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p Dear Comrades,

p The delegation of the Socialist Vanguard Party of Algeria greets the Parties here present and expresses deep satisfaction over the fact that the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties has finally started its work. The holding of such a Meeting is in itself a victory of the first magnitude for our movement in its irreconcilable struggle against imperialism and reaction, and in defence of the vital interests of all peoples. It is a sharp rebuff to the imperialist enemy and all his agents, who, engaging in wishful thinking and speculating on our difficulties, tried to prove that the Communist and Workers’ Parties are incapable of meeting to discuss the anti-imperialist struggle and unity of action. ’

p We should also like to express our profound satisfaction over the possibility of participating in this historic Meeting, the convocation of which our Party has supported for many years.

p Speaking about the immediate future, it is quite obvious to all that the unity of our movement as the leading revolutionary force, has been and remains the crucial factor in rallying all the anti-imperialist forces in a broad progressive and democratic front of struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism.

p In the last few years there has been a growth in the international arena of the aggressiveness of imperialism, US imperialism above all. This aggressiveness is sustained and is having an impact on the situation throughout the world, especially in areas like Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe, three seats of grave tension directly jeopardising world peace, and in other areas of the world where imperialism is trying to suppress the democratic and national liberation struggle by armed force.

p Events have confirmed that imperialism’s growing aggressiveness, despite some successes, notably in Africa, does not mean that the imperialist system has grown stronger; neither does it contradict the assessment given a few years ago about the present epoch being one of transition from capitalism to socialism, and of the balance of forces tilting in favour of the latter. This aggressivene: s is due above all to the imperialists’ wanting to regain lost positions and to the 235 fact that they regard the dispersal of the forces that objectively oppose them as a fundamentally encouraging factor. However, US imperialism has failed to carry out its designs either in Vietnam, whose valorous fighters are waging victorious battles, or in the Middle East, where the imperialist-Zionist plans to overthrow the progressive governments of the UAR and Syria were upset thanks to Soviet assistance.

p We find ourselves in a tense and rapidly changing situation, with the magnitude of the existing problems and their importance, and the nature and destructive power of modern weapons bringing to the fore, as never in the past, the question of universal peace and disarmament as a compulsive necessity for mankind’s survival.

p Will these aims, which are vital for all the peoples, be achieved simultaneously with the realisation of equally pressing demands for freedom, social progress and democracy wherever a fierce fight is on for their achievement ? This largely depends on the concerted efforts "of the fraternal Parties to secure unity, above all unity of action, so as to merge in a single tide all the revolutionary and progressive streams, all anti-imperialist forces, and finally, it depends on their successful work in gradually overcoming the differences in our movement, which revolutionaries should regard as secondary in face of the imperialist threat.

p In this context, it is necessary to emphasise the harm done to the world antiimperialist front by the negative phenomena in our movement in the last few years, preventing this front from growing stronger.

p That is why, as our Party has stressed in its documents and in our main political statements, those who unblushingly identify the Soviet Union and US imperialism must be branded with the utmost resolution, for they do grave harm to the whole anti-imperialist movement and have gradually passed from dogmatism to openly repudiating Marxism-Leninism, to chauvinistic and adventurist positions.

p Of course, it is regrettable that "not all Communist and Workers’ Parties are represented at this Meeting. But the absence for various reasons of some Parties cannot be blamed on the Parties that consider it their duty to work tirelessly for the unity of our movement. The absent Parties wished it themselves, and that is their right.

p We perfectly understand the reasons for the absence of some Parties, and it will not enter anyone’s mind to hold it against them. As for those who replied to the invitations with invective, history and the international working-class movement, including their own Parties, will one day call them to severe account.

p However, the absence of some Parties cannot prevent the overwhelming majority of the fraternal Parties from calling the Meeting and working out collectively the basis and conditions for united action. This Meeting is the first stage opening the way to a deeper and broader unity and cohesion of our whole movement. But our Meeting will leave the door wide open for brother Parties which may subsequently decide that the time has come for them to join efforts with the Parties here present.

