Statement of the PCP Central Committee Meeting 13th December 2015
PCP's Central Committee, meeting on December 13, 2015, examined the developments of the political framework resulting from the defeat of the PSD/CDS-PP government and the coming into office of the PS government, assessed the economic and social situation that the workers and the people are facing; identified the development of the mass struggle as a central factor to restore rights and incomes and ensure the improvement of the living standards; deepened the ongoing measures to strengthen the Party organization, its connection with the masses, its political initiative and other immediate tasks, namely in the context of the candidacy of Edgar Silva to the Presidency of the Republic and decided to set the XX Congress of the PCP for 2, 3 and 4 December, 2016.
1. Intensify the political initiative and the struggle, reverse the path of exploitation and national decline
The definitive defeat of the PSD/CDS-PP government crowned a long process of struggle of the workers and the Portuguese people who, in the last parliamentary elections, affirmed the demand not only of a change of government, but also of the policy that has been imposed. Facing a violent ideological campaign promoted by the most reactionary sectors of society and a deliberate action by the President of the Republic, who dragged and sought to prevent the materialization of the popular will, it was possible, as the PCP said from the beginning, to find a governing solution with the coming into office of the PS government, in line with the new relationship of political forces existing in the Assembly of the Republic.
There is thus opened a new phase in national political life with more favourable conditions to answer the immediate problems of the workers and the Portuguese people.
However, the seriousness of the situation of the country, despite the intense operation of falsification and deception of the reality, is inseparable from the options dictated to the interests of monopoly capital and of European capitalist integration, into which Portugal was dragged over the last decades by PS, PSD and CDS-PP governments. A reality marked by dramatic levels of unemployment and poverty, glaring and growing social inequalities, denial of decent living conditions to millions of Portuguese, in a framework of recession and economic stagnation, growing debt, dependency and internal and external conditioning from which the country has to break free.
The possibility now opened to take steps, albeit limited, to reverse the path of decline imposed during the past four years, makes even clearer the need to follow the struggle for a rupture with the right-wing policy, and the building of an alternative, patriotic and left-wing policy. An even more demanding struggle to uphold, restore and achieve rights, and which will require, in the near future, a broad involvement of the workers and popular masses.
Strengthening its organization and developing its political initiative, stimulating and intensifying the struggle of the masses, acting confidently in the presidential elections, the PCP will continue to assume its irreplaceable role in defending the interests of the workers, the people and the country.
2. A trail of exploitation, impoverishment and decline
Portugal reaches the end of 2015 with a trail of problems piled by decades of right-wing policies and capitalist integration in the European Union which, PS, PSD and CDS-PP executed, enhanced by the consequences of the application of the Stability and Growth Pacts and the Pact of Aggression. The action of the PSD/CDS-PP government in the past four years left the country more impoverished, unjust, backward and dependent. The country lost productive capacity, wealth, strategic companies, employment and population. The workers and the Portuguese people lost income, rights and have seen their living standards fall back several years. The «sacrifices» of millions of Portuguese during this period, so cynically invoked by PSD and CDS-PP to justify their destructive work, were reflected in the profits of speculators, banks, economic and financial groups and the great powers, were reflected in the concentration and monopolist restoration, these truly, the real beneficiaries of the policy of exploitation and impoverishment that was imposed.
Far from the economic recovery heralded by resorting to successive acts of deception and falsification of the reality by the promoters and beneficiaries of the right-wing policies, the mark of these last years is the deepest recession since the second half of the last century.
De-industrialization continued, both in relative and absolute terms. The fishing catches declined in the past five years, to the lowest recorded value. The sharp decline of farms (and the concentration of land ownership) and the cutting down of the fishing fleet continued. All the agriculture and fisheries, plus industry and construction, which represented about a third of national production on the eve of joining the euro, today represent less than a quarter and, in the process, lost a third of its workers.
