong negative impacts in social terms, on political participation, on cultural life, environment, external dependency, sovereignty and the democratic regime itself.

The domination of big national and foreign capital over the country’s life, on the main means of production, political power, State structures, institutions, media and other centres of ideological dissemination, is a consequence of the capitalist and monopolistic restoration process articulated with submission to the European Union and the Euro and, in general, to imperialism. A class domination that translates into the power that big capital in fact has in Portugal, with its decision-making centres and articulations, and which has in right-wing policies an instrument that acts in breach and against the Constitution.

As a result of this domination, the country became more dependent, with greater social and territorial inequalities and vulnerable and even saw its structural deficits worsen in terms of production (including food), energy, technology and demographics.

The existing fragile economic and social situation, with the accumulation of problems that the right-wing policy created and the governmental options deepened, invoking the speedy reduction of the deficit and the debt, puts on the near future the danger of a new phase of economic and social degradation. Contributing to this reality are the low levels of investment, unable to replace the wear and tear and obsolescence of existing equipment and infrastructure, whether in the public sector or in the private sector, which results in a weak economy based on sectors of low technology, low productivity, low added value and low wages. A reality that is also visible in the low value of pensions and in the fact that almost 2 million Portuguese live below the poverty line.

2.3. The national situation has meanwhile experienced developments that pose new problems and calls for the intervention of the PCP and for the struggle of workers and populations, as mentioned below.

The change in the correlation of forces at the political and institutional level with the PS obtaining an absolute majority – accompanied by the diminution of the PCP’s electoral expression with the resulting drop in parliamentary representation –, obtained as a result of an operation of blackmail and mystification that aimed to create the conditions to break with a path, albeit limited, of defence, restoration and achievement of rights gained in recent years due to the workers' and peoples’ struggle and the initiative and action of the PCP. A change that enjoyed the commitment of the President of the Republic and whose negative consequences for the people and the country are already visible and inseparable from the right-wing policy that the PS is implementing.

The institutional expression and wide promotion of reactionary forces and projects (namely of PSD, CDS, Chega and IL) which, with agendas of a backward, demagogic, neoliberal or fascistic nature, constitute a threat to the rights of the workers and people, to democracy and to the future of the Country. A reality that makes its unmasking more necessary and a stand of clear demarcation and confrontation, in a context in which the PS and these forces amplify and stage an opposition between themselves, when, in fact, they carry out in essential aspects an action that is, objectively, converging in the defence of the interests of big capital.

The fast deterioration of the living conditions of the workers and people and the significant accumulation of profits by the economic groups, resulting from the escalation of exploitation and use of the pandemic, of the sanctions and war. The significant rise in inflation, speculation, and the drop in the purchasing power resulting from the refusal to increase wages and pensions and to regulate prices are eroding the already difficult living conditions of the population in general, in contrast to the favouring of big capital, an example of which is the rejection to effectively tax it. While attacks on workers' rights and wages, pensions, services and social functions of the State, public strategic companies or public investment intensify, namely by invoking the priority to cut the deficit and debt, new surges of this offensive are announced and prepared, based on external impositions and forces that in Portugal promote right-wing policies

The country's vulnerability in view of an unstable global economic context that accumulates risks and crises, which tends to increase, resulting from the deepening of external dependence, a weakened productive apparatus and the absence of responses committed to the defence of national interests.

The intensification of the anti-democratic campaign, with a strong anti-communist bent, aimed at imposing a single thought and the criminalisation of opinions that do not submit to it, whose most odious dimension is directed against the PCP. An offensive with various expressions, with a strong presence in the media, in which the revanchist action of big capital stands out, which believes that the time has come to raise the level of class confrontation and settle scores with the April values and achievements.

The explicit and growing confrontation with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic by the reactionary forces, counting on the passivity or acquiescence of the PS, with the aim of its amendment and subversion, together with the promotion of changes of an antidemocratic sense to the electoral laws and the labour legislation.

Such developments place on the Party, the workers and Portuguese people, on democrats and patriots, the need to perceive and denounce the dangers that involve the plans and aims of capital and, bearing in mind the relationship of forces in which this class confrontation develops, the definition of priorities in terms of tasks, claims and struggles in the near future.