p What is important, we hold, is that this Meeting has united a great number of Parties, and, furthermore, is also capable of adopting a document of 236 enormous political and practical importance. Adoption of the draft Main Document will truly equip the Communist and Workers’ Parties, the broad masses of people, all democratic and anti-imperialist forces with a valuable weapon for continuing and intensifying their struggle against imperialism and reaction.

p Our Party welcomes the methods used to work out the draft Main Document and other documents.

p We note with satisfaction the collective and democratic character of the work, the equality of the Parties, and the atmosphere of fraternity in which the whole work of the Preparatory Committee was held. All delegations taking part in the preparatory work had a real opportunity to make their contribution to the common effort. As far as we know, not many international meetings of the communist and working-class movement were prepared as thoroughly, and attended so effectively by so large a number of Parties. This, we believe, is a highly promising thing for the .future relations between our Parties.

p The draft Main Document, the fruit of collective and democratic work, is on the whole a reflection of the main problems facing our Parties. The Preparatory Committee did some serious work in preparing this exceptionally useful Docu,ment—the product of collective analysis based on our Marxist-Leninist principles and meeting in general tenor, structure and aims the standards set by the Budapest Consultative Conference for the Preparatory Committee, namely, to determine the tasks at the present stage in the struggle against imperialism and the basis for unity of action by the Communist and Workers’ Parties and all the antiimperialist forces.

p We believe that the draft Main Document defines clearly and soberly, with an eye on the concrete situation, our tasks in the struggle against imperialism. Some of these tasks need to be urgently accomplished.

p The first of them is to stop the criminal US aggression against the heroic Vietnamese people. It is uppermost in the minds of all men, and we have rightly decided to deal with it in a special document.

p Thanks to the correct policy of its leaders, thanks to its unexampled struggle, countless sacrifices, all-round support from the socialist countries, the Soviet Union above all, and the solidarity of the Communist and Workers’ Parties and all progressive forces, the Vietnamese people have doubtless scored a great victory, having forced the aggressor to call an unconditional halt to the bombing of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and to agree to negotiate. However, the first positive result achieved does not solve the existing problem. US imperialism must be made to stop its aggression completely, unconditionally withdraw its troops and those of its accomplices from the whole of Vietnamese territory and leave the Vietnamese people freely to decide its own affairs, without any foreign interference. This means that we must intensify the struggle and help the Vietnamese people to achieve all its aims.

p This is quite feasible provided the Communist and Workers’ Parties are united, provided their actions are concerted in the international plane, and provided they rouse and mobilise fresh forces in the struggle against the US aggressors.

p The second important and pressing task concerns the grave situation in the Middle East. The aggressive and expansionist policy of Israeli ruling circles, 237 supported by international imperialism and Zionism, sustains a seat of tension in the area fraught with exceptionally grave consequences for world peace. This hotbed must be eliminated as soon as possible.

p The Arab peoples are known to be in direct confrontation with imperialism. Imperialism is trying to deprive the progressive Arab countries of their gains and hinder the other Arab peoples from advancing to national liberation and social progress. This struggle against imperialism and its Zionist agents makes the Arab liberation movement an integral part of the world revolutionary and progressive movement. The resolute and mounting struggle of the Palestine patriots for the return of their native land is a contribution to the common struggle against imperialism.

p We are glad that the world communist and working-class movement is collectively taking its stand on the Middle East problems, that it condemns the aggressive and expansionist policy of the Israeli rulers, that it fights to eliminate the aftermath of the Zionist imperialist aggression, above all for the withdrawal of the invaders from Arab territories, and that it demands the fulfilment of the Security Council resolution of November 22,1967, and firmly supports the national rights of Palestinians and the return of refugees to their homes. But in view of the constant aggressiveness of the Zionist and imperialist circles, we should very much like the fraternal Parties to redouble their solidarity with the Arab peoples, making it more effective, so as to eliminate the dangerous seat of war in the Middle East in the shortest possible time.