Investment (gross fixed capital formation), which fell considerably since joining the euro, with the intervention of the troika and of the PSD/CDS-PP government, even ceased to compensate the wear of fixed capital, decapitalizing and degrading the national productive apparatus. The total expenditure on research and development, in relation to GDP, has been falling since 2009. The utilization of productive capacity remains well below the levels prior to 2008. The trade balance, following the brutal contraction of consumption and investment, which led to trade surpluses, once again turned deficitary. The country remains basically stagnant and the contraction of investment, reduced to a minimum over five decades, compromises the recovery and the future.
Despite having benefited in recent years, from an atmosphere that may continue, of low interest rates, low oil prices, a devalued euro, the extension of ECB’s program of monetary expansion, the debts, public and foreign, respectively of 130.6% and 112.4% of GDP, at the end of September 2015, were among highest in the world. In fact, the debt, because of its size and unsustainability deepened in these years, the wealth created by the Portuguese workers, so needed for public investment and social functions of the State, has been absorbed by big financial and foreign capital.
The Central Committee of the PCP considers that with this policy there cannot be, nor could there be, a real recovery in employment, nor a substantial drop in unemployment, as has been trumpeted. The official rate of unemployment, in the last quarter, was 11.9%. But if it includes the underemployed and the discouraged inactive or those temporarily unavailable, the real unemployment is 20.7%. Not counting the several thousand emigrants (around 135,000 in 2014 and around 500,000 during the previous legislative term) or those engaged in employment programs or vocational training (around 134,000 in October).
On the other hand, precariousness grew massively, in a strategy of lowering labour costs and worsening exploitation. Emigration, temporary or permanent, always increased in the last four years. Portugal had, in 2013, around 2 million and 700,000 poor and, in 2014, about a quarter of the population lived in material deprivation. All these indicators worsened since 2009, as well as inequalities in income distribution with the theft of wages, pensions, retirement pay, social benefits, the brutal tax burden on non-monopolist classes and strata. Portugal has become a socially impoverished and unfairer country.
While the banks were being offered an amount much higher than 20 thousand million euros from public funds (between 2008 and 2014), 7 to 9 thousand million euros per year were diverted for payment of interest on public debt, many thousands of euros in aid and tax breaks were handed to big business, horse-trading went on - from SWAP contracts to Public Private Partnerships - and scandals like that involving BES/GES came into the open, and, on the grounds that there was no money, public companies were sold on the cheap handing control of the national economy to foreigners, public services rendered to the population were greatly degraded, National Health Service was attacked, Public School disqualified, Local Administration and Autonomous Regions decreased in their means and autonomy, justice and culture subject to instrumentalization and contempt.
By deepening the right-wing policy imposed by successive governments, the PSD/CDS-PP government left the country on its knees. The Central Committee of the PCP underlines and recalls, once again, that the last government carried out a policy of open and systematic confrontation with the Constitution of the Republic. A government that used the deficit as an excuse to impose the most destructive measures, and not even the target they themselves set, of accomplishing the goal of a deficit below 3% of the GDP, was fulfilled in any of the last few years.
A government that, to the last, continued its policy of disaster, lied to the Portuguese people with the monumental scam of a «devolution of the income tax surcharge» on the eve of the elections, that sought to hand over TAP, despite being limited in its capacities, that concealed the real situation of the banks, particularly in the case of BANIF, that for years deceived the real economic and financial situation of the country (as revealed by the latest figures released by the Official Bureau of Statistics) is a government that has acted, together with the President, as a board of directors of the interests of big business.
3. A new phase in national political life
After the rejection of the PSD / CDS-PP government program on November 10 in the Assembly of the Republic, the final defeat of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition was consummated, ending the deliberate dragging on - fifty days after the parliamentary elections of October 4 – through which the President sought to prevent and hinder the materialization of a governing solution in accordance with the new relationship of political forces in the Assembly of the Republic.
