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p The International Meeting of representatives of Communist and Workers’ Parties sends ardent greetings to the fraternal people of Vietnam and wholeheartedly congratulates them on their historic successes in the struggle against US aggression.

p We send special greetings to the vanguard of the Vietnamese people—the Working People’s Party of Vietnam and its Central Committee—and to the great patriot and internationalist Comrade Ho Chi Minh, outstanding figure of the international communist movement. The Working People’s Party of Vietnam is the inspiring and guiding force in the struggle against US imperialist aggression. It consistently defends the national interests and the outpost of socialism in Southeast Asia.

p We send warm greetings to the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLFSV), the lawful representative of the population of South Vietnam and tested organiser and leader of the heroic resistance against US aggression. The NLFSV’s Political Programme is the basis for uniting the entire South Vietnamese population in its just struggle for liberation.

p The International Meeting unconditionally supports the 10-point programme—"Principles and Main Content of a General Settlement of the South Vietnam Problem as a Contribution to’the Restoration of Peace in Vietnam"— • put forward on May 8, 1969 by the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. This programme proceeds from the basic principles of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam and from the present situation in Vietnam. It is based on the Political Programme and 5-point stand of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and coincides with the 4-point stand of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The proposed settlement of the South Vietnam problem •fully accords with the national rights  ^^1^^ of the Vietnamese people and the interests of world peace. It guarantees the right to self-determination of the South Vietnamese people and lasting peace in Vietnam and also accords with the interests of the other peoples of Indochina.

p In fighting to defend their homeland the Vietnamese people exercise the sacred and inviolable right of all peoples to self-defence.

p Their struggle for freedom and independence evokes the deep respect and admiration of all nations. Their staunchness, heroism and confidence are an 43 example and inspiration in the struggle against imperialism, for peace and for the liberation of peoples from exploitation and oppression. By defending their homeland, the Vietnamese people simultaneously fulfil their internationalist duty and serve the noble cause of world peace. In this most just struggle of the Vietnamese people we have been and shall be firmly linked in solidarity with them.

p The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people against US aggression is a key component of the world-wide battle between socialism and imperialism, between the forces of progress and those of reaction.

p By undertaking armed intervention in Vietnam the imperialist forces of the USA made an attempt to destroy one of the outposts of socialism in Asia, bar the road of the peoples of Indochina to peace, freedom and progress, strike a blow at the revolutionary national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and test the solidarity of the socialist countries and all antiimperialist forces.

p These plans of US imperialism are doomed to failure.

p With massive support from socialist countries, primarily from the Soviet Union, as well as from all peace-loving peoples in the world, the Vietnamese people have demonstrated to the USA, the most powerful force of imperialism, that its might is not limitless.

p The barbarous crimes of the US interventionists against the Vietnamese people, the use of biological, chemical and other means of mass annihilation, • which is nothing less than genocide, outrage the conscience of mankind. This has revealed to all the peoples the true, anti-human essence of imperialism.

p All this has led to the growing political and moral isolation of the aggressor among broad strata, including ruling circles of some capitalist countries. In the USA itself growing sections of the population are opposing the dirty war in Vietnam, the consequences of which are shaking American society.

p The epic struggle of the Vietnamese people is a decisive factor in the movement of the peoples against imperialism and is also manifested in the militant actions of the youth and students.

p Although the aggressors have set a huge war machine in motion, they were compelled to cease unconditionally the bombing of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and agree to quadrilateral negotiations with the equal participation of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. In South Vietnam the people’s liberation armed forces are uninterruptedly dealing heavy blows at the US interventionists and their puppets. People’s power has been established in by far the greater part of its territory. The bankrupt puppet regime is kept in power solely by the bayonets of US imperialism.

p These are major successes of the heroic Vietnamese people, the world socialist system, the international communist and working-class movement and all other peace-loving and progressive forces.

p The successful struggle of Vietnam mirrors the changes in the international balance of power and the growing might of the forces of socialism, democracy and national liberation on a global scale.

p The broad movement in support of Vietnam against US aggression strikingly and concretely shows the striving of the international communist movement, as 44 well as of all other anti-imperialist forces, for cohesion and unity of action in the fight against imperialism, which is the common enemy of mankind.