p The third task before us is the struggle against the revival of nazism and’the aggressiveness of the revenge-seeking circles of West Germany, which present a grave danger to European security and world peace, particularly because of their outright demands for revising the frontiers established after the Second World War and their claims to possessing nuclear weapons. It is the duty of all Communist and Workers’ Parties, of all progressive and anti-imperialist forces to fight resolutely against the adventurist claims of the reactionary and revenge-seeking rulers of West Germany, actively supported by US imperialism.

p The just cause of the Arab peoples is the cause of all progressive forces of European and other countries, just as European security is also the cause of the Arab peoples and all progressive forces. The concept of European security inescapably includes recognition of the immunity of the frontiers established after the Second World War and recognition of the German Democratic Republic as a fully sovereign state. In this respect, while welcoming the recognition of the German Democratic Republic by Iraq, Cambodia, the Sudan and Syria, we deeply^^1^^ regret that the Algerian government, unquestionably anti-imperialist on other questions, has taken a negative stand towards the GDR. This snag in our country’s foreign policy only strengthens our resolve to conduct an even more determined struggle so that the progressive forces, making use of all their possibilities, should reverse a stand that harms not only the socialist GDR, which has always displayed solidarity with all the Arab peoples, but also the interests of Algeria.

p ^:

p Alongside these most important tasks, the draft Main Document formulates many others, of which we approve wholeheartedly.

p But in order to rally the broadest masses and achieve definite aims, it is not 238 enough simply to list these aims in an action programme, It is necessary to analyse the situation, find out the balance of forces at the present moment and define our tasks and our possible goals, depending on the balance of these forces, and then determine the ways and means of attaining our goals. That is the only way to convince the millions of those who are taking part in our movement and the broad masses that unity of action against imperialism and reaction is necessary and effective, It is this that is correctly reflected in the draft Main Document submitted to the Meeting.

p Some comrades have subjected the draft Document to serious criticism, saying it does not meet the needs of our movement, because it does not deal with all the contradictions and all the problems we come up against. We say fraternally that, in our opinion, that stand is not very realistic and does not promote the strengthening of our unity.

p Some comrades have also expressed their dissatisfaction over the fact that the draft Main Document does not quite coincide with their standpoint. But is it possible that it could fully reflect the political line of each of the 75 Parties attending the Meeting? We all work in different conditions and different situations, so that it is not surprising for us to arrive sometimes at different assessments and conclusions, especially because in the last few years our movement has faced serious difficulties and encountered political and ideological differences.

p If each Party defends only its own stand on this or that question and considers only its own standpoint, it will be absolutely impossible to arrive at any agreement. Each Party naturally has the right to present, stand up for and maintain its opinion. But if this or that standpoint is not adopted by all the other Parties, can this be a reason for refusing to co-operate with them ?

p We make no secret of the fact that we, too, are not entirely satisfied with the draft Main Document, For instance, our Party believes that the section dealing with the national liberation movement is very weak as compared with the other sections of the Document, True, it was considerably improved by amendments at the last sitting of the Preparatory Committee. However, in our opinion, not all the weak points have been eliminated. Is that reason enough for rejecting the whole Document and refusing to sign it ? That is inconceivable if we really want to take a step forward to unity, With our movement in the state it is in, we cannot hope at once to solve all the problems facing us and overcome all our differences at the present Meeting. We know that a problem is soluble only when ripe,

p Consequently, we must concentrate our efforts above all on what unites us and that, in our opinion, is much more important than what divides us, and wait until time and the accumulated practical experience help solve the other problems as well. Meanwhile, we must not forget about the main thing: the struggle against imperialism.

p We believe that it is possible to find a way of making a patient study and assessment, and eventually arrive at a collective solution of the problems which this Meeting will not solve. In this respect, we believe, the Meeting should take into account the proposals of the CPSU delegation, put forward here by Comrade Brezhnev, and also of the Communist Party of Belgium at the last sitting of the Preparatory Committee.

