p The social and political situation in the world today makes it possible to raise the anti-imperialist struggle to a new level. Decisive superiority over imperialism and the defeat of its policy of aggression and war can be secured by intensifying the offensive against it. This insistently demands concrete practical steps and actions on all continents in order to give a clear perspective to the democratic and progressive forces, to all the forces desiring a positive solution of the major problems worrying mankind today, the problems of the peace and the security of nations.

p The Communist and Workers’ Parties represented at the Meeting, aware of their historic responsibility, propose united action to all Communists of the world, to all opponents of imperialism, to all who are prepared to fight for peace, freedom and progress.

p 1, A primary objective of united action is to give all-round support to the heroic Vietnamese people. The Meeting calls on all who cherish peace and national independence to intensify the struggle in order to compel US imperialism to withdraw its interventionist troops from Vietnam, cease interfering in the internal affairs of that country and respect the right of the Vietnamese people to solve their problems by themselves. The final victory of the Vietnamese patriots is of fundamental importance for strengthening the positions of the peoples in the struggle against imperialist diktat and arbitrary rule. Co-ordinated 31 measures by all the countries of the socialist system and joint efforts by all Communist and Workers’ Parties, all progressive parties and mass democratic organisations and by all other freedom- and peace-loving forces are needed to hasten this victory. The Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties welcomes the formation of the Revolutionary Provisional Government of the Republic of South Vietnam and sees it as an important stage in the heroic liberation struggle of the Vietnamese people. The Meeting calls for activity. to assure a successful outcome of the Paris talks, which is perfectly realisable on the basis of the 10 points proposed by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

p 2. The main link of united action of the anti-imperialist forces remains the struggle against war for world peace, against the menace of a thermonuclear world war and mass extermination which continues to hang over mankind. A new world war can be averted by the combined effort of the socialist countries, the international working class, the national liberation movement, all peace-loving countries, public organisations and mass movements.

p 3. The defence of peace is inseparably linked up with the struggle to compel the imperialists to accept peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems, which demands observance of the principles of sovereignty, equality, territorial inviolability of every state, big and small, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, respect for the rights of every people freely to decide their social, economic and political system, and the settlement of outstanding international issues by political means through negotiation.

p The policy of peaceful coexistence facilitates the positive solution of economic and social problems of the developing countries.

p The policy of peaceful coexistence does not contradict the right of any oppressed people to fight for its liberation by any means it considers necessaryarmed or peaceful. This policy in no way signifies support for reactionary regimes.

p It is equally indisputable that every people has the inalienable right to take up arms in defence against encroachments by imperialist aggressors and to avail itself of the help of other peoples in its just cause. This is an integral part of the general anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples.

p The attempts of imperialism to overcome its internal contradictions by building up international tension and creating hotbeds of war are hampered by the policy of peaceful coexistence. This policy does not imply either the preservation of the socio-political status quo or a weakening of the ideological struggle. It helps to promote the class struggle against imperialism on a national and world-wide scale. Determined class struggle for the abolition of the monopolies and their rule, for the institution of a genuinely democratic system, and for the establishment of socialist power, whatever may be the road leading to this goal, is an inalienable right and duty of the working people and their Communist Parties in the capitalist countries. The Communists of the world are in solidarity with this just battle.

p Mass action against imperialism is a condition for implementing the policy of peaceful coexistence. Directed as it is against the warmongers, reactionaries and monopoly arms manufacturers, this policy meets the general interests of the 32 revolutionary struggle against every form of oppression and exploitation, and promotes friendship between all pepples and the development of fruitful economic, scientific, technological and other spheres of co-operation between countries with different social systems in the interests of social progress.

p Communists regard it as their duty to combat the imperialist policy of whipping up international tension and any attempt aimed by them at bringing back the cold war, and to work for a relaxation of tension, which is one of the most insistent and urgent demands of the peoples.

p 4. To preserve peace the most urgent task is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to enforce the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. In urging the ratification of the treaty, the Communist Parties see this as a link in the chain of measures designed to lead to nuclear disarmament and the destruction of nuclear weapon stockpiles. At the same time, it is necessary to secure a ban on nuclear weapons, the cessation of their production and testing.

p The setting up of nuclear-free zones in various parts of the world would be of great practical importance in improving the international atmosphere and strengthening trust between states. The main effort should be directed towards the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Nuclear energy should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.

p It is necessary to step up the struggle for an effective ban on bacteriological and chemical weapons, which have been extensively used by the US forces in Vietnam.

p The basic interests of the peoples demand the intensification of the struggle against militarism in all its forms, particularly against the military-industrial complex of the USA and other imperialist states. We call on all peace-loving forces to mount a struggle for a radical cutback in military budgets, for general and complete disarmament under effective international control so as to switch resources now absorbed by the arms race to improving the working people’s life, promoting the health services and education and rendering assistance to the developing countries.

