p Dear Comrades,

p On behalf of our Party, the Communist Party of East Pakistan, I convey our revolutionary fraternal greetings to this solemn gathering of Communist fighters from all over the world. Our Party congratulates you all that after long efforts we, almost all the Communist Parties of the world, despite serious opposition from some quarters, have been able to sit together do discuss our problems and to decide on our common tasks.

p I also express our heartfelt gratitude to the Socialist Workers’ Party of Hungary and the great CPSU for their initiative and their contributions in making it possible to hold this conference of the Communist and Workers’ Parties of the world> an urgent necessity of the day to unify and develop the international communist movement.

p The Preparatory Committee has submitted before us four documents—on the present tasks, on Lenin’s centenary, on Vietnam and on peace. We are very much grateful to them that they have done the job after very frank, free and thorough discussions for a long period of time and have made the work of the conference easier. These documents were prepared after deliberations amongst representatives of about 70 Parties and they were supported by an overwhelming majority of them. Our Party approves these documents, all of them. As regards the Main Document before us, on the present tasks, I should mention that our Party considers the four chapters of it, its whole, content, as an integral whole. While there is so much division and disunity in the communist movement today, so many anti-Marxist tendencies in a number of Communist Parties, this Document, we hope, will work as a good basis of unity of the Communists throughout the world on correct communist principles, principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. It will enthuse and guide all the communist and revolutionary fighters in all the five continents who are carrying on the anti-imperialist struggle, in different forms and by different methods, for national liberation, for democracy, for socialism and for peace.

p We have one suggestion to make, that in this Main Document or in a separate resolution, a mention is made that this world conference of Communist and 311 Workers’ Parties considers the 1960 Statement of the 81 Parties as correct and valid, and that this Document should be taken as a continuation and explanation on some points of that document, not as an alternative to that. This should be done to avoid any confusion in the communist ranks and to avoid more than one interpretation,, as was the case with the 1960 Moscow Statement.

p Comrades, our Party has to work under very difficult conditions. Since the inception of the new state of Pakistan in 1947, our Party is illegal for the last 21 years. There is severe repression of the democratic forces, the Communists most of all. Alternatives for a comrade who gets known to the police as a Communist are either to spend his life in jail under inhuman conditions or to work underground. During these last years nearly a hundred of our comrades died in imprisonment, some of them beaten to death, some shot dead locked inside their jail wards, for disobeying humiliating jail rules, and the rest for lack of adequate nourishment or medical treatment. A number of our comrades have gone blind in jail. Many of our comrades had to spend 18 years of these 21 years in jail without any trial or in hiding. ^

p Imperialism is the greatest enemy of democracy today. We have in our country very direct experiences of how the imperialists suppress the democratic movement in a newly independent country. Our country is ruled by the reactionary big bourgeoisie and landlords who have strong ties with the imperialists. We are fighting to release our country from imperialist war pacts, for democratic rights of the people, for parliamentary democracy ruled by the representatives of the people, elected by direct votes of the adult population, for the right to autonomy to all the five different nationalities inhabiting Pakistan and for improvement of the beastly living conditions of the people. In 1958, when through immense popular pressure an election was going to be held throughout the country, the reactionaries got help and support of the American, British and West German imperialists in establishing a military dictatorship there. The American imperialists practically initiated and encouraged this autocratic rule.

p Students in our country are fighting big battles against the autocratic reaction^ ary regime and now gradually the workers also are coming forward. We are glad to tell you, comrades, that though our Party is very small and inexperienced, we have a good hold on the student community and our influence amongst the workers also is growing. We have a hold on the national democratic movement. We are confident that, in spite of all oppression and repression, it will not be very long before our people, helped and guided by our Party, succeeds in wresting some democratic rights from the reactionary ruling clique.

p Comrades, in this struggle of ours under severe conditions, the disunity in the international communist movement adds to our difficulties to a very great extent. Communist disunity not only disheartens our comrades, it demoralises other democratic forces too. We feel very much pained to see that today even some important Communist Parties on whom we look for guidance and help suffer from isolationist, nationalistic and liberal trends. It seems to us that to prove their independence, some Parties dissociate and differentiate themselves from, the Soviet Union on important international issues which 312 are vital for the progressive development of the world. If such is the attitude of a Communist Party or a socialist country, then proletarian internationalism has got no meaning at all. Some Parties will not speak the truth for the sake of Communist Unity. If we suppress truth for communist unity, that "communist unity" will be devoid of Marxism-Leninism.