The Central Committee of the PCP underlines the scope and meaning that the removal of PSD/CDS-PP coalition government represents. To begin with, the confirmed expression of electoral defeat imposed by the Portuguese, inseparable from the struggle of the workers and the people which, over the past four years, was developed in defence of rights and incomes, and had in the action called by the CGTP-IN for the day when the PSD/CDS-PP government program was rejected, an important moment of affirmation of the value of the struggle as a factor of achievement and advancement. Also because, as the development of the situation has revealed, it denied the deception about the nature and objectives of parliamentary elections - confirming the decisive role of electing MPs – who determine in fact the composition of the Assembly of the Republic. And finally, because, as the PCP said, the desire expressed by the Portuguese people translated not only an unequivocal condemnation of the government but also of its policy, with the demand for change that the elections proved.
As the Central Committee of the PCP stressed in its meeting on November 8 «it was the expression of the demand for this change in the national political life that the PCP answered. It was, and is, the expectation of a policy able to ensure economic development, hand back stolen income and rights, valorise wages and pensions, promote employment and combat injustice, restore the full right to health and education, ensuring solid social security and higher levels of social protection, ensure quality public services, that the workers and the people aspire to see materialized».
With the defeat of PSD/CDS-PP the conditions were created for the formation of a PS government, the presentation of its program and entering office. The «Joint Position of the PS and the PCP on the political solution» is the basis for the adoption of a policy to ensure a lasting solution in terms of the legislature. The real and committed effort by the PCP is, without prejudice to the recognized limitations and that the degree of convergence enabled, is to enhance its implementation and provide, through the measures and policies adopted, the sign of change that the Portuguese demanded with their clear condemnation of the previous government and policy.
A new phase in national politics is now opened, with better conditions to answer many of the pressing problems of the workers and the Portuguese people. With the government's action, as is now required, but not less important and decisive, with the real possibility opened with the new composition of the Assembly of the Republic, of adopting the decisions that meet the legitimate aspirations of the Portuguese people. There is in the Assembly an institutional base that will enable the implementation of a set of measures and solutions that answer the interests of the workers and the people, an institutional base that will go as far as the will of each political force that composes it, supporting the path of restoration of wages and incomes, the handing back of rights, strengthening the access to health, education and social security, supporting small and medium-size companies, pensioners, the youth.
Nothing prevents that, from the early days of this new legislature, a set of bills are tabled and adopted to correspond to the new institutional conditions to respond to the rights and aspirations of the workers and the people. More than conjectures or speculations about the durability of the now materialized governing solution, it is particularly important to stress that it essentially depends on the policy that the government and the PS will adopt.
The PCP reaffirms its commitment to the workers, the people and the country. The lasting commitment which the PCP renews, with the sure guarantee of its commitment to contribute, affirming its ideological and political independence, to ensure for Portugal a path of economic development, social progress and national independence.
The possibility now opened to take steps, limited but nevertheless important, of adopting a path to reverse the course of decline imposed in the last four years cannot and should not be wasted. Albeit with the full awareness that this does not leave out, on the contrary requires, the essential aim of a rupture with the right-wing policy and the implementation of a patriotic and left-wing policy. A policy that the PCP reaffirms as absolutely essential to break the power of monopoly capital and the limitations and constraints stemming from the capitalist integration of the European Union and its instruments of domination.
As the PCP has stated, the PS government's program has as its primary basis - subject to the amendments introduced in view of the matters identified in joint positions - the Electoral Program of the PS that we then characterised as being tied to a set of external and internal constraints that have conditioned the development of the country. The debate on the PS Government Program, which culminated in the rejection of the rejection motion tabled by PSD and CDS-PP, revealed the vindictive attitude of how these parties and the most reactionary sectors associated with big business, encouraged by the complicity of Cavaco Silva, have reacted to the questioning of their class interests.
The Central Committee cannot but condemn the role played by the President of the Republic who, from the first to the last moment, in clash with the Assembly of the Republic and disregard for democratic rules required from the President, tried to impose the continuation of the PSD/CDS-PP government, feeding a political crisis of his own making, in disregard for the will of the Assembly and the constitutional duties to which he is bound.