p Alongside its universal tasks, the struggle for peace has very important tasks of a more specific or more regional nature whose aim is to assure security in some continents or geographic zones. The attainment of these objectives which are interlinked corresponds to the interests and aspirations of all Communists, all anti-imperialist forces, all the peoples of the world.

p The interests of world peace call for the disbandment of military blocs. As before, the Communist and Workers’ Parties consider that the existence of imperialist-imposed military blocs and military bases on the territory of other states is an obstacle to co-operation between countries. A genuine guarantee of the security and one of the conditions for the progress of each European country must be the establishment in Europe of an effective.system of security founded on relations of equality and mutual respect among all the states in the continent, on the combined efforts of all the European peoples; In this light the socialist countries have already declared for the simultaneous dissolution of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty. The Meeting emphatically condemns the provocative attempts of the imperialist powers, particularly the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany and Britain, to step up the activity of NATO. 33 The disbandment of NATO would be a decisive step towards the dissolution of all blocs, the dismantling of all military bases on foreign soil and the establishment of a reliable system of collective security. In conformity with the interests of peace, the peoples demand that the imperialist states put an end to flights of bombers carrying nuclear weapons over foreign territories, that surface ships and submarines with nuclear weapons on board be barred from foreign ports, and demand the renunciation of any forcible actions and of the threat of force.

p Attainment of lasting security in this continent is a problem which holds a paramount place in the minds and aspirations of the European peoples. The Conferences of the Warsaw Treaty member-countries in Bucharest in 1966 and in Budapest in 1969, and also the Karlovy Vary Conference in 1967 charted a concrete programme of action and measures to create a system of European security.

p It is imperative to secure the inviolability of the existing frontiers in Europe, in particular the frontiers along the Oder-Neisse and the frontier between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, and to work for the international legal recognition of the German Democratic Republic, for preventing West Germany from securing atomic weapons in any form, for the renunciation by the Federal Republic of Germany of her claim to represent the whole of Germany, the recognition of West Berlin as a separate political entity, the recognition that the Munich diktat was invalid from the very outset, and the banning of all neo-naxi organisations. Peace and security in Europe demand the curbing of the revanchist forces in West Germany, guaranteeing the European peoples their sovereign right to be masters of their continent without interference from the USA, mutually beneficial economic, scientific and technological co-operation among the European countries and the establishment of relations between them founded on a genuine relaxation of tension and mutual trust.

p The principle of the inviolability of neutral states must be respected unconditionally. These states can make a major contribution to the policy of peaceful coexistence if they take advantage of every opportunity to act in a spirit of detente and peace. To achieve these aims energetic steps have to be taken in this direction and the problem of European security approached with initiative, with a will to achieve concrete practical measures.

p The organisation of a broad congress of European peoples, which would prepare for, and facilitate the holding of, a conference of states, is the most important of all these peace initiatives.

p 5. The Meeting calls on world public opinion to display unflagging and active solidarity with the peoples and countries which are constant objects of aggressive encroachments by imperialism—the German Democratic Republic, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the entire Korean people. The Meeting calls for the restoration of the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations and the return of Taiwan at present under United States military occupation. It remains the duty of Communists and all other revolutionary and anti-Imperialist forces in Latin America and throughout the world to defend the Republic of Cuba.

p We Communists call for united action against all imperialist acts of aggression, 34 against recourse to local wars and other forms of intervention by imperialism in any area of the world. In face of the aggressive policy pursued by the imperialists and the ruling circles of Israel, we pledge solidarity with the Arab peoples who demand the return of the territories occupied by the Israeli invaders, this being an urgent demand and an indispensable condition for establishing peace and achieving a political settlement in the Middle East on the basis of a complete implementation of the November 1967 resolution of the United Nations Security Council.

p 6. Communists reiterate their solidarity with the struggle of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America for independence and national sovereignty, for liberation from every kind of economic and political hegemony of the imperialist circles and monopolies, for withdrawal from the system of military alliances and blocs imposed on them by the imperialist powers and against imperialist tendencies to step up the arms race on these continents and to preserve and create new hotbeds of tension, for dismantling foreign military bases and for establishing relations conducive to the free development of every people.

p The demand of our epoch is to rid our planet completely of the curse of colonialism, destroy its last centres and prevent its revival in new, camouflaged forms. We call on all men of goodwill, on all supporters of democracy, to work together to do away with the vestiges of colonialism and to struggle against neo-colonialism. We urge effective international measures in support of the patriots of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, in support of all oppressed peoples.

p One of the big problems of our time to which the Communist and Workers’ Parties are drawing public attention and which they are energetically striving to solve is the elimination of the backwardness of many countries and entire continents engendered by prolonged colonial and imperialist rule. The main task facing these countries today is to promote economic, social and political, development, which can be achieved only within the framework of genuine independence from imperialism and as a result of far-reaching democratic and revolutionary changes. To solve this problem it is necessary to mobilise and Unite all the progressive forces of each country and develop mutually advantageous ties between them and with the socialist countries.

