p Dear Comrades,

p On behalf ot the Austrian Communists, we here convey hearty fraternal greetings to all Communist and Workers’ Parties. We also want to extend hearty thanks to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for providing good facilities for the two last sittings of the Preparatory Committee in Moscow, and for its hospitality to the International Meeting.

p The draft of the Main Document, worked out in a succession of preparatory conferences and now submitted to the Meeting, outlines the tasks of the struggle against imperialism at the present stage, underscoring the need for joint action by the Communist and Workers’ Parties and ail anti-imperialist forces. In this our Party sees the decisive task of today. We therefore consider the Document a suitable basis, to which we assent. At the same time, it is our view that further improvements should be made with an eye on the results of the discussion at this Meeting.

p In our view, the broad anti-imperialist unity of action that emerged in recent years in support of the heroic liberative struggle of the Vietnamese people, also embracing considerable forces outside the communist movement, is the biggest accomplishment of the anti-imperialist struggle. Alongside the heroic resistance of the Vietnamese, which played the decisive part, the solidarity movement helped to compel US imperialism to end the bombing of North Vietnam and accept the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam as negotiating partners, and to start talks in Paris. The Communist Party of Austria gives its unqualified support to the proposals of the DRV and NLF as a sound basis for a peaceful solution aifording the Vietnamese people freedom and the right to self-determination.

p As our Party sees it, the Statement of the recent Budapest Conference of Warsaw Treaty member-countries, proposing an international conference on European security problems, shows that opportunities exist for organising joint actions over matters decisive for the peace in Europe. This initiative had a favourable response in Austria too.

p Austria’s permanent neutrality, proclaimed in 1955, is an important contribution to European peace and detente. We view this neutrality as an immense 279 gain for the Austrian people. And it is one of the crucial and most important tasks of our Party, of the Austrian working class and all our democratic forces, to safeguard it and combat all attempts to undermine its foundations.

p We stand for active neutrality and demand that the Austrian government contribute effectively to relieving tension, to peace and security in Europe and the rest of the world. We hold that the government of neutral Austria should come out in defence of peace and freedom in Vietnam, that it should initiate actions facilitating the materialisation of the Budapest proposal of the Warsaw Treaty countries.

p On no account must we forget the lessons of history implicit in the coercive seizure of Austria by German militarism and imperialism. Nor shall we forget that the situation in 1969 is entirely different from that in 1938. We are aware that considerable anti-imperialist forces are active in West Germany and that resistance has grown to the brazen claims of the West German militarists, that demands to recognise the German Democratic Republic and the present frontiers in Europe are heard frequently these days among influential circles in the country, as well as the demand for a new eastern policy that would be new not in name only. We look with approval upon these trends and phenomena.

p However, we think it dangerous to overlook the fact that German militarism and imperialism, resuscitated in West Germany, are still the main threat to European peace and security, and to Austria’s independence. This is borne out by the policy of the Bonn government. Yet the bourgeois parties and the Socialist Party of Austria are hushing up the danger. We cannot and must not ignore the fact that a. whole agglomeration of overt and covert ties and interlacements exists between the West German and Austrian economies, and that West German influence in the Austrian economy has become more visible of late. To be sure, the key positions, formerly controlled by German capital in Austria, are now in the hands of the Austrian state. In recent times, however, systematic attacks are mounted against the nationalised sector in industry. In the effort to undermine and weaken the nationalised industries, attempts are made in one form or another to place important branches under the direct or indirect influence of West German monopoly capital, despite the clear terms of the State Treaty. Our country’s history before 1938 showed that loss of economic independence leads to loss of political independence and to a rise in anti-democraiic tendencies. For this reason, defence and further expansion of nationalisation in Austria is a prime national task.

p Considering the dangerous tendency emanating from West Germany, we regard the existence of the German Democratic Republic as an important factor deterring West German imperialism. Campaigning for the recognition of the GDR by all European states is therefore an indispensable part of any policy aimed at securing European peace. We hold that the government of neutral Austria must play an active part in this effort.

