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p Dear Comrades,

p On behalf of the Spanish delegation I extend heartfelt greetings to the Communist and Workers’ Parties attending this Meeting and express our gratitude to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for all that it has done to organise and prepare the Meeting.

p In speaking at this Meeting, we must not forget that we are addressing the world and that it is not only the Communists who are interested in the decisions and documents of this international forum.

p The attention of the main political and social forces of every country, which follow communist policies with keen attention, is riveted on our Meeting. They are the working class to begin with, the peasants, progressive intellectuals, the young generation of workers and students, the petty-bourgeois democratic forces and even those groups of the bourgeoisie wronged by American imperialism. In our deliberations we will have to bear in mind that in the present situation, marked by the disintegration of the capitalist system, at a time when socialism has ceased to be a spectre and has become embodied in real achievements of mankind, new social phenomena are taking place that must be kept in mind at all times.

p One of these phenomena is the massive revolutionisation of the student youth, who in the capitalist countries are fighting alongside the working class to change old power structures and build a better world.

p Another phenomenon is the changes taking place in the Catholic Church, where considerable groups of clergymen and even some of the highest dignitaries refuse to go on serving as a prop of capitalism. They accept and advocate socialisation of the basic means of production. They take action along with the working class, upholding a democratic policy against capitalist reaction and imperialism.

p There is a sphere of which no one has spoken here but which merits keen attention because today it is a political factor of the utmost importance. Thai sphere is the armed forces, in which the people could in definite condition! find allies to democratise the country and uphold national independence againsi imperialism. This problem is very relevant in our country, where the 357 widespread movement of protest against the American bases includes groups of servicemen who declare against the continued presence of these bases on Spanish soil.

p We Spanish Communists are not afraid at all to raise these questions because they are real and topical not only in Spain but in many other countries. We must keep them in mind as revolutionaries.

p The Main Document describes our epoch as the epoch of transition from capitalism to socialism. It notes that there are real possibilities for the fundamental problems of our time to be solved in favour of peace, democracy and socialism.

p In fact, present-day imperialism, headed by the United States, is characterised by brutality and aggressiveness, and at the same time by the inability to solve its own problems, by the failure of its attempts to preserve and consolidate its main positions in the world and by the bankruptcy of its policy.

p The heroic struggle of the people of Vietnam is the outstanding case in point. We send heartfelt greetings to the Vietnamese people, who are resisting the American imperialist aggressors, inflicting telling reverses on them. The victories of the patriots of Vietnam are a source of inspiration and encouragement to all forces of liberation and revolution.

p The colonial system of’imperialism has fallen to pieces. Many of the countries once kept down by it resist the pressures and threats of their one-time masters. What is more, to assure their independent economic development, they seek assistance and support from the socialist countries in spite of various’imperialist efforts and manoeuvres to prevent it.

p Imperialism has lost important positions in Asia and Africa. It sustains telling blows in Latin America, where a revolt against the Americans is maturing among the peoples who see in the example of socialist Cuba the road to their own liberation.

p When paid agents of American reaction assassinated our unforgettable comrade, Che Guevara, a hero of all the peoples fighting for freedom and independence, and the priest Camilo Torres, who showed his solidarity with the people by taking up the guerrilla’s rifle, they may have imagined that along with the two men they buried for ever the will of the Spanish-speaking peoples of America for freedom. But they were mistaken.

p The assassins had no inkling that by burying the two men they had sown the seeds of the revolt against imperialism which is sweeping Latin America all the way from Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande. The armed struggle of the Dominican people against the American invaders, the impressive strike of the workers and the revolt of the students in Argentina today, as well as the recent explosion of student protest in Mexico and Brazil, the selfless fight of the peoples of Guatemala, Colombia and Bolivia, the mass political struggles in Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador and Uruguay, the patriotic position of the Peruvian military against Washington are all examples of rebellion and struggle for the national and social freedom of these countries, against reaction and imperialism.

p The struggle is going on in Europe, where the outstanding development was the labour and student movement of May and June 1968 in France. That movement shook monopoly power and had strong international repercussions. Important 358 mass action by the factory workers, peasants, students, office and professional workers took place in Italy.

p The struggle is going on in Spain, where the outlines of the country’s free, democratic and socialist future are beginning to appear. Participating with the greatest enthusiasm in this struggle against the Franco regime—a struggle covering the whole of Spain—are the working class, students and young workers. These young people have fought in no war and want to live in a democratic country cleared of the survivals of a tragic past.