The Central Committee of the PCP alerts to the risk, in view of renewed threats by Cavaco Silva in his speech at the inauguration of the XXI Constitutional Government, of preparing, together with PSD and CDS-PP, to step up his confrontational action with the government and the Assembly of the Republic.
4. Elections for President of the Republic: comply with the Constitution, affirming the April values
Just a month away from the presidential elections, whose first round takes place on January 24, the candidacy of Edgar Silva assumed, with its intervention, clarity of stand and project, as a factor of affirmation not only of the indispensable exercise of presidential functions that respect for the Constitution demands, but also the demand for change and rupture with the course of decline that the right-wing policy imposed on the country.
As the framework of the various candidacies becomes clearer and election day approaches, it is more necessary to continue the commitment of Edgar Silva’s candidacy, boosting the growth of its dynamics, strength and mass expression to project it as the candidacy of those who do not yield or surrender to the objectives and blackmail of big interests and of the powerful, and their project of exploitation of the workers and the people. A candidacy that will carry to the ballot box this dynamics and this force.
From the time of its public launch, in many sessions, meetings and contacts, the candidacy of Edgar Silva has been clarifying the clear lines of rupture for the necessary reversal of a situation marked by increased exploitation, injustice, social regression and national decline; new threats that weigh on the democratic regime, aiming its impoverishment and mischaracterization; increasing factors that jeopardize sovereignty and national independence.
A candidacy that assumes the presidential powers and functions as a means to intervene in order to contribute to the materialization of a political, economic, social and cultural democracy and presents to the Portuguese and the country a project able to ensure a developed Portugal, of progress and sovereign.
Presented by the PCP, the candidacy of Edgar Silva unites and has been collecting broad support among the workers and the people and a growing breadth and convergence of democratic sectors that the 15,000 application signatures handed to the Constitutional Court (the highest number legally allowed) on December 7 clearly express.
The Central Committee of the PCP stresses that the candidacy of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, benefiting from a media promotion where he falsely tries to present as an «independent» candidate, a person who has a long track of service to PSD (of which he was president, minister, secretary of State, MP and elected member of local government), is part of the projects that PSD and CDS-PP have, using that sovereign body, of regaining what they lost on October 4. A candidate of the PSD and CDS-PP, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would represent in the Presidency the continuation of an action, like Cavaco Silva, in the interests of economic and financial groups and that, given the recent developments in the national political situation, would assume as an instrument of the vindictive project of sectors of big business.
Taking into account the already clarified candidacies, the Central Committee of the PCP stresses that the candidacy of Maria de Belém, which gathers supports markedly associated with sectors of economic and financial groups, has revealed, among other things, with the readings she has been doing on the evolution the recent political framework, an idea and thoughts close to those that marked the conduct of the process by Cavaco Silva.
Regarding the candidacy of Sampaio da Nóvoa, it should be stressed that, affirming his commitment to the Constitution of the Republic, has, in projecting his lines of campaign, hesitations resulting from contradictions inherent to the origin and support involving his candidacy.
They are also other candidacies whose courses and motivations are diverse
In contrast with other candidacies, the candidacy of Edgar Silva is a clear choice for the valorisation of labour and workers, the assertion of their rights and aspirations, and the unequivocal support and identification with their struggle and assumes the need for defence of national sovereignty against foreign subordination and surrender to the financial markets and the directory of the European Union powers.
The candidacy of Edgar Silva, like no other, has as objectives a rupture with the right-wing policy and the implementation of a patriotic and left-wing project, which has in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and in the April values the reference to ensure a more developed and sovereign country.
It is this objective that the workers and the people, democrats and patriots, all those who wish to guarantee the right to a sovereign Portugal should continue with their intervention and struggle. An objective inseparable from the contribution that they will be called to make for the elections for President of the Republic, to prevent the continued course of commitment with the right-wing policy and confrontation with the Constitution of the Republic.
5. Strengthen the anti-imperialist struggle, solidarity and cooperation
The Central Committee of PCP alerts to the serious dangers following the escalation of tension and confrontation triggered by imperialism, that multiplies the foci of interference and destabilization, fosters the action of xenophobic and fascist forces, increases militarism and war, inseparable from the nature of capitalism and the profound crisis it faces – which not only persists but is accentuated – and trying to confront the resistance and struggle of the workers and peoples.