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p If we turn to the example and experience of Algeria, which won national independence seven years ago, we could also express a number of serious objections to some definitions and propositions of the draft Main Document in the section relating to the developing countries. But we well realise that one country’s example cannot serve as a criterion for general conclusions. It is necessary to study diverse experience to arrive at generalisations and correct conclusions on the strength of comparison. While we are on the subject, allow me to make a brief assessment of the situation in our country, which, as you are aware, holds an important place among the progressive Arab and African countries.

p In 1965 there was a real threat of Algeria going over to the Western camp. Since then, under the impact of various national and international factors, Algeria has gradually changed the direction in her development; today it is, safe to say that her positions are, on the whole, anti-imperialist.

p This anti-imperialist attitude is expressed above all in Algeria’s foreign policy. Algeria holds an important place in the anti-imperialist struggle, notably by taking a courageous stand against US imperialism—-against its criminal aggression in Vietnam, its complicity in the Zionist aggression against the Arab countries, its provocative, acts in the Mediterranean basin, and its schemes and subversion in Africa. Algeria has friendly relations with Cuba, resolutely supporting her just cause in the struggle against US imperialism.

p Algeria is against the racist regime? in South Africa and Rhodesia, and also the fascist regime in Portugal, and supports palpably various national liberation movements.

p Algeria has done a great deal to draw closer to and co-operate with Morocco and Tunisia, frustrating the splitting designs of imperialism, which wants these countries to quarrel. This policy is no mean contribution to the over-all struggle for peace.

p But what is most noteworthy and important for our country’s future is the strengthening of the friendship and the steadily growing economic and cultural co-operation with socialist countries, the Soviet Union above all. Comrade Podgorny’s recent visit to our country opened up a new stage in the mutually advantageous co-operation between Algeria and the Soviet Union, a reliable guarantee of our country’s economic development and independence.

p In the economic plane there is evidence of a desire to rid. our country of domination by foreign monopolies and neo-colonialism, and also to assure Algeria genuine economic independence despite the attempts by reaction, neocolonialism and imperialism to resist this drive. In the last few years, various industrial enterprises and banks owned by the colonialists have been nationalised, the structure of foreign trade has been diversified, and the state sector has been strengthened through the building of new industrial enterprises.

p Since 1965 there has been a serious threat to the system of self-management in agriculture, under which most lands of the former settlers are run by working farmers. Now, good conditions seem to have been provided for preserving and even consolidating this system.

p While emphasising all the positive aspects in our country, which we support wholeheartedly and resolutely despite the persecution of our Party, we must 240 also tell you of that which we regard as negative and as a serious drag on our country’s progressive development. Since June 1965, anti-labour and anti’democratic tendencies have been dominant in pur government’s domestic policy. In principle, the elements in power in Algeria are of petty-bourgeois origin, and also big proprietors, landowners with thousands of hectares of land, persons closely connected with the compradore bourgeoisie and the feudals. This explains the contradictions and the clan struggle in the government, something that does not always appear on the surface.

p Let us also note the contradictory position and dual nature of the ruling petty bourgeoisie:

p for objective reasons and national interests, it pursues an anti-imperialist foreign policy, resulting in co-operation with the socialist countries, which have been rendering it effective assistance without any political strings;

p whereas for class reasons it shows mistrust and fear of the working class and its organisations and therefore pursues an authoritarian, anti-labour and antidemocratic home policy.

p The intricate character of power explains, by the way, why the agrarian ’reform, which was to have been implemented in 1965, has been put off time and again for allegedly technical reasons. Fear of the working class impels some ’representatives of the petty bourgeoisie to follow a policy of curtailing democratic freedoms^ particularly with regard to the workers’ unions and other mass organisations. However, there is growing resistance among the working people and the students to such anti-democratic methods.