p Our youth knows of the tremendous sacrifices our people had to make in struggle under the leadership of the working class and democratic forces, among which the Communist Party distinguished itself by its policy of unity, its fighting efficiency and discipline.

p In the struggle now going on, the Communist Party again shows itself to be the main inspiring and motive force ready to give its very blood, to make any sacrifice. Comrade Communists of all countries, now that the bloody shadow of fascism is beginning to take shape and become a reality in West Germany, the cradle of Hitlerism, I want to remind you in my speech that Spain is the country where the first battles against fascist aggression were fought and that the Spanish people were the first to offer armed resistance to that aggression. I want to remind you of the men of the International Brigades who battled in Spain and the tragic fate of many of-whom makes my heart heavy. Those men came to our country ready to die helping the Spanish people like brothers to defend their freedom and stem the bloody torrent of fascism that had begun to flood Europe. From this rostrum I want once again to acknowledge and express our invariable gratitude and friendship to the survivors of that heroic feat.

p At the present stage of the struggle in our country, where our people are running such a risk—as those who join our ranks know—we are again losing our best fighters.

p I want to remind you here of our heroes of yesterday and today. They are: Julian Grimau, a model of Communist staunchness and firmness, foully assassinated by the Franco regime; Narciso Julian, who has been in prison for over 20 years; Jose Sandoval, Ramon Ormazabal and Pedro Ardiaca, who are serving long terms of imprisonment; Comrade Horacio Fernandez Inguanzo, member of the Executive Committee of our Party, who was sentenced to death, served 15 years in prison and was seized again in Asturias.

p I want to mention the leaders of workers’ commissions: Marcelino Camacho, Julian Ariza, David Morin, Luis Hoyos, Trinidad Garcia, Jose Maria Ibarrola, Vicente Faus, Manuel Otones and many more who were arrested for their activities in support of the working peoples’ demands. Speaking of the heroes of the struggle against the Franco regime, we must not forget about the activity of the workers, students and intellectuals in the Fasque Country, among whom Communists, progressive Catholics and members of the ETA nationalist organisation are prominent. By fighting for the national rights of the Basque Country, they are fighting for the freedom of all the peoples of Spain.

p Comrades, the present epoch opens up new revolutionary opportunities for mankind, The scientific and technological revolution provides the material prerequisites of the victory of socialism and the abolition of exploitation and 359 poverty throughout the world, provided we, the revolutionary force of society, are able to change social conditions and put the enormous and growing productive forces in the service of man.

p The Communist Parties are gaining in numbers and influence. Alongside them there appear new revolutionary forces that have emerged as a result of the sharpening crisis of imperialism and the fact that Marxist-Leninist ideas have spread far and wide. These forces are our natural allies in spite of the diversity of shadings of tactic or even conceptions. Lenin had good reason to write: "Whoever expects a ‘pure’ social revolution will never live to see it.”

p The socialist revolution, Lenin added, "cannot be anything other than an outburst of mass struggle on the part of all and sundry oppressed and discontented elements. Inevitably, sections of the petty bourgeoisie and of the backward workers will participate in it—without such participation, mass struggle is impossible, without it no revolution is possible—and just as inevitably will they bring into the movement their prejudices, their reactionary fantasies, their weaknesses and errors. But objectively they will attack capital, and the classconscious vanguard of the revolution, the advanced proletariat, expressing this objective truth of a variegated and discordant, motley and outwardly fragmented, mass struggle, will be able to unite and direct it, capture power, seize the banks, expropriate the trusts which all hate (though for different reasons!), and introduce other dictatorial measures which in their totality will amount to the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the victory of socialism, which, however, will by no means immediately ‘purge’ itself of petty-bourgeois slag". (Collected Works, Vol. 22, p. 356.)

p Lenin took into account the extreme complexity of the revolutionary movement. Today this complexity is even greater due to the expansion and deepening of the movement and because forces that are very different in origin and background are converging in it as in a great stream.

p The national liberation movement in the countries oppressed by imperialism is the most important ally of the international working class. This movement has its own objects and characteristics which, indeed, vary from.country to country and from situation to situation. It presents a very rich and varied gamut of particulars ranging from the glorious liberation war of the Vietnamese people —that example of revolutionary and patriotic consistency in which a MarxistLeninist vanguard exerts a leading influence—to other movements which are more heterogeneous in orientation and composition and in which working-class influence is less marked.

p Be that as it may, whatever the forces wielding a decisive influence on the orientation of the national liberation movement at this or that moment of its changing development, this movement is our natural ally. It objectively gravitates to socialism, for in our day the national struggle against imperialism logically leads people onto socialist positions and inevitably becomes part of the development process of the world socialist revolution.