In this framework, in the sequence of the recent attacks perpetuated in Paris, and the pretext of «war» against terrorism, several elements assume particular importance: the imposition of renewed securitarian measures that attack rights, liberties and fundamental guarantees; the promotion of xenophobic and racists sentiments that have fostered the growth of extreme-right forces in Europe – as shown by the recent regional elections in France; and the resurgence of militarist interventions.
The Central Committee of PCP calls attention to the concerning situation in the Middle East where, faced with the persistent resistance of Syria and the support it receives to defend from imperialist aggression, the USA and its allies in NATO and in the region – like Turkey, Israel and the reactionary Gulf regimes – seek to achieve a new step in the process of aggression against the Syrian people, alleging a supposed fight against the group denominated «Islamic State».
A US increase in interventionist and militarist escalation that, disrespecting international law and the UN Charter, represents a renewed threat to the territorial sovereignty and integrity of Syria and Iraq, entailing not only dramatic dangers for the peoples of the Middle East, but also a risk of developing a conflict of greater and catastrophic proportions – in which the provocation by Turkey, by attacking a military plane of the Russian Federation, constitutes a serious step.
The response to terrorism, including State terrorism, requires the end of political, financial and military support of the US and its allies to groups that spread terror and destruction in Syrian and Iraq — such as those that group around the so-called «Islamic State» — and the end of interference and aggression against sovereign States that do not submit to the projects of domination of the Middle East by imperialism.
The Central Committee of PCP reiterates that the end of escalation of violence in the Middle East requires the respect for the sovereignty and independence of States and not new military adventures, from which Portugal should distance itself and condemn. The foreign policy of Portugal – respecting its constitution and the UN Charter – should guide itself by the principles of peace, friendship and cooperation with all peoples of the world.
The Central Committee of PCP calls attention to the offensive of imperialism and the reaction in Latin America, aimed to revert the processes of national sovereignty and social progress that have removed the Latin-American continent from the imperialist domination of the US, and that has expression in the election of the neoliberal candidate in the Argentinian presidential elections, the attempted coup to impeach the President of Brazil and the results in the recent election in Venezuela, and its use for an escalated provocation.
Given the parliamentary majority obtained by the forces hostile to the Bolivarian process, achieved in the context of a particularly unfavorable context, of systematic sabotage and the brutal interference of imperialism in the internal affairs of Venezuela, PCP expresses its internationalist solidarity with PSUV, PCV and the remaining forces of the Great Patriot Pole, the Venezuelan workers and people in the struggle in defense of the Bolivarian revolution and its achievements.
Given the announced agreement following the Paris Conference in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Central Committee of PCP underlines that, namely regarding the more ambitious objectives of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, that these do not find an answer in the approved text.
When what was demanded was assuming the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, between developing and industrialized countries, the proposal is a single system, susceptible of deepening injustice among the countries that most contribute and have contributed to the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere and the developing countries.
It outlines the objective of reinforcing the Green Fund to 100 billion dollars annually, in the context in which the centers of decision of big capital aim, under the guise of fighting climate change, legitimize mechanisms (like the “Carbon Market”) of commodifying nature and capitalist accumulation, in order to favor the financing of projects of the economic groups and the processes of interference in developing countries, potentiating imperialist domination over the resources of these countries. Alleging that the market mechanisms are those that give answers to problems, the promote an intense campaign of mystifying propaganda, what also aims to legitimize the appearing the new rates to fall upon the workers and peoples, removing the encumbrance of the environmental problems promoted by the capitalist system, the monopolistic groups and the strategy of imperialist domination, accentuating inequalities and not solving the main problems faced by humanity.
The Central Committee of PCP values and salutes the struggle of workers and peoples that — in situations of great demand — resist the exploitative, oppressive and aggressive offensive of imperialism, defending their rights, interests and aspirations, national sovereignty and independence, anti-monopolist and anti-imperialist transformations, and socialism.
