p Dear Comrades,

p The delegation of the Ceylon Communist Party most warmly greets the representatives of all the fraternal Communist and Workers’ Parties that have gathered together at this conference.

p It is not the wish of our delegation to make a lengthy contribution. Having listened to the contributions of several delegations that preceded us, we wish to avoid the grounds of common agreement and wish to confine ourselves to the-issues oh which common agreement does not seem to exist, and to the issues on which we feel strongly.

p Nearly 15 months have passed since the fraternal Parties decided at Budapest to convene this international conference. This decision was hailed with great enthusiasm and high expectations by the Communists and all the other militant fighters against imperialism.

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p These forces were well aware that united action by all anti-imperialist forces and’the cohesion of their vanguard, the international communist movement, had become a central and urgent task of the contemporary world struggle against imperialism.

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p The number of fraternal Parties present at this conference is even greater than those that attended the Consultative Conference in Budapest in March 1968, which decided to convene this international conference.

p The four documents that this conference has decided to consider are the products of the detailed collective work of the representatives of more than 60 fraternal Parties, who have taken part in the various meetings connected with the preparatory work for the conference.

p The delegation of the Ceylon Communist Party endorses and supports without reservations the four documents that the Preparatory Committee has sent to this conference and which are now on our agenda.

p It is a special merit of the Main Document that it characterises correctly the balance of forces on the world arena between imperialism and its opponents. It neither overestimates nor underestimates the strength and activities of imperialism. It combines a sober and realistic evaluation of the relative strength of imperialism and our own forces together with an optimistic appraisal of the 273 revolutionary anti-imperialist potentialities inherent in the contemporary, situation.

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p All this is a valuable corrective to erroneous trends that manifest themselves within our movement as a result of such wrong assessments.

p We are glad that the Document submitted to us by the Preparatory Committee maintains the structure and retains the four sections of the draft that was submitted to the Central Committees for their consideration. To remove any section or sections of this Document would destroy its balance and weaken it. That is why our delegation disagreed in the Preparatory Committee with the proposal of the Italian comrades to retain only Section Three of the Main Document. This is also why we cannot agree with the suggestion of the Australian comrades to divide the draft Main Document into two documents, one which can be signed by all Parties present at this conference and the other, by only the Parties that agree with it. In our view, the main purpose of this historic cor ference should be to demonstrate the unity of our movement. To adopt the Australian proposal would be to demonstrate unity and disunity simultaneously. This, in our opinion, is the way to achieve results opposite to the purpose for which we have gathered here.

p As has been already stated by several delegations, the main item on the agenda for our consideration is the question of the tasks in the struggle against imperialism at the present stage and of unity of action of Communist and Workers’ Parties and of all anti-imperialist forces. If this purpose is to be served and if we are to cover, as fully as possible the essence of the problems involved, we have to consider and adopt all four parts of the Main Document before us. It is -only by the adoption of such a complete and balanced document that our movement will be able to overcome the difficulties that have emerged in the struggle for peace, democracy, national independence and socialism.

p It is sometimes argued that we would impair the possibilities of achieving the widest unity of our ranks if our Main Document deals with ideological questions or makes a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the contemporary tactics and strength of imperialism and the problems and opportunities that confront, the anti-imperialist forces. Our delegation cannot subscribe to this opinion.

p It is surely the duty of the Communists, who are guided in their activity by the scientific teaching of Marxism-Leninism, to make precisely the contribution that they are qualified to make—namely a scientific analysis of contemporary developments and trends that will give all the militant anti-imperialist fighters a deeper understanding of their enemy and of their own strength and potentialities. To avoid questions of ideology precisely at a moment when imperialism is stepping up its ideological offensive would be incorrect, as this can lead to disarming and disorienting our own forces.

p Of course, the Document does not deal with every question on which differences may exist. But it is our view that it would be expedient, at the present stage, to concentrate on emphasising the highest level of what unites us and to lay aside other unsolved questions for later study and resolution. We cannot expect imperialism to remain passive until we have solved all the matters of differentiation among us.

p Although we did not insist on a reference to this matter in our documents, 274 our Party cannot fail to take into account the fact that the fight for the unity of the international communist movement and all anti-imperialist forces has been complicated still further by the decisions of the recent 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China. Far from abating in any way the anti-Soviet, great-power, national chauvinist and splitting policy of the Mao Tse-tung leadership, the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China has, in our view, intensified this dangerous political course that has already led to most serious and tragic consequences in some sections of the anti-imperialist and communist movement where such policies held temporary sway.

p It is clear from the substantiated references made in the speech of Comrade Brezhnev, that the Mao leadership has stepped on a dangerous course that would not only weaken our common cause but in fact give much encouragement to our enemies. There can now be no doubt that the Mao leadership has clearly broken away from Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and has decided to excommunicate itself from the international communist movement. Maoism has been elevated to the position of a religious dogma and imposed on the people by force. It is seeking to extend its corruptive influence on the unstable and adventurist elements among the working classes in other countries. The Mao leadership is striving to poison the minds of millions of people in China. Day in and day out over the radio and in the press the Mao leadership slanders the Communist and Workers’ Parties who are in the vanguard of the anti-imperialist struggle. Our Parties are-referred to as "running dogs of imperialism". It is in such circumstances that we are being urged to refrain from criticising the activities of the Mao leadership of China.

The Central Committee of the Ceylon Communist Party has instructed our delegation to do everything it can to help to make this conference an outstanding success. We express our confidence that the realisation of the high expectations in which the Communists and anti-imperialist fighters regard our conference, a confidence that has been so movingly expressed in the letters sent to our conference, will inspire all our work and make this international conference a powerful impetus to new world-wide efforts to defeat the common enemy of mankind, imperialism.