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3.1. Life proved, and proves, that the PCP was right, as was its assessment of the national and international situation, on the dangers it warned about and the manoeuvres it denounced, about the solutions and responses necessary to guarantee the improvement of the living conditions of workers and people, about the indispensable options to ensure the sovereign development of the country.

Portugal is not a poor country, but it was impoverished. Despite its resources and potential, Portugal is today deeply conditioned in its development. Subject to the dictates of the European Union, especially those associated with the Euro, subject to the domination of large national and foreign capital, conditioned by the structural deficits it accumulates, bound to the impositions of imperialism, limited in its sovereignty and in the right to freely decide its future, the country is tied up and prevented from developing and responding to the needs of workers and people. The results of this course are visible: with each passing day, the country loses its ability to intervene, its resources and means, parts of political and economic sovereignty. This is a path that leads to the concentration of wealth in big capital and clashes with the interests of the workers and people. This is a path that urgently needs to be stopped and reversed.

The reality shows the clash between the rights, paths and possibilities that the Constitution of the Republic enshrines and the path to which the country has been subject.

o confronto entre os direitos, caminhos e possibilidades que a Constituição da República consagra e o rumo a que o País tem estado sujeito.

3.2. The current situation calls for the affirmation of an alternative policy that confronts the right-wing policy resulting from the action of the PS government and reactionary forces and projects. An alternative patriotic and left-wing, that has to be affirmed, developed and deepened. A policy that promotes an increase in wages and pensions, enhances and reinforces the rights of workers, the social functions of the State and public services, fosters and increases national production, ensures public control of strategic companies and sectors, guarantees fair taxation, assumes the need for a harmonious relationship between human beings and nature, frees the country from submission to the Euro and the impositions and constraints of the EU and ensures national development and sovereignty, within a framework of defence of peace and cooperation among peoples.

The implementation of this alternative, patriotic and left-wing policy, which the PCP proposes to the Portuguese people, requires the strengthening of the Party and its connection to the masses, the intensification of the struggle of workers and populations and the strengthening of unitary mass organisations, as well as the convergence of democrats and patriots, determining conditions for a change in the relationship of forces. A different path for the country, which is not subordinated to the interests of big capital, responds to the most pressing problems and paves the way to the deepening of democracy in its political, economic, social and cultural aspects, affirming the values of April in the future of Portugal.

3.3. Resisting the on-going onslaught against the rights of the workers and the Portuguese people is the first step towards defeating the most immediate aims of big capital and a necessary condition to pave the way for a different course for the country.

Contrary to the goals and projects of big capital are the values of April and its deep roots in the Portuguese people; the Constitution of the Republic and what it enshrines in terms of rights and projects; the struggle of workers and other anti-monopoly classes and strata; the action of workers' class organisations and other unitary mass organisations and movements; the intervention of the Party and other democratic sectors. Factors that positively mark the country's reality and the perspective of a future of development, sovereignty and social progress.

The country is not doomed to backwardness, injustice, inequalities in society and territory, poverty and deprivation – inseparable from low wages and precariousness. There are forces, capacities, resources, means and potentialities, there is an alternative policy to free the country and improve the living conditions of workers and people. The Constitution of the Republic – despite the mutilations resulting from seven amendments – contains fundamental options to provide the answer that the country needs and which contain within themselves the possibility of a future in which the new generations live better than the current ones.

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4.1. The more the nature of the capitalist system becomes evident, its consequences and impacts, the more explicit becomes the role that the Party assumes in the class struggle that is being waged and intensified. It is also within this framework that the onslaught against the PCP is developed, as it is, with the class interests it assumes, the goals it fights for and the transforming project of social emancipation that it carries. Aware that the PCP is the main obstacle and enemy to its aims of domination and exploitation, big capital, by attacking the Party and its action, attacks the workers, the people and their rights.

The ruling class would aspire that, in the face of the onslaught, the Party would have foundered and abdicated its principles and objectives, submitting itself to its agenda, criteria, language and class interests, conflicting with those defended by the PCP. What they do not want, what they feared and fear, is the Party acting and responding in accordance with its commitment to the workers and the people, speaking the truth - about the use of the pandemic, the class options of the PS, the projects of the reactionary forces, NATO’s nature, the war and sanctions – even in the face of the distortion of its positions, the slander and blackmail, the conditioning and silencing to which it is subject, resisting, facing difficulties, strengthening itself and launching into a bold and decisive intervention for the country's present and future.