p 7. We consider it imperative to step up the fight against the fascist menace and relentlessly to rebuff pro-fascist sorties. Fascism is intensifying its activity at atime when the crisis of imperialism is growing sharper, when reaction is increasingly inclined to use brutal methods to crush the democratic and revolutionary forces. In Greece neo-fascism has seized power. In Spain the ultras are trying to return to fascist methods of repression and are making futile efforts to halt a powerful mass movement. In Portugal, fascism, gripped by a crisis under the onslaught of the growing popular movement, is resorting to demagogy about liberalisation in an effort to cover up the actual continuation of its terroristic policy. In West Germany the neo-nazis have laid open claim to power. Neo-fascist forces are also becoming more active in other countries. Neo-fascist act vity links up with that of imperialist intelligence agencies, which engineer reactionary coups.

p All these manifestations of fascism are coming up against, growing resistance 35 from the people, and this demands united action by all the anti-faseist forces, and also greater international support from the Communist and Workers’ Parties, from all democratic and progressive movements in every country.

p The struggle against the fascist regimes is an essential part of action against imperialism, for democratic freedoms. It is the common task of all democrats, of all champions of freedom, irrespective of their political views, world outlook or religious beliefs, to redouble real support for the national progressive forces fighting centres of reaction and fascism, such as the governments of Spain and Portugal, the reactionary colonels’ junta in Greece, the oligarchic military cliques in Latin America, and all other tyrannical regimes in the service of US imperialism.

p 8. We Communists again call on all honest men in the world to unite their efforts in the struggle against the man-hating ideology and practices of racialism. We call for the broadest possible protest movement against the most ignominious phenomenon of our time, the barbarous persecution of the 25 million Negroes in the USA, the racialist terror in South Africa and Rhodesia, the persecution of the Arab population in occupied territory and in Israel, against racial and national discrimination, against Zionism, and anti-Semitism, all of which are fanned by reactionary capitalist forces and which they use to mislead the masses politically.

p Imperialism makes use of racialism to divide the peoples and maintain its rule. Wide sections of the people reject racialism and can be drawn into active struggle against it. In such action they will come to realise that eradication of racialism is closely connected with the struggle against imperialism and its ideological foundations.

p 9. The interests of the struggle against imperialism, which attempts to stifle basic human freedoms, demand a tireless fight to defend and win freedom of speech, the .press, assembly, demonstration and association, for the equality of all citizens, to democratise every aspect of social life. A firm rebuff must be administered to any attempt and any legislation by reaction designed to nullify the democratic rights and freedoms won in the course of hard class battles. There must be systematic work both within these countries and in the international arena to save the patriots and democrats who face death, to stop arbitrary court rulings against Communists and other patriots, and to defend the right to political asylum; there must be a fight for the release of the patriots and democrats lying in jail. We Communists oppose all forms of oppression of nations and national minorities. We want to see every nation or national group develop its own culture and language, and we firmly defend the right of all nations to self-determination.

p We Communists are convinced that it is impossible to put an end to the policy of imperialist aggression, abolish colonialism and neo-colonialisrn once and for all and uproot fascism and racial oppression without resolute struggle against the power of monopoly capital, for democratic demands which, once wonj Would weaken the positions of imperialism as a whole and strike at the very foundations of its rule. Such a struggle would create favourable conditions for achieving the ultimate goals of the working-class movement.

p The present .situation demands greater militant solidarity of the peoples of the 36 socialist countries, of all’contingents of the international working-class movement and national liberation in the struggle against imperialism.

p The Communists regard it as an urgent task today to expose the criminal policy of imperialism with greater vigour and to make public opinion more alive to the aggressive intentions and plans of imperialism.

p The participants in the Meeting call on all organisations representing workers, peasants, office employees, youth, students, intellectuals, women, on various groups and social strata with different political, philosophic and religious convictions and views, on realistically-minded political leaders of the capitalist countries, on all democratic parties, national and international progressive public organisations to pool their efforts with those of the Communist Parties for concerted action in the anti-imperialist struggle for a relaxation of tensions and in defence of peace. We invite them all to join in a broad and constructive exchange of opinion on the widest possible range of issues bearing on the anti-imperialist struggle.

Communists favour the most democratic methods of preparing for and carrying out united action with all progressive patriotic and peace-loving forces on a national, regional and international scale. They will do all they can to bring about greater mutual understanding between the numerous and diverse anti-imperialist trends and movements, taking into consideration their specific features and showing respect for their independence. Forms of co-operation, chosen freely and by common consent, will make it possible to raise the antiimperialist struggle to a new level to meet the requirements of the present situation.