p Comrades, a peculiar feature of our present-day world is the existence of some newly independent states ruled by reactionary capitalists and landlords who, while following very reactionary and autocratic methods in internal politics, try to follow a somewhat neutral policy in international politics. They do not want a world war and they also develop friendly relations with socialist countries, especially for economic and military aid. They try to utilise this aid to serve more the interest of the capitalists than the people. Communist and democratic forces in these countries are fighting hard battles for democracy and social changes. We sometimes feel that the democratic movements in such countries do not always get adequate sympathy and moral and political support from all socialist countries.

p As regards the activities of the Maoist Party of China, in our country they are not disrupting the communist ranks alone, they adopt any and every means to disrupt and defeat the democratic movement against the reactionary ruling clique. This is also our experience in the last December-January movement against Ayub Khan’s autocratic "and corrupt regime. While our Party and all progressive people in Pakistan consider it as a major patriotic task to work for good-neighbourly relations with India, which is in the vital interest of our people and which is a must to defend the minority communities in both countries against communal onslaughts, Maoist China encourages enmity between the two countries and even incites.war between them. It may be an interesting, though sad, information for you that the Tashkent Declaration of India and Pakistan initiated by the Soviet government, to which Comrade Brezhnev has referred in his speech as an example of peace-loving Soviet foreign policy and for which declaration Comrade Kosygin is loved as a gentleman of peace by the common folks in our country, this Tashkent declaration was termed by China as a conspiracy of the Soviet Union and the USA against the Pakistani people.

p But all these activities of Maoist China, though they do a great damage to our movement, are insignificant when we compare them with those "Thoughts of Mao Tse-tung", which are included in his heir’s, Lin Piao’s report to the 9th Congress of the Maoist Party of China in April last. In this report not only all our Parties who do not follow the "Thoughts of Mao Tse-tung" have been characterised as revisionist, this report has slandered and calumniated the Party of Lenin, the Soviet state and all the other socialist states who co-operate with the Soviet. According to that report of Lin Piao which was adopted by the Maoist congress, the present leadership of the CPSU has usurped this leadership and has "turned the world’s first state of the dictatorship of the proletariat" into a "dark fascist state of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie" and they are suppressing "the revolutionary struggles of the people of various countries". These are not my words, I have quoted Lin Piao’s. Here are more from the report. "The Soviet revisionist clique has been practising social imperialism and social fascism." Also, according to Lin Piao’s report, the world socialist 313 community is "just like the New Order of Europe of Hitler" under Soviet dictatorship.

p Comrades, I won’t quote more. The whole report is full of such filth. But, would it be honest for us to ignore these and remain silent ? Will this silence oi a conference of 75 Communist Parties enthuse our comrades and progressives throughout the world? Will our silence dissuade Mao Tse-tung and his group, or rather encourage them? As I understand the logic of Mao’s thoughts, our silence will be interpreted by them as tacit support and they will try to confuse the Chinese people and the Communists and progressives throughout the world by propaganda on that line. This world conference must raise its voice of protest. I think, we owe this not only to the CPSU and the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, but as communist revolutionaries we owe this as well to the success of the anti-imperialist struggle and the future of socialism. The Soviet Union is our strongest fortress in the fight against imperialism and reaction, for national liberation, democracy, socialism and peace. To discredit the Soviet Union is to discredit socialism and today this is the main ideological weapon of the imperialists to demoralise and frustrate the revolutionary ranks throughout the world. And now the Maoist group has taken up that weapon and is doing great harm to our cause. This conference of the Communists of the.world should make it clear to all in unequivocal terms, as Comrade Kadar once said, that there is no and there can never be any anti-Soviet communism.

p Comrades, we wish to.put another proposal before you for the consideration of this conference. In our opinion, it is very urgent at this stage of the world communist movement that the Communist and Workers’ Parties meet together regularly in periodical international conferences. Our conference should take a decision on it and elect a committee of conveners who will prepare for and call the next conference at the appropriate time and keep regular contact with all the Parties in the meantime.

p Long live proletarian internationalism!

Long live the solidarity of world Communists!