p Naturally, the Communist Parties, the Marxist-Leninist forces in each contingent of this great movement, are striving to give it as consistent an orientation as possible. We should not, however, feel perplexed or alarmed if these movements occasionally adopt tactics or advance conceptions that do not square with 360 ours a hundred per cent. It is impossible to achieve uniformity in so vast and diversified a revolutionary movement as the present. Only in the process of struggle, through one’s own experience, which sometimes contains not only successes but setbacks, will it be possible to overcome differences step by step and achieve greater uniformity. But even then what we achieve will not be uniformity because the distinctions in situation and development, and the concrete features of each contingent will persist for a long time.

p Marxism-Leninism, which is neither a static nor a completed theory any more than it is all-powerful—for no theory can in itself be all-powerful— Marxism-Leninism as a constant and continuous creative process of intimately interlinked revolutionary thought and action cannot approach the anti- imperialist liberation movement with ready-made, or stereotyped formulas. It must also enrich itself and develop through the experience of the movement.

p It is already evident that in some developed capitalist countries, such as the United States, where the working class is under the ideological influence of imperialism, the struggle of the Negro people and the movement of students and certain intellectual minorities aroused by the world-wide revolutionary process and, very directly, by the unjust war US imperialism is waging against the people of Vietnam, play the role of a factor that can help awaken the class consciousness of the working people. Obviously, this process does not fit into certain Marxist patterns, which shows that life is richer than all theories and that our theory, Marxism-Leninism, should be open and should absorb all that the revolutionary experience of the masses constantly brings us.

p The growth of the productive forces in the capitalist countries is deeply changing the social structures, but not in the sense alleged by capitalist ideologists, who speak of the “dwindling” of the proletariat and almost announce its “extinction”. It is changing them in the sense that scientists and technologists, a large part of the intelligentsia, which formerly did not differ much from the- bourgeoisie in social condition, are now drawing nearer the working class in social condition.

p And the important thing is that these forces, whose numerical strength and mass importance are increasing and will increase day after day with scientific and technological progress, are becoming aware of this situation and are organising. They put forward demands, participate ever more resolutely and vigorously in the struggle against monopoly power, and are drawing nearer the ideological positions of the working class.

p The student movement of protest and “challenge”, which carries unquestionable weight in the revolutionary struggles of today, and which in Spain and elsewhere is increasingly merging with the struggle of the proletariat, is a phenomenon whose character is connected with awareness of the new social situation of a large proportion of today’s intelligentsia.

p The mass of young people, generally of non-proletarian origin, are beginning with great energy and militancy to invade the social life of the peoples. Objectively, they are becoming a valuable ally of the Communist Parties in arousing and drawing into the revolutionary movement forces belonging to the middle strata which so far have been under the political influence of the bourgeoisie and which these young people can bring into the fight for democratic objectives. 361 Judging by the experience of Spain, they can also play a very important part in developing the peasant movement and in radicalising it, can help mobilise the more backward sections of the working class. I repeat that by saying this we are not stating an abstract theory but are speaking on the basis of the concrete experience of the Communist Party of Spain.

p These new forces objectively are operating as a very important factor helping the proletarian, Marxist-Leninist vanguard to bring wide social strata into politics and to radicalise them.

p It sometimes happens, of course, that with part of these young forces a rebellious spirit, the inevitable immaturity, impatience and even certain prejudices typical of the classes and strata they come from lead to attitudes of revolutionary infantilism of an anarchist type. But we must not judge them summarily, let alone condemn them wholesale.

p These attitudes occasionally mislead Communists, who regard such young people as outsiders prying ^^1^^nto the revolution.

p In a mass movement of this nature and magnitude, a movement involving hundreds of thousands of young people, we should not be surprised by such attitudes. We who have joined the Communist Party in times past do not. forget the impatience, the idealistic confusion, the ardent spirit of “challenging” the society of the period that were typical of us young people who were beginning to be Communists. We remember how passionately we who considered ourselves the best interpreters of Leninism and the October Revolution joined issue with veteran leaders and their fighting methods, which were not always as harmful as we thought.

p At that time there were also veterans of the labour and socialist movement who regarded youthful impatience and militancy as impermissible in developing the struggle as they saw it.

p Now, too, veteran comrades sometimes show incomprehension and a reluctance to accept these new forces, to understand the new problems coming up in the Communist movement. And regardless of the goodwill of our comrades, that reluctance, far from helping the new forces mature for the revolution and join the Communist Party, moves them away from us and puts