p In its European policy US imperialism leans mostly on West German imperialism. It is the chief supporter of the dictatorial regimes in Greece, Spain, Portugal and many other countries where the working people are fighting stoutly for freedom and democracy—and we consider their battles as our own. US imperialism is the chief bearer of colonialism and neo-colonialism, 280 deepening the rift and the contradictions between the industrially developed capitalist states and the developing countries, and at once sparking a mounting national liberation movement, one of the decisive factors of our time, a movement for which we entertain the deepest solidarity. Furthermore, US imperialism interferes in Middle East affairs. Our Party stands for a peaceful political adjustment of the Middle East conflict, based on withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories and recognition of the right to exist for all states of the area, Israel included. This is also consistent with the UN Security Council resolution of November 1967, a demand for the fulfilment of which is contained in our Document.

p The draft of the Document contains the legitimate call to fight the man-hating ideology of.racialism fanned by the imperialist bourgeoisie. In this connection, we propose that a separate sentence be inserted in the Document, expressing our attitude to the reactionary essence of anti-Semitism and calling for decisive struggle against it.

p In the fight against imperialism we in Austria are oriented on united action with Socialists and Catholics of the working class and intelligentsia, and on uniting all democratic forces. The conservative forces are still highly influential in the Catholic Church and, primarily, among the Catholic intelligentsia. But new trends have surfaced, which make joint action on the basic problems troubling mankind, such as peace, national liberation, democracy and humanism, quite practicable.

p Our Party organised solidarity actions in support of Vietnam, and there have been actions for ending the bombing of North Vietnam organised jointly with other peace-loving forces. The youth, particularly the students, acted sharply and firmly against the US aggression in Vietnam and against the dictatorial regimes in Greece and Spain. A joint movement has gained ground to combat attempts by West German capital infiltrating the country to undermine the nationalised industries. Factory and office workers have embarked on a struggle for the right to participate in running the economy, for new forms .of direct democracy, something that could become a lever in changing society structurally. Broad growth of united action by all socialist and democratic forces is obstructed by the policy of social partnership and anti-communism pursued by the leadership of the Socialist Party. Despite the obviously aggressive capitalist class policy of the conservative government, the Socialist leadership succeeded in frustrating large-scale class battles and, among other things, in almost entirely paralysing the strike movement. A struggle of principle against the theory and practice of social partnership is, therefore, a crucial task for us at the present time.

p Comrades, the Soviet Union and the socialist countries are the mainstay of the forces of democracy_s peace and socialism in the fight against imperialism in the international arena.

p That is why they are objects of bitter attacks and unbridled anti-communist slander. The Right-wing Socialist Party leaders are trying to emulate the anticommunism of bourgeois propagandists. It is not for criticising the socialist countries that we rebuke the Socialist Party, but for discrediting socialism as such by their hostile attitude. This negative posture towards the socialist 281 countries is the reverse side of rejecting the socialist perspective for Austria. We, for one, consider it necessary to defend democracy, fight for its extension, for socialism, which is consistent with the national traditions and conditions of our country. True, our road to socialism will differ from that blazed by the October Revolution and from that of the People’s Democracies.

p The 50-year history of socialism is a chronicle of remarkable progress and grand accomplishments, possible only as a result of the socialist revolution." That revolution was tied in with far-reaching democratic changes. It ended the exploitation of man by man, ended the disgraceful fact that interests of profit affected vitally important government decisions, paved the way for workers’ guidance and control of factories, repatterned public education from the bottom up and, for, the first time in history, extended to the masses true development of the human personality. Also, it created the preconditions for the equality of nations and was accompanied by the most significant emancipation of women in history.