p At various stages after June 1965 the authorities became more “tough” or less, depending on the balance of the contending forces, while stolidly following a policy of persecuting and repressing our Party, forcing it to go underground. Dozens of our Party members, and many other progressive leaders and trade union militants languish in jails or are under strict surveillance.

p As a result of this policy, imposed by Right-wing elements, a deep rift is appearing between the masses, and the authorities and the NLF. This not only impedes the country’s advance, but also creates a grave threat to its present positive course.

p Our Party holds that the present stage of development is not one of socialist construction. The job now is resolutely to complete the national-democratic revolution, deepening its progressive content, even though here and there some measures may transcend the present stage and open up the way to the next. In the interest of this progress, our Party considers it its duty to criticise the negative aspects of the policy of the government. We actively support everything positive in the government’s policy, while exposing acts that impede the country’s progressive development.

p Our policy is aimed at isolating and removing the Right-wing elements, while strengthening the progressive forces in the government and the NLF. To promote this line, we stand for joint action and unity of all anti-imperialist and progressive forces, whether in or outside the present regime.

p We believe that in this battle the existence of an independent working-class organisation and its Marxist-Leninist Party, namely, the Socialist Vanguard Party, is a necessity borne out in practice. Despite the difficulties engendered 241 by its forced illegal status and repressions, the Party has played an important political role in the last three years. By its constructive criticism of the negative aspects of government policy, suggesting realistic solutions for problems facing the country, educating and mobilising the working people, it is exerting an unquestionable influence on the progressive elements and thereby on the leadership, helping Algeria develop along the right lines. Thus, our Party does not stand aloof from the anti-imperialist struggle waged by our country. What is more, we. can say that it has contributed, and will continue to contribute substantially to that struggle.

p Allow me now to say a few words about our Party’s problems.

p We are firmly convinced that to guide the masses in the anti-imperialist struggle, for the final defeat of imperialism and domestic reaction, for the implementation of all the tasks of the national democratic revolution and in order to open the way to socialism in a country like ours, our working class and people need a Marxist-Leninist Party. Of course, we are far from underrating the anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces in the NLF, the state apparatus, the army and outside the official spheres and agencies; but it is equally wrong to underrate the surviving reactionary and pro-imperialist forces, a constant threat to Algeria and her progressive orientation. The events in some African countries, such as Mali and Ghana, are convincing evidence of the threat of regress and reveal the fragility of the "one-party systems" that unite or try to unite in their ranks most diverse and heterogeneous elements and social strata. We are convinced in the need for a broad and powerful antiimperialist front, but this front cannot be active and strong without a party equipped with the working-class ideology. In any case, no “front” can substitute for such a party. It was in this spirit, on the basis of the decisions of the Algiers Charter, that the Algerian Communists worked in the NLF from 1964, trying to make it a genuine vanguard party. This was stopped by the coup of June 19, 1965. Those were the conditions in which our Party, the Socialist Vanguard Party of Algeria, came into being to continue the work of enlisting in its ranks the finest fighters against imperialism, for complete independence and socialism, rallying all the working people of town and country, nun and women, all the revolutionary young people and intellectuals, all those who know that there is no other way to socialism but the way illumined by the light of Marxism-Leninism.

p Those are the principles on which our Party acts in its development. It is also the successor of the Algerian working-class movement and of the most consistent aspects of our national movement. It is the successor of the early working-class organisations that brought Marxism to our country, and of the early Algerian Communists and the national liberation movement, whose most conscious members have adopted Marxism-Leninism. Consequently, it is not a question of some unprincipled alliance on a confused equivocal basis, but of forming a Leninist-type Party loyal to the principles of scientific socialism and proletarian internationalism. Despite the illegal status and difficult conditions in which we work, our Party succeeded in these tasks in the concrete conditions of Algeria. Today it is a much broader Party with deeper roots in the masses and with incomparably better prospects and 242 possibilities for development than the old Algerian Communist Party. Of course, we have no illusions about the way ahead being easy. On the contrary, we know that great difficulties lie before us, not only in the struggle against reaction and imperialism, but also in our relations with true patriots and revolutionaries who have yet to shed their anti-communist prejudices, with those whom we are yet to convince that Algeria needs our Party and that it is necessary for the advance to socialism. Fighting in the front ranks of the working people, our Party is playing and will continue to play an ever greater, primary role in their education in the spirit of socialism and internationalism, thereby facilitating the rise of the whole national liberation movement to a qualitatively new level.

