p The participants in the Meeting consider that the most important pre-, requisite for increasing the Communist and Workers’ Parties’ contribution to the solution of the problems facing the peoples is to raise the unity of the communist movement to a higher level in conformity with present-day requirements. This demands determined and persistent effort by all the Parties. The cohesion of the Communist and Workers’ Parties is the most important factor in rallying together all the anti-imperialist forces.

p The participants in the Meeting reaffirm their common view that relations between the fraternal Parties are based on the principles of proletarian internationalism, solidarity, and mutual support, respect for independence and equality, and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. Strict adherence to these principles is an indispensable condition for developing comradely co-operation between the fraternal Parties and strengthening the unity of the communist movement. Bilateral consultations, regional meetings and international conferences are natural forms of such co-operation and are conducted on the basis of the principles accepted in the communist movement. These principles and these forms give the Communist and Workers’ Parties every possibility to unite their efforts in the struggle for their common aims, under conditions of the* growing diversity of the world revolutionary process. All Parties have equal rights. As there is no leading centre of the international 37 communist movement, voluntary co-ordination of the actions of Parties in order effectively to carry out the tasks before them acquires increased importance.

p United action by Communist and Workers’ Parties will promote cohesion of the communist movement on Marxist-Leninist principles. Joint actions aimed at solving vital practical problems of the revolutionary and general democratic movements of our time promote a necessary exchange of experience between the various contingents of the communist movement. They help to enrich and creatively develop Marxist-Leninist theory, to strengthen internationalist revolutionary positions on urgent political problems.

p The participants in the Meeting proclaim their Parties’ firm resolve to do their utmost for the working people and for social progress, with a view to advancing towards complete victory over international capital. They regard joint action against imperialism and for general democratic demands as a component and a stage of the struggle for socialist revolution and the abolition of the system of exploitation of man by man.

p The participants in the Meeting are convinced that the effectiveness of each Communist Party’s policy depends on its successes in its own country, on the successes of other fraternal Parties and on the extent of their co- operation. Each Communist Party is responsible for its activity to its own working class and people and, at the same time, to the international working class. The national and international responsibilities of each Communist and Workers’ Party are indivisible. Marxists-Leninists are both patriots and internationalists; they reject both national narrow-mindedness and the negation or underestimation of national interests, and the striving for hegemony. At the same time, the Communist Parties—the Parties of the working class and all working people—are the standardbearers of genuine national interests unlike the reactionary classes, which betray these interests. The winning of power by the working class and its allies is the greatest contribution which a Communist Party fighting under capitalist conditions can make to the cause of socialism and proletarian internationalism.

p The Communist and Workers’ Parties are conducting their activity in diverse, specific conditions, requiring an appropriate approach to the solution of concrete problems. Each Party, guided by the principles of Marxism-Leninism and in keeping with concrete national conditions, fully independently elaborates its own policy, determines the directions, forms and methods of struggle, and, depending on the circumstances, chooses the peaceful or non-peaceful way of transition to socialism, and also the forms and methods of building socialism in its own country. At the same time, the diverse conditions in which the Communist Parties operate, the different approaches to practical tasks and even differences on certain questions must not hinder concerted international action by fraternal Parties, particularly on the basic problems of the anti-imperialist struggle. The greater the strength and the unity of each Communist Party, the better can it fulfil its role both inside the country and in the international comin:mist movement.

p Communists are aware that our movement, while scoring great historical victories in the course of its development, has recently encountered serious 38 difficulties. Communists are convinced, however, that these difficulties will be overcome. This belief is based on the fact that the international working class has common long-term objectives and interests, on the striving of each Party to find a solution to existing problems which would meet both national and international interests and the Communists’ revolutionary mission; it is based on the will of Communists for cohesion on an international scale.

p The Communist and Workers’ Parties, regardless of some difference of opinion, reaffirm their determination to present a united front in the struggle against imperialism.

p Some of the divergences which have arisen are eliminated through an exchange of opinion or disappear as the development of events clarifies the essence of the outstanding issues. Other divergences may last long. The Meeting is confident that the outstanding issues can and must be resolved correctly by strengthening all forms of co-operation among the Communist Parties, by extending inter-Party ties, mutual exchange of experience, comradely discussion and consultation and unity of action in the international arena. It is an internationalist duty of each Party to do everything it can to help improve relations and promote trust between all Parties and to undertake further efforts to strengthen the unity of the international communist movement. This unity is strengthened by a collective analysis of concrete reality.

p The policy of joint anti-imperialist action demands that the ideological and political role of the Marxist-Leninist Parties in the world revolutionary process should be enhanced. Marching in the front ranks of the revolutionary, liberation and democratic movements, Communists will continue to fight uncompromisingly against bourgeois ideology and to explain to the working people the real meaning of their struggle and the conditions for victory. To wage a successful struggle against imperialism and to ensure the victory of their cause, Communists will propagate the ideas of scientific socialism in the working-class movement and among the broad masses, including young people; they will consistently uphold their principles and work for the triumph of MarxismLeninism and, in accordance with the concrete situation, fight against Highland Left-opportunist distortions of theory and policy, against revisionism, dogmatism and Left-sectarian adventurism. These deviations tend generally to underestimate the importance of the real forces which can and must be drawn into the struggle.

p Loyalty to Marxism-Leninism and to proletarian internationalism, and dedicated and devoted service in the interests of their peoples and the common cause of socialism are a requisite for the efficacy and correct orientation of united action by the Communist and Workers’ Parties, a guarantee that they will achieve their historic goals.

p The communist movement is an integral part of modern society and is its most active force. Hence, the banning of Communist Parties is an attack on the democratic rights and vital interests of the peoples. The participants in the Meeting support all the Communist Parties of the world, without exception, which fight for their right of legal participation in the political life of their countries. We emphatically condemn the brutal repressions ai-d terror which have claimed the lives of thousands upon thousands of Communists and other 39 democrats and revolutionaries in Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Paraguay, Guatemala, South Africa, Thailand, Haiti, Malaysia, Iran, the Philippines and some other countries. We proclaim our solidarity with our fellow fighters in the common struggle who are lying in the jails of fascist and dictatorial regimes, in prisons in the capitalist countries, and we work for their release.

The participants regard this Meeting as an important stage in the cohesion of the world communist movement. They consider that the absence of certain Communist Parties should not hinder fraternal ties and co-operation between all Communist Parties without exception. They declare their resolve to achieve joint action in the straggle against imperialism, for the common objectives of the international working-class movement, as well as with the Communist and Workers’ Parties not represented at the present Meeting.

p The struggle against imperialism is a. long, hard and strenuous fight. Tense class battles lie ahead and they cannot be avoided. Let us step up the offensive against imperialism and internal reaction. The revolutionary and progressive forces are certain to triumph.

Peoples of the socialist countries, workers, democratic forces in the capitalist countries, newly liberated peoples and those who are oppressed, unite in a common struggle against imperialism, for peace, national liberation, social progress, democracy and socialism!