p A few words are also due about the international role of the socialist countries, a role of world-wide historical importance, and especially about three of its aspects:

p 1. No classes or strata exist in the socialist countries with a stake in war or profit from arms production. That makes the socialist countries the most potent peace force of all. We owe it to the existence of the socialist countries that a realistic possibility exists today for averting wars in general and a nuclear world war in particular.

p 2. The October Revolution, the building of socialism in one country and then the emergence of the socialist world system after the Second World War, have become the mightiest international pillar for, and powerful stimulant of, the national liberation movement. Vietnam demonstrates most convincingly that the foreign policy of the Soviet Union and of US imperialism are diametrically opposite.

p 3. The economic growth of the socialist countries exercises a decisive international influence. Though the economic competition between the two systems, the growing economic power of the socialist countries, have not changed the substance of capitalism, they are a prominent and new factor in the political economy of modern capitalism, presenting new opportunities for the workingclass struggle.

p Socialism’s 50-year history also shows that contradictions do arise in socialist society; although basically different in character from those of capitalism, they also require solving. The socialist revolution does not automatically safeguard anyone from mistakes, from divergences of practice from theory; nor does it lead automatically to economic prosperity and the unfolding of socialist democracy. What it does is create the foundations for it. It depends on people, on the revolutionary Party, whether or not, how, and at what rate these new opportunities are realised through the conscious use of the laws of socialism.

p Our delegation holds that this proposition should be inserted in the Docu, ment. Putting it down will not in any way belittle the great achievements and world-wide political significance of the socialist countries, while enabling us to outline the actual state of affairs more conclusively.

p The struggle between the capitalist and socialist world systems is a decisive area in the universal class struggle between the forces of socialism, democracy and peace and the imperialist forces. The Document points out rightly that the forms of political and ideological class struggle have acquired increasing significance.

p For the Communist Parties this implies a higher standard and, particularly, a higher quality of work in the ideological and political struggle. Our Party, therefore, suggests forming an international information agency of the workingclass movement that would assure rapid transmission of news and information from the socialist countries, as well as coverage of the workers’ struggle in the capitalist world. Considering the vast communication media serving the imperialists, that kind of agency will be highly useful for the working-class movement in its daily struggle.

p Comrades, during the preparations for this Meeting our Party agreed that the Czechoslovak events should not be put on the agenda, since it is obviously impossible at present to eliminate the differences of opinion over that issue. In the circumstances, we consider that the problems of intensifying the joint struggle against imperialism should be the focus of our attention at this Meeting.

p However, our Party also holds that it is essential to discuss some of the rockbottom problems of our movement. That differences exist in the communist movement is a fact, one which requires a deeper analysis. As repeatedly stressed during the discussion, this matter should be examined in an appropriate manner. Differences may be caused by the incorrect stand of this or that Party, but may also stem, as pointed out in bur Document, largely from the highly varied conditions in which the Parties work from country to country. We should like to say on this score that it is necessary to find new forms of an open, businesslike, comradely discussion of problems and differences among Communist and Workers’ Parties based on authentic information about the viewpoints of all Parties concerned. We attach considerable weight to that kind of discussion of theoretical, political and ideological issues, discussion devoid of excessively sharp polemics, of name-calling and denunciations. We consider this a precondition for eliminating differences, a necessary component of the common effort to cement united action in the fight against imperialism. Therefore, we suggest establishing a discussion organ of the communist movement in which we could hold international debates concerning the experience and the basic problems of our movement and our struggle. Possibly, the existing journal, Problems of Peace and Socialism, could be reorganised into that sort of discussion forum.