It is worth noting the remarkable response given by the party collective in recent years, which ensured not only the functioning of the organisation as a whole, but also the political intervention, namely in terms of initiative, enlightenment and mobilisation of the masses, the dynamism of the struggle, all this under conditions marked by the epidemic and the huge disproportion of means and resources compared to those of capital.

However, there are negative impacts on the electoral, institutional expression fields and means of intervention of the Party. Difficulties, shortcomings, delays and deficiencies in the organisation and intervention are also noted, which must be overcome decisively and confidently, especially given the current situation and the demands it entails.

The Party's action, its organisation and conditions of intervention and struggle result not only from its own decisions and choices, but also, in some decisive aspects, from the action of its opponents and from the broader context – national and international – in which it intervenes. The problems that are recognised at various levels require, in order to be overcome, their identification and discussion by the party collective, their critical and self-critical analysis with a view to defining the means and methods to face and overcome them.

4.2. The evolution of the national situation will also depend on the strength of the Party, on its ability to resist and advance. The affirmation made in successive Congresses about the need for the Party to be ready to respond and intervene under any circumstances becomes more topical.

The best way to face the overall operation that is being carried out against the Party is to focus its intervention to answer the problems, on the wishes and aspirations of the workers and the people, articulated with the struggle for an alternative policy and a fairer society. An option that, constituting a practice of the Party throughout its existence, gains even greater importance in this context.

Connecting the Party even more to life, affirming it as the fundamental instrument of action and struggle, beginning with the identification of the necessary answers at each moment to the problems that the workers and the people face, is the way forward. This requires, starting from the action of Party militants and organisations, to involve all those who feel these problems, aspirations and objectives in this struggle and action.

The task facing the Party is both demanding and structuring. It is essential to continue to take steps so that organisations and militants, in the most diverse areas and work fronts, assert themselves as instruments of clarification, organisation, agitation and mobilisation of others regarding their aspirations.

It is necessary to broaden, deepen and intensify mass work in all dimensions, ensuring that each Party organisation is aware of the reality in which it operates and the problems that exist and intervenes in the organisation, mobilisation and struggle for their resolution. This means stimulating the Party’s own intervention, ensuring strengthening the specific dynamics of unitary organisations, guaranteeing an individual and collective attitude that is bold and confident in the analyses, positions, action and project of the PCP. In this dynamic, it is necessary to enhance the important intervention in terms of the Assembly of the Republic, the European Parliament, the Regional Legislative Assemblies and Local Government.

The Party’s organisation is the fundamental tool for connecting workers and populations. The Party's political, social, ideological and electoral influence depends on this connection to the masses, knowledge of the reality and the problems they face and the ability to intervene in them. A strong, active organisation with initiative is crucial to reinforce this influence. It is the organisation – inseparable from the nature, from the goals of social transformation and from the PCP's revolutionary project – that gives material force to the Party's ideas, proposals and objectives of struggle.

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5.1. In view of the current situation and considering its developments, the National Conference has decided to boost the Party's action in an integrated manner, involving: a broad political initiative, including at the institutional level, that responds to the most pressing problems and affirms the patriotic and left-wing alternative policy; the intensification of the struggle of workers and populations; the strengthening of mass organisations and movements; working with democrats and patriots; the strengthening of the Party.

An action that involves:

5.1.1. Taking the initiative for a general increase in wages. It is necessary to break with an economic model based on low wages and precariousness and deregulation of working hours and the labour legislation associated to it. It is necessary to fight the brutal increase in the cost of living and the scandalous profits of capital. The valorisation of wages is a condition and objective of development and determining factor for a fairer distribution of wealth. It is necessary to assume the general increase in wages as a national emergency, ensuring an increase in the purchasing power, with a significant increase in the average wage, achieving convergence with the Eurozone in five years. An objective that can be achieved through the organisation and struggle for claims and the promotion of collective bargaining, including the repeal of the grievous norms of the Labour Code, such as expiry, contributing to the general increase in wages in the private sector; the valorisation of professions and careers; the increase of wages in the Public Administration; the increase in the National Minimum Wage.

