Comrades

Among the measures adopted over the past few years to strengthen the Party, it is worthwhile mentioning the Central Committe's Resolution «More organization, more intervention, more influence – a stronger PCP» and heighlighting the National Recruitment Campaign and the nationwide action of contacts with Party members to enhance their militancy, update data and deliver Party membership cards, which had a great impact on the Party's collective.

Over the past four years, 5,300 new members were recruited, of which 2,127 in the context of the aforementioned campaign. This represents a significant success for the Party and has led to the establishment and strengthening of Party cells in enterprises, local organizations, and to the strengthening of mass organizations and movements. Some of those new Party members are presently delegates to our Congress and I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of them.

Following the expected reduction in numbers that resulted from the action undertaken to clarify the status of every single member, the Party has now 54,280 members.

Of these, a significant majority are workers 39% and employees 32%. 15% have less than 40 years, 41% have ages between 41 and 64 years and 44% are older than 64 years. The percentage of women has increased to 31%.

There are 2542 bodies, of which 354 are based in enterprises, workplaces or sectors of activity, and 616 are based on places of residence.

Comrades, we have been talking about the first meaning of 'organization', which includes the issues and tasks of recruitment, structuring, the bodies, organs and organizations and their roles and responsibilities.

Bur organization is not an end in itself, but a tool to intervene on the world that we want to transform. Hence, a broader meaning of 'organization' encompasses all Party activities and includes defining objectives and actions to be undertaken. Scheduling the initiatives and the stages to carry them out. Mobilizing and distributing the necessary resources. Distributing tasks and leading and executing them. Within this second meaning, organization means systematization, method, effectiveness.

It is thus that we are able to deploy the Party in an organized fashion outside the Party's centres (Centros de Trabalho), on the shopfloors and on the streets, informing and learning with the workers and the people, mobilizing them for their struggles which, for the changes that they bring about, the confidence that they convey and the extraordinary transformative power that they carry within themselves are the key element to alter the political situation in ways that are favourable to workers, the people and the country.

The draft political resolution includes, among others, the following initiatives aimed at strengthening the Party:

A large-scale action to recruit and make new members join the Party. We will have to talk to thousands of fellow country men and women and explain why it is important for them to join the Party. And we will have many arguments to do so!

Heightening and valuing active membership of the Party:

- As a means to enhance cohesion and the commitment to the Party.

- As a factor of personal fulfilment for each and every member.

- As a key element for the Party's strength.

Comrades, inspired by a certain view of the Party, we sometimes ask our comrades: Which organization do you belong to?

We should start asking them as well: which is your task in the Party? And we can start straight away here, at our Congress!

Assigning a task to every member and a body before which he or she is accountable is essential to make our Party stronger and to enhance its ability to intervene.

And if a comrade can give the Party 3 hours every week, then we will have to find tasks that are commensurate with that availability.

Planning the leadership work to address this need is a task for all the Party's bodies.

Comrades, I'm sure that you all agree that we are going to expand significantly the organized strength of our Party.

Strengthening the organization and intervention of the Party among the working class and the workers. That is the key priority of our work in the Party.
However, we face many and diverse objective difficulties that hinder our work. Unemloyment, casual labour, repression, low wages, among others. But they do not represent impossibilities and, starting from the objective conditions, we have to recruit more workers to the Party, establish Party cells in enterprises and assign more cadres to this work.

Besides this and other initiatives that should be rolled out immediately, we should also carry out a large-scale, nation-wide awareness-raising action about our Party in enterprises and workplaces.

The local grassroots organizations are very important for the overall activities of the Party and play an important role in its link to the masses.

We have progressed significantly in this area but we need to do more and what remains to be done is still huge.

We have to adapt the functioning of the Party bodies to their concrete reality and to provide an impetus to the struggles of populations and specific social sectors focused on their problems and aspirations.

When the organizations are rooted in the environment from which they emerge, in life, in what is new, they extend the Party's prestige, they feed on the contagious enthusiasm and transfomative force of the struggles. It is here that they eventually find the new members, cadres, energies, inspiration and resources that are so necessary for our struggle.

Our links to the masses are an essential nourishment without which our Party cannot live a healthy life.

Therefore, identifying and removing from the daily activities of the organizations all the constraints that prevent them from establishing closer links with the people must be a priority task for the Party as a whole.

In his book Rumo à Vitória (On the Path to Victory), comrade Álvaro Cunhal left us the following teaching, and I quote: «It is possible to do things without an organization, but one cannot launch major struggles, give them comtinuity, take them to a higher level». End of quote.

Comrade,

The Portuguese people need and expect us to give an impetus to their struggles to address their immediate problems and aspirations.

For that to happen, we need more organization.

The working class and workers in general require and expect the Party to support their struggle against exploitation and oppression.

And for that to happen, we need more organization.

We have to take the struggle to new levels to bring about Patriotic and Leftwing Policies and an Advanced Democracy, which are an integral part of the socialist society that we shall build.

And for that to happen we need more, a lot more organization.

We all know that big business is not afraid of struggles, but is afraid of organized struggles.

That is why big business deploys its powerful political, organic, ideological arsenal to serve but one goal: to destroy the Party and its organization so as to better exploit workers and the people.

I'm sure that you will agree with me when I say that, from our Congress, we should tell them very clearly: Forget about it! Workers, the people and this great Party collective will not let that happen! We shall strngthen further our organization, we will make our Party stronger and bring it even closer to the masses, to enhance the struggle that will lead us to a difficult but generous, deeply humanistic and revolutionary goal: to bring happinessto the Portuguese.

Long live the Party's Organization!
Long live the Portuguese Communist Party!