p In our time, socialism’s force of attraction, the force of attraction of its example, depends to a very great degree on extending the democratic rights and freedoms of the people in the socialist countries. It seems to us that some areas are lagging behind somewhat in utilising the possibilities of unfolding democracy inherent in socialism. That is why we welcome and support every step designed to extend democracy in the socialist countries. For example^ we at once declared our solidarity with the course followed by the Czechoslovak Communist Party after January last year, a course of rectifying mistakes and deformations and of unfolding socialist democracy in accordance with the national 283 conditions and demands of the country concerned. We did so, because we thought that socialism and democracy are inseparable and must be indivisible. At our 20th Congress, we said: "To overcome the power of big capital is possible only through a socialist revolution. That revolution cannot be made by a minority; it must be the cause of the working class as a whole. Firm and stable political power of the working class defending socialism from its internal and external enemies, is a precondition for building socialism. At the same time, workers’ power is itself a crucial new democratic gain, its mission being to build a better social system and unfold the broadest democracy for the working people. That is why any counterposing of the concepts of ‘workers’ power’ and ’socialist .democracy’ seems to us incorrect." The broadest possible conscious participation of the working people in economic arid political decision-making, for which exhaustive information and free discussion are a precondition, is therefore the best guarantee of the security and consolidation of socialism.

p To achieve and strengthen united action in the anti-imperialist struggle, it is important to observe closely the standards of relations among Communist and Workers’ Parties and between socialist countries as worked out by the communist movement after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and also recorded in the Document submitted to the present Meeting. This implies the principles of autonomy and sovereignty, equality, non-interference and proletarian internationalism.

p Experience shows that any violation of these standards may complicate fraternal relations among Communist Parties, socialist states and peoples, causing conflicts, producing a new nationalism and thereby impairing the force of attraction of the socialist world, of socialist ideas, and damaging the fight against imperialism.

p The urge towards hegemony by any Party in relation to any other is alien to the essence of communism, the essence of Marxism. Convinced that our movement cannot have several or even one leading centre, we firmly reject the attempt of the Communist Party of China to impose its "general line" on the fraternal Parties. And in accordance with the decisions of our 19th and 20th congresses we repugn this line and its content in principle.

p As we see it, proletarian internationalism and the principle of sovereignty and non-interference comprise one whole. We regard them as two equally important, mutually-determinative class principles.

p Recognition and full respect of these principles leads to the conclusion that there can be no model of socialism obligatory for all. Any mechanical copying of the policy and tactics of Communist Parties of other countries is contrary to Marxism-Leninism. Yet, as we see it, there are definite general and basic socialist properties, any departure from which on the pretext of national peculiarity is injurious to the socialist cause. However, national peculiarities and the increasing variety of the ways and forms of transition to socialism, of building socialism, must be taken into account.

p Acting on this standpoint, our Party has worked out a conception of the way to socialism consistent with the national conditions of our country, envisaging phase-to-phase goals restricting the power of big capital and opening up the road to socialism. In Austria, too, a revolutionary reconstruction of society 284 cannot be secured without a strong Communist Party as the most conscious and consistent socialist force. However, we are oriented on a new type of revolutionary guidance based on equal co-operation of several parties. In many years of struggle the Austrian working class has won considerable democratic rights. These will remain as we advance to socialism, growing and expanding into qualitatively new democratic rights and freedoms. These latter will not be attained and guaranteed until the power of capitalism is eliminated.

p In our view, strict observance of the principles of autonomy and sovereignty is a decisive precondition for creating and consolidating the new unity of the communist movement, a unity in variety, a unity serving international cohesion and doubling our strength in the fight against imperialism.

p Comrades, as we see it, this Meeting should be the beginning of a deep-going analysis and discussion of the yet unsolved problems of socialism, of the communist movement and of the far-reaching changes in the world in the 50 years since the Great October Socialist Revolution. It is an outstanding accomplishment by V. I. Lenin, the centenary of whose birth we shall soon mark, that he pinpointed and apprehended in theory the new phenomena that appeared after the death of Marx and Engels. Today, too, it is important for us to apply V. I. Lenin’s creative method to resolving the problems of the modern world, the problems of our epoch.

We trust that our Meeting, which has drawn world attention and on which Communists pin great hopes, will contribute to cementing the unity and consolidating the fraternal ties of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, and to our aim of securing unity of action in the fight against imperialism.