p We want, to the best of our possibilities, to establish fraternal ties with all the Communist and Workers’ Parties on the basis of principles which, we think, are clearly and correctly formulated in Section Four of the draft Main Document.

p Comrades, the National Leadership of our Party has authorised our delegation to sign the Main Document submitted for consideration to the Meeting.

p Of course, a document is valuable only if undeviatingly translated into practice. As for our Party, it solemnly declares that it will fulfil the obligations it undertakes, subordinating its activity to the tasks and common principles we shall here jointly approve. Life has quite clearly demonstrated that national and international duties, far from contradicting each other, are in fact complementary and indissolubly connected aspects in the revolutionary activity of Marxist-Leninist Parties. Consistent fulfilment of these duties is an earnest of our further success.

p The Document correctly points out that it is a. duty of our Parties to support all the existing Communist and Workers’ Parties. We believe that this is a duty of enormous importance in strengthening and further uniting our movement, a duty that should be singled out as one of our main principles.

p If we insist on this, it is only because unfortunately we have witnessed, in matters of proletarian solidarity, serious deviations that should not be repeated, For instance, if a number of Parties considers it proper and necessary (and in our opinion, they are right) to develop relations with some national parties and with different progressive organisations, this should not be done in circumvention of the Marxist-Leninist Parties, which embody the interests and future of the working class. We believe that failure to abide by this principle cannot help in uniting our ranks and, moreover, threatens to produce tensions and even polemics between brother Parties, which would only harm the unity of our movement.

p We fully agree with the idea that all of us must direct our efforts to developing friendly relations and co-operation with the broadest anti-imperialist and progressive forces. But we believe that relations between the Marxist-Leninist Parties must be given pride of place, and that there should be no departure from this principle in any case.

p We also stand for the adoption of the other three documents, each of which in its own sphere will help invigorate our Parties’ activity and restore unity, mobilise the broad masses for decisive battles against imperialism and reaction.

p The celebration of the centenary of the birth of V. I. Lenin, brilliant theorist, 243 great strategist of the revolution and founder of the world’s first socialist state, will undoubtedly mark a new stage in the development of the revolutionary forces of the world. To mark this date fittingly, we must redouble our efforts in cementing our ranks and restoring our combat unity.

p The Address of our Meeting and preparations to celebrate the centenary of Lenin’s birth are fresh impetus for our Parties to continue the necessary struggle against any manifestations of bourgeois ideology.

p As we have declared at the Consultative Conference in Budapest, the holding of the present Meeting cannot be an end in itself. We all regard it as a stage on the way to the unity and cohesion of all our movement, in particular from the standpoint of analysing profoundly all the problems facing us. From the standpoint of the results, it is already an important stage, a great success for the communist and working-class moverrffent, an event of unquestionable historic importance.

p We are sure that adoption of the Document, to whose preparation we have all made our contribution, will live up to the expectations of tens of millions of revolutionaries and the hopes of hundreds of millions of working people and progressively-minded men and women all over the world, who now look to Moscow where our Meeting is in session,

p In conclusion, we should like to express our deep gratitude to all those who helped strengthen our unity, especially the Central Committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party, which not only provided us with the best conditions for our work and welcomed us with sincere hospitality, but also displayed a high sense of responsibility and spared neither effort nor means to ensure the results at which we have arrived. The best way to thank them is to march, staunchly and resolutely, along the way indicated by Lenin.

p Long live the unity and cohesion of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, the unity of aH progressive forces in the struggle against imperialism!

Thank you for your attention, comrades.