The concerning evolution of the international situation and resulting dangers – like the threat of fascism and war – reaffirm the importance of the reinforcement and cooperation of the communist and international revolutionary movement and its convergence with other forces of social progress, national liberation, peace, freedom and democracy, and affirming a broad anti-imperialist front.
6. Develop the struggle, defend, restore and conquer rights
The new political framework, as a result of the expression of the majority of the popular vote on October 4th, that translated in a new correlation of forces in Parliament, appeals to the intervention of workers and people in pursuing an effective change of policy demanded in the elections by the Portuguese people.
The Central Committee of PCP calls attention to the demand of the present time, which does not relinquish, on the contrary, the conscious intervention of workers and people and underlines the importance of the actions called for by CGTP/IN: demonstration held on November 10th in front of Parliament, with the objective of defeating the PSD/CDS-PP government and the plans of the President to maintain it in function, as well as actions held in various parts of the country on November 24th and the rallies on November 28th in Braga, Porto and Lisbon, to demand the fulfillment of the Constitution, removing the PSD/CDS-PP government and nominating the government that resulted from the convergence initiative, a change in policy and the response to the demands of workers.
In the present situation, in which there are more favorable conditions to answer the urgent problems of workers and the Portuguese people, the development of worker action and mass struggle is indispensable.
In this framework, it is even more necessary to develop a struggle that ensures the valuing of wages, the restores individual and collective rights stolen from workers, that fights precariousness, that ensures the return of wages and incomes that were stole, that values pensions, that recovers social protection and social benefits, that guarantees the rights of the Portuguese people to health, education, social security, justice and culture.
The Central Committee of PCP points to the need to reinforce the intervention of mass organizations and movements and their convergence in a broad social front of struggle. Broad organizations and movements that constitute an irreplaceable instrument of organization and struggle in defense of the interests and aspirations specific to non-monopolistic sectors: of the working class, intellectual and technical workers, farmers, small and medium businessmen, the youth, women, the retired, the disabled, the populations burdened by desertification and the attacks upon public services. Struggle that, over the last years, contributed decisively to face the right-wing policy and defeat the PSD/CDS-PP government, and that now is a decisive factor in achieving the aspiration of a change in policy, demanded in the streets and ballot boxes on October 4th.
The Central Committee of PCP calls attention to the fact that, in the last weeks, PSD and CDS-PP, with the involvement of big business and the expression of a significant part of the media, have developed a campaign with the objective of questioning the role of the worker struggle, aiming to condition the de action and demands of workers and protect the interests of big capital.
The Central Committee of PCP appeals to all members of the Party to get involved in the preparation and realization of the XIIth Congress of CGTP-IN, to be held on February 26-27th in Almada and contribute to its success.
7. Reinforce the Party, dynamize political initiative
The Central Committee of PCP salutes the Party organizations and militants for the action developed affirming PCP, its identity and project, in the defense of the interests of the workers and people and stimulating the development of its organization and struggle, for their essential contribution towards the fall of the PSD/CDS-PP government and its removal form power thereby opening a phase of the national political life with more favorable conditions to respond to the urgent problems of the Portuguese workers and people, for their persistent intervention towards a rupture with right-wing policy and for a patriotic and left-wing alternative.
In the present framework, the Central Committee of PCP outlines as priority guidelines for the Party action: the dynamizing political initiative and intervention at the several levels, in the response to the problems and aspirations, implementing the political compromising assumed on urgent measures, in affirming a rupture with right-wing policies and the achievement of a patriotic and left-wing policy, tied to the values of April; the development of workers and people policy in defense and restoration of their rights, in response to their problems and aspirations, in achieving an alternative policy; their work towards strengthening the mass organizations and movements, in particular the broad mass trade-union movement; the intensification of the broad-based political work, in cooperation with democrats and patriots; the development of international action, for solidarity, cooperation and peace; the action of Party reinforcement.