5.1.2. Taking the initiative to promote the rights of children and parents. The material conditions that sustain children's rights are interconnected with the living conditions of parents. Low wages, discrimination, deregulation of working hours, precariousness and unemployment, the degradation of public services, together with the high costs of housing, food, daycare, education and health, and the lack of social facilities, are factors that have negative impacts on children and young people, especially on the children of workers. A very broad response is needed, starting with the defence and furthering of workers' rights, but which simultaneously involves guaranteeing decent housing, free daycare for all, respect for sexual and reproductive rights, maternity and paternity rights, policies that combat all types of discrimination and ensure – in terms of education, health, culture, sport, the right to play and free time – the integral development of the individual and the progress of the Country.

5.1.3. Taking the initiative, with the youth, for their rights, dreams and aspirations. With the students in defence of Public, Free and Quality Education, against national exams and the numerus clausus, for the right to access Higher Education, for the end of tuition fees, for the improvement of School Social Action, with the guarantee of accommodation for all displaced students. With the young workers, promoting their mobilisation on the increase in wages, the fight against precariousness, so that each permanent job post corresponds to an effective work bond, for the right to rest and free time, against the experimental period. Intervene for the right to sport, leisure, cultural creation and enjoyment, participation in democratic and associative life, against all discrimination and in defence of the environment. For the right to work, healthcare, social security and housing, as a condition for effective emancipation and autonomy. An action that, valorising the youth as an important social force, articulates with the initiative of the JCP and the young communists, in their diversified intervention in schools and workplaces, in the youth and student movement.

5.1.4. Taking the initiative to improve pensions and for the right to age with quality of life. The low value of pensions, which prevails among the vast majority of the elderly, and the rise in prices, make the need to increase their real value and combat their devaluation more pressing. The profound insufficiencies and weaknesses in the response to the problems of the elderly must be corrected. The creation of a Public Network of Care Homes and other equipment and services to support the elderly and the disabled, the support to people and families that need special care and the strengthening of the National Health Service NHS), which responds to needs, cannot be postponed. The increase in life expectancy is a mark of civilisational progress. It is important to ensure that more years of life are accompanied by better living conditions, with the guarantee of economic autonomy, physical, psychological and social well-being, adequate protection against illness and dependence, policies that prevent and combat isolation, encourage socializing, healthy enjoyment of free time, stimulating social, political and cultural participation.

5.1.5. Taking the initiative to defend and valorise the social functions of the State and public services. The improvement of public services is inseparable from the valorisation of its professionals, their wages, careers and professions and a wide territorial coverage, which guarantees universality of rights, national unity and cohesion that the process of transferring competences and responsibilities to the municipalities jeopardises. It is necessary to ensure greater investment and ability to organise, manage and respond to services at various levels. All public services must be defended, but in healthcare, education and social security this is particularly pressing. We must save the NHS. Measures are needed to attract and retain professionals, the only way to increase the number of users with a family doctor and nurse, reopen or open services, guarantee medical appointments, exams, treatments and surgeries, as well as invest in equipment and promotion of health, and fight the growing business of disease which grows with the decline of the NHS. In the Public School, urgent measures are needed to solve the problem of the lack of teachers and other professionals, by valorising careers, reinforcing investment in all levels of education, expanding School Social Action, reducing the number of students per class, reinforcing psychological and school health services, in order to guarantee the right to a free public education of quality, to guarantee the right to a public, free and quality education. It is necessary to strengthen Social Security, with more workers and measures, increase funding to guarantee rights, increase coverage and social protection for the population and its broad role in society. It is also imperative to increase public investment in science and research, in sport, as well as in other areas, from justice to security forces and services, from civil protection to communications.

5.1.6. Taking the initiative to defend culture as a factor of human achievement and emancipation and enhancement of democracy. Promote the fight against attempts to limit cultural freedom and diversity, disinvestment, devaluation, conditioning and segregation of artists and other professionals, aspects that are inseparable from the commodification and instrumentalization of culture. It is imperative to stimulate the fight to regard culture as a factor of development, for the valorisation of the rights of artists and professionals in the sector, against exploitation, low wages and precariousness, for the reinforcement of public investment with the objective of allocating 1% of the Budget to culture, for the development of art education, the protection of heritage and the valorisation of the Portuguese language, for a public cultural service, for the right to free creation and enjoyment of culture.

5.1.7. Taking the initiative to valorise national production. An option that has to face the structural deficits that the recent evolution of the international situation has made even more worrying. The defence and promotion of national production is a factor for development, for safeguarding the environment and sovereignty. The country has resources to respond to the needs it faces. It is possible to diversify productive activity and economic relations and replace imports with national production. It is urgent to develop the rural world, agriculture and fisheries, boost food production, foster short circuits of production and consumption, promote food sovereignty. It is essential to move forward with reindustrialisation, to invest in the production of equipment with high technological incorporation, of medicines and means of transport. It is necessary to ensure an energy strategy committed to national interests, all the more so in a situation of great disruption. It is essential to regain public control over strategic companies and sectors and support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. We need a policy that mobilises and develops research, knowledge, science and technology in Portuguese society, an indispensable path for a Portugal with a future.

5.1.8. Taking the initiative to defend the environment and access to water. It is necessary to denounce the responsibilities of capitalism and combat environmental degradation. It is necessary to promote correct planning and balanced development of the territory in its various dimensions, territorial cohesion, the valorisation of the rural world and forests (with the structural prevention of fires), the promotion of local production, the protection of ecosystems, the promotion of biodiversity and the public management of protected areas. The approach to climate change, whether in the area of mitigation or in relation to adaptation, needs to be aligned with the interests of the country. Access to water is a right and should not be a business, even more appealing in situations of scarcity or drought. It is necessary to ensure that access, use and safeguarding of water resources are ensured by public management and ownership and the corresponding investment. It is also necessary to ensure the public management of waste, promoting its reduction, reuse and recycling.

5.1.9. Taking the initiative for the right to housing, mobility and public transport. Throughout the country, but with a special focus on urban centres, the difficulty in accessing housing is a problem that is increasingly felt. It is necessary fight real estate speculation, repeal the Law on Urban Lease, regulate prices and ensure stability in lease contracts, face the brutal increase in interest rates on loans and its impacts. It is necessary to substantially expand the public offer of housing - a decisive issue for the implementation of this right -, mobilise resources for housing at controlled costs, support the cooperative movement and self-construction, promote rental for young people, expand the offer of lodging for students and displaced workers and effectively regulate Local Lodging. In terms of mobility and transport, structural responses to existing needs are necessary. Responses that involve investment in expanding the offer of public transport and improving quality throughout the country, with emphasis on the increase in the railways, added to the goal of progressive free travel, discouraging the use of individual transport instead of the collective.

5.1.10. Taking the initiative for peace and solidarity with peoples. Imperialism's policy of confrontation and war, and the serious dangers it entails, call for broad action for peace. The development of the struggle against fascism and war assumes great importance; against imperialism’s aggressions and interferences; against militarism and the arms race; against the enlargement of NATO and for its dissolution; against the militarisation of the European Union; for agreements on arms control, their limitation and reduction and the abolition of nuclear weapons; for the end of sanctions and blockades; for a new international order of peace, sovereignty and social progress. It is urgent to demand an end to the instigation of the war in Ukraine by the USA, NATO and the European Union and the opening of negotiation channels with the other players, namely the Russian Federation, aiming at a political solution to the conflict, response to the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe, compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. Also of great importance is the development of solidarity with peoples who resist imperialism and fight in defence of their rights and sovereignty, such as Cuba, Palestine or Western Sahara. A sovereign foreign policy is also required, based on the principles of national independence which, in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic, ends the submission to imperialism, does not involve Portugal in aggressions against other peoples and promotes peace, friendship and cooperation.

5.1.11. Take the initiative to defend the democratic regime and April values. From the outset exercising the rights achieved, denouncing the right-wing policy, fighting the reactionary offensive, dismantling the dictatorship of the single thought, fighting racism and xenophobia, fascistic hate and all kinds of discrimination. Defending and complying with the Constitution is the way to deepen democracy, namely by strengthening workers' rights and exercising trade union freedoms, freedom of political action and propaganda, fighting the power of monopolies and corruption, guaranteeing plural media, free from the control of economic power, censorship and manipulation, with the dignification of mechanisms of participatory democracy, the defence of Democratic Local Government, the struggle for regionalisation and against the process of transferring responsibilities to municipalities. It is necessary to fight any constitutional amendment projects that promote the de-characterization of the Fundamental Law or the change of electoral laws, aiming to reduce the pluralism of political representation and perpetuate right-wing policies. We must intervene in the ideological struggle, fighting the dominant ideology, affirming humanist and progressive values, peace and disarmament, solidarity and friendship among peoples, social justice, freedom, democracy, the communist ideal and project. It is necessary to encourage the mobilisation of democrats and patriots in the fight against historical revisionism and the whitewashing of fascism and the valorisation of anti-fascist struggle, making the commemorations of the 50^th. Anniversary of the Revolution a great affirmation of the values of April and of the struggle for a Portugal with a future.