p The struggle of the Vietnamese patriots shows that a people which consistently fights imperialism for freedom and independence and has on its side the Soviet Union and all other socialist countries and the peace-loving forces of the whole world is invincible.

p The stronger the unity and solidarity of the international communist movement and all other anti-imperialist forces in the struggle against the common enemy— imperialism—the greater, will be their successes.

p The more resolutely the Communist and Workers’ Parties uphold the freedom of peoples and head the struggle against the imperialist policy of aggression, the broader and more effective the anti-imperialist movement of the peoples.

p Despite their heavy defeats, the militarist circles of the USA have not yet renounced their aggressive, neo-colonialist plans with regard to Vietnam and continue their attempts to secure a military settlement of the Vietnam problem. They persist in following the dangerous road of escalating the military conflict, as evidenced by the increasing bombing of Laotian territory and constant acts of provocation against neutral Cambodia.

p The US government and its representatives in Paris stubbornly refuse to conduct businesslike and realistic talks on the just demands of the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, particularly the demand for the complete and unconditional withdrawal of US troops and other participants in the aggression in South Vietnam. Instead, they seek to mislead world public opinion by demagogic manoeuvring and to secure through pressure success at the negotiations which they were denied on the battlefield.

p They evade the basic issue of the complete and unconditional withdrawal of US and satellite troops from South Vietnam and insist on what they term as a reciprocal withdrawal of troops. With this the aggressor is put on the same - level as the victim of aggression. However, US imperialism will never succeed in concealing the fact that it has unleashed and stubbornly continues the aggression in Vietnam.

p The US intervention in Vietnam is a permanent threat to world peace and a direct challenge to all peoples fighting for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress. True to the principles of proletarian internationalism and in the spirit of fraternal solidarity, the international communist and working-class movement will continue to render the Vietnamese people all the assistance they require until the final triumph of their just cause. They thereby make a large contribution towards the cause of world peace, the cause of freedom and socialism.

p The International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties emphatically declares that a just settlement of the Vietnam problem can only be secured by guaranteeing the basic national rights of the Vietnamese people.

p Today when the struggle of the Vietnamese people has entered an important stage, when thanks to the initiative of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam all the necessary conditions have been created for a just political settlement, we demand:

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p   the United States must renounce its obstructionist stand at the quadrilateral conference in Paris;

p   the United States must forthwith cease its acts of aggression in Vietnam and completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops and those of its satellites from South Vietnam;

p   the United States must recognise the right of the population of South Vietnam to decide their internal affairs by themselves without foreign interference;

p   the United States must end all actions directed against the sovereignty and security of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam;

p   the United States must cease its interference and aggression in Laos and its violations of the territorial integrity of Cambodia, recognise her frontiers, abandon its aggressive aims with regard to the states of Southeast and East Asia and strictly abide by the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Agreements.

p We demand that Thailand, New Zealand and Australia, the South Korean puppet regime and also the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan end their open or veiled participation in the US aggression in Vietnam!

p On behalf of the many millions of Communists we appeal to all men of goodwill, who cherish peace, justice and the freedom and independence of nations:

p   to protest with greater determination throughout the world against the criminal war waged by US imperialism in Vietnam!

p   to take a still more active part in the international movement of solidarity with the heroic Vietnamese people!

p   to demand the withdrawal of US and satellite troops from Vietnam!

p   to demand the prompt peaceful settlement of the Vietnam problem on the basis of ensuring the inalienable rights of the Vietnamese people!

p   to support the 10 points of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam!

p We call for the immediate initiation of further, still more powerful, varied and co-ordinated action by the anti-imperialist, peace-loving forces in support of the struggle of the Vietnamese people against US aggression!

p Boycott transportation of troops, weapons and supplies for the interventionists and their satellites!

p Let us turn July 20, the anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreements, into an international day of solidarity with Vietnam, a day of struggle to stop US aggression!

p Honour and glory to the heroic Vietnamese people fighting with dedication for freedom and independence!

p Hold higher the banner of international solidarity!

p Independence, freedom and peace for Vietnam!

p The just cause of the Vietnamese people will triumph!

Moscow, June 10, 1969