The Central Committee of PCP highlights the importance of work already developed in response to the problems and aspirations of workers and people, namely the presentation of initiatives in Parliament such as the restoration of a 35 hour work week in Public Administration, the restoration of national holidays, the restoration of pensions complements in the State Business Sector, the concession that guarantee transport to workers of the sector, the cancellation and reversal of the processes of fusion, restructuring and sub concession of the Lisbon bus and subway companies, of the privatization of EGF, TAP and CP-Carga, the fusion of REFER with Portugal Roads, as well as the sub concession of public transportation of Porto, the increase of the national minimum wage to 600 euros in the beginning of 2016, the end of tolls in the ex-SCUT, and noting the already achieved approval of the repeal of measures of coercion and conditioning upon women of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The Central Committee of PCP reaffirms the importance of pursing the initiative to answer the problems of workers and people, namely in matters of combat to precariousness, including the false receipts; the abusive resource to internships and the use of job-insertion contracts to replace workers; the guarantee the protection of the family home given the mortgages and fiscal executions; the measures of reinforcement of the National Health System and its human, technical and financial means; progressively zero cost on school manuals; the integration of doctored researchers in laboratories and other public institutions; or the progressive replacement of pos-doctoral scholarships by research contracts.
In the framework of the priority guidelines, the Central Committee of PCP highlights for the year of 2016 the following initiatives and tasks:
- Dynamization of the candidacy of Edgar Silva in the Presidential elections;
- The development of a general action that involves, in addition to a number of initiatives on the main problems and challenges of the country, the realization of a national campaign with workers on the fight against precariousness, recovering the rights and incomes that were stolen and the interests of the social class.
- Dynamization of the final phase of the National Fund Campaign «More room, more festival. Future with April» towards the purchase of the Quinta do Cabo and the preparation of the 40th Festival of Avante!, to be held on 2,3 and 4th of September, in Atalaia, Amora, Seixal incorporating for the first time the space of Quinta do Cabo;
- Commemorating the anniversary of Avante!, inserted in the launch of the ongoing propaganda campaign, and the commemoration of the 95th anniversary of Party;
- The actions on March 8th (Women’s day), March 24th (Student Day) and March 28th (Youth Day).
- The development of a program of initiatives valuing the Portuguese Constitution when the 40th anniversary of its approval occurs on April 2nd, including a great political and cultural initiative on April 2nd.
- The commemorations of April 25th and May 1st.
- The elections for the Legislative Assembly of Azores.
The Central Committee of PCP considers the reinforcement of the Party as a fundamental task implementing an action with specific of achieving the Resolution «more organization, more intervention, more influence — a stronger PCP» involving: the reinforcement of the Party organization and intervention in companies and workplaces; the development of other lines of structure for working with the masses; the adoption of leadership measures and raising militant responsibilities; ending the action of contacts with party members in the organizations that have not yet finished; the reinforcement of structures and the propaganda work and achieving the promotion of the Avante! Campaign; the measures to ensure the financial independence of the Party.
The Central Committee of PCP decides to schedule the XXth Congress of PCP for December 2,3 and 4th of 2016.
The XXth Congress takes place in an international situation that highlights the exploitative, oppressive, aggressive and predatory nature of capitalism, the worsening of its structural crisis and the violent action of imperialism to submit, through repression and war, the strong resistance and struggle of workers and people. It will be held in a national situation of visible nefarious consequences of right-wing policy, the Stabilization and Growth Pacts and the Pact of Aggression and the decisive intervention of the worker’s and people struggle that led to the defeat of the PSD/CDS-PP government and a new correlation of forces in Parliament. The Congress is called upon to analyze this situation and the issues it raises, and define the guidelines and tasks of the Party.
The preparation and realization of the Congress, in a situation of particular demands, with the specific work it entails and an ample involvement of the party collective, should be integrated in its political intervention and the work of reinforcement of the Party.
The XXth Congress represents an opportunity to strengthen the Portuguese Communist Party, the reaffirmation of its identity and its project of advanced democracy, socialism and communism.