5.1.12. Develop and intensify the struggle of the workers and popular masses. The action for the enlightenment of the workers and popular masses, to raise the awareness that they have in their hands the great and decisive force of their organisation, unity and struggle, is of fundamental importance. Workers' struggle for a general increase in wages; against the deregulation of working hours and for their reduction without loss of pay; against precariousness; for the repeal of the grievous norms of labour legislation, namely the end of the expiry of collective bargaining and those regarding dismissals and compensation; fight speculation and rising prices; for better living conditions. A claiming struggle for concrete and immediate objectives, which requires the exercise of all trade union rights, in particular action in the workplace. The struggle of populations and of various social strata and sectors, for the increase in pensions, for the rights of children and parents, for the defence of the NHS and public services, among others. A struggle that counts to resist, defend, advance and conquer. Organised struggle, which expresses the strength of the workers and popular masses in defence of their interests for the materialisation of their aspirations and claims, promotes the gathering of forces, the raising of social and political awareness, the rupture with right-wing policies, the affirmation of the alternative and the advance of the process of social transformation.

5.1.13. Developing action to strengthen mass organisations and movements. The organised strength of the workers and popular masses is based on organisations and movements whose orientation, dimension, rooting and mobilising capacity decisively influence the defence and advancement of interests and rights, freedom and democracy, and social progress. These unitary organisations and movements are fundamental to express, develop and increase participatory democracy, intervention and struggle, without which the established power of big capital promotes setbacks and blocks the future. As a continuous task, in the current situation, the strengthening of these organisations and movements has an added urgency and demand. We must highlight the organisation of the working class and workers in general, unionisation and trade union organisation in companies, unions, the unitary trade union movement, the CGTP-IN and the workers' committees, as well as other organisations and mass movements of different nature, size and scope, including those at the sectoral and local level. The strengthening of each one, their rooting, influence, capacity for mobilisation, action and struggle demand the commitment of communists, in unity with many others. It is necessary to identify, at each moment, the priorities for action and the needs for boosting or the creation of new structures that respond to the needs. The work towards its sectoral and general convergence must be present. This is the answer that can stimulate the mobilisation of the workers, of the popular masses, of many of those who are available to act for the solution of the concrete problems of the workers of each company, of the population of each locality, in response to every area of interest or intervention, for solving the country's problems.

5.1.14. Developing liaison and work with other democrats and patriots. The Party is not only the driving force of an alternative policy for the country, but also an aggregating force and a factor of convergence and work in unity with other democrats and patriots. The Party's own affirmation expands its aggregating role across broad strata and sectors. Its emancipatory project, the straightforwardness and clarity of its objectives and positions, without ambiguities or illusions, along with the practical and daily action of the Party and its militants, broadens social influence, gains prestige and respect and represents in themselves factors of attraction. These aspects of the Party's identity are fundamental for the promotion of spaces of unity. The CDU stands out, with members of the PEV and ID and many others without party affiliation. It is also worth mentioning the work with other democrats and patriots who are available for action for a free, developed and sovereign country and who identify in the April values the founding and essential elements of the society to which we aspire. It is important to expand and develop regular contacts in each of these organisations with those who stand out in collective life, from work and civic action, from culture to science, from sport to the association movement and in various areas of social participation whose reflection and contribution enrich the analysis, proposal and action in various areas.

5.1.15. Strengthening the Party by allocating more responsibilities and creating new cadres. Militants from different generations, including new militants, naturally assuming different availability, paths and experiences, show willingness to participate and make their contribution, which requires effective integration into a collective work, accompaniment by leadership bodies, the stimulus and harnessing of individual contribution and the involvement of the militants in the discussion, decision and implementation of the goals promoting militancy and boosting the Party's intervention. It is this movement of accountability and political and ideological training that is intended, placing in the hands of more militants the responsibility of being builders of the Party and protagonists of the struggle for a better life. It is imperative to develop an action to strengthen leadership structures at various levels - from the central leadership to regional organisations, from intermediate structures to grassroots organisations - to ensure more capacity and availability, active cells and militant action, a stronger and more influential Party. The aim is to promote handing responsibilities to 1000 new cadres - especially blue-collar workers and other workers, young people and women - for regular tasks and Party organisations by the end of 2024. Political and ideological training is of utmost importance, and it is necessary to define and implement reinforced objectives of the annual cadre training plan (at national and regional levels). The improvement of the style of work, including the adequate control of execution, is necessary for a broader action of the Party. The affirmation of the Party's identity, the understanding and implementation of its operating principles are decisive aspects of its strength, which must be ensured.

5.1.16. Strengthening the Party with the recruitment and integration of new militants. It is necessary to carry out the recruitment campaign “The future has a Party”, which every day brings more people to the Party, increasing contacts by every organisation to join the PCP. A recruitment inseparable from the attractiveness of the communist ideal and the role, history and intervention of the PCP today, which should be particularly aimed at many of those who stand out in companies, struggles, civic and cultural intervention, women and younger people, including in articulation with the JCP. A recruitment that is expressed in the integration of each one as a member of the Party, in militant intervention, in mass work, in organised action. Recruitment to continue on the basis of political appeal, of the work of every organisation and militant and new measures and actions in the coming years.

5.1.17. Strengthening the Party with the reinforcement of its organisation and intervention with the working class and all workers. It is in companies and workplaces that the struggle between labour and capital is most directly expressed. The Party cells are decisive elements in this process and are a fundamental organisational base for the PCP. The Party's intervention in companies faces difficulties inherent to the worsening of exploitation, namely the deregulation of working hours, precariousness, employer repression and other elements of weakening of rights. Changes in production processes and forms of work organisation require consideration and response, which include digitisation, teleworking or work associated with platforms. Reality also contains potential inseparable from the acquisition of class awareness, the struggle and the experience of struggle, the use of which requires a deeper knowledge of the situation of workers, which contributes to their unity based on their class interests, regardless of generation, profession, ethnic or national origin.

The success of the recent action to give responsibilities to 100 comrades in this area and the creation of as many company cells reveals that it is possible to build a Party in the workplace, give responsibilities to new cadres, recruit and create new cells, and the biggest challenge remains to create the conditions for their regular functioning, expansion and initiative. The promotion of recruitment in a directed way, the functioning and creation of new cells, with an intervention content linked to the specificities of each sector, company or place of work, to the problems and aspirations of workers and to the dynamism of claiming action and struggle, the promotion of the sale of the party press and contact and agitation actions are elements that must be at the centre of a national action under the slogan "More strength for workers", to be promoted during the first months of 2023, culminating in an initiative that projects this reality at the end of May.

5.1.18. Strengthening the Party by dynamizing local organisations. It is necessary to move decisively towards the structuring, leadership capacity and intervention of local organisations. Move ahead by giving responsibilities to cadres, rejuvenate active and leadership groups, improve the style of work and intervention, aiming at knowledge and action on the surrounding reality. Deepen the regular relationship with many people who converge with the PCP, namely within the scope of the CDU, the great force of the left in Local Government and a space for the convergence of democrats and patriots. It is imperative to promote a general intervention by the Party, giving expression to the motto "To live better in our land", which, based on the aspirations and problems felt in the localities, project them in the public sphere, increasing the population's awareness of their rights, dynamize activity and local life and contribute to the mobilisation and struggle for their implementation. An intervention that will culminate in the last quarter of 2023 and that requires the articulation between the indispensable initiative of the organisations and the action of those who intervene in municipalities, cultural organisations, associations or movements.

5.1.19. Strengthening the Party by dynamizing the party press and propaganda. Using in an articulated way all the means we have and those we can develop – with the truth, seriousness and fairness inherent to the Party's positions – as well as with the creativity and audacity so present in initiatives such as the Avante! Festival. Life confirms – as has been shown in recent years – that the Party basically relies on its own means to make its positions known to the Portuguese workers and people. The Party's work of information, agitation and propaganda – leveraging all available means, physical and digital – and the role of the party press, namely Avante! and O Militante, as well as the editorial activity of Edições “Avante”, are essential. The reading, dissemination and sale of Avante! must be further promoted, as well as create new potential for the party press, by holding a national campaign, starting in April 2023 and ending in May 2024, with the aim of increasing its promotion and regular sale, strengthening structures for this purpose, considering editions and special actions, expanding and densifying the editorial contribution, identifying new areas of progress in organised sales and new public places for weekly militant sales. It is imperative to ensure the decisive and timely intervention of each and every militant and organisation based on the concrete reality in which they intervene, with the most effective and bold use of all agitation and propaganda tools, namely electronic means, both in terms of its contents (central and regional), or by the significant expansion of the diffusion network of the contents produced. In the current context, it becomes even more important to promote the dynamization and consolidation of a means of aggregation and dissemination of contents linked to the values of April, which contributes to a critical reading and reflection on reality and that projects a vision committed to the interests of the workers and the Portuguese people. The current demands and complexities of information and propaganda work, the issues of content and initiative, the articulation between the different means and objectives and the articulation between regional organisations and the central work call for the need of a discussion to be conducted in the second half of the next year and the holding of a national initiative in November 2023.

5.1.20. Strengthening the Party with the guarantee of its financial independence, essential for its political and ideological independence and capacity for intervention. Together with the effort and timely financial contribution of thousands of Party militants and friends, with the success of the National Campaign of Funds in the context of the Centenary being a demonstration, or the holding of numerous initiatives in which this aspect is present, and the rigorous criteria of expenditure, control and financial balance, the dues of each militant is the main guarantee of regular and stable funding for the Party. The effort made within the scope of the campaign to update dues and the increase in its value revealed that the centrality given to payment of dues needs to be continued, which requires measures and cadres for its implementation, the discussion in each body, the expansion of the number of comrades who collect dues, the extension of payment by direct debit, the control of execution by organisms at all levels. Every organisation, with its own reality, must continue this effort, increasing its own financial capacity and that of the entire Party.

5.2. The integrated action that is being put forward does not cancel out, but is articulated, with other areas of the Party's intervention in multiple specific problems that affect strata and sectors as diverse as small and medium-sized farmers and entrepreneurs, intellectuals and technical staff, youth, women, the elderly, immigrants, emigrants, people with disabilities, as well as the fight against discrimination and prejudice, namely in terms of sexual orientation, aspects that require the commitment and intervention of Party militants and organisations.

6

The Party is equipped with an alternative political programme that it urgently needs to affirm. It is the bearer of a project and objectives that, due to their scope and breadth, constitute an instrument for the struggle and mobilisation of all those who aspire to a better life. The rights and aspirations of workers, populations, classes and anti-monopoly strata find correspondence in the PCP’s project and Programme. The Party's political goals also constitute factors of mobilisation and struggle for broad strata and sectors.

To fulfil its role, the Party has a history, a heritage of action and struggle and an implantation built over more than 100 years, with a broad party collective, with a diversified, independent and courageous intervention, committed to the interests of workers and people.

It relies on its communist identity, its class nature, its theoretical base - Marxism-Leninism - with a functioning based on the creative development of democratic centralism, with its patriotic and internationalist dimension. It relies on the JCP and its outstanding role with the youth. It relies on a Programme that responds to the current historical stage and which affirms the goal of building an Advanced Democracy with the values of April in the future of Portugal as a path to social emancipation, socialism and communism.

In the last hundred years there has not been any advance or achievement in our country that has not counted on the struggle and intervention of the communists. The PCP, with the struggle of the workers and the people, influenced and continues to influence the evolution of national life. This is not only a responsibility, but a duty that the PCP does not abdicate and that gives strength and confidence to resist and advance.

Capitalism is exploitation, oppression, war, hunger, misery, corruption, environmental degradation. It is the appropriation by a few of the wealth produced by many and of the huge advances achieved by humanity. The revolutionary overcoming of capitalism is a necessity of workers and peoples. It is in this situation that we clearly and forcefully project the value of the ideals of freedom, democracy and socialism. The communist project, the most beautiful that humanity knows and which will place equality, justice and peace at the centre of the objectives of human activity. An ideal and a project that guides and mobilises the construction of a new society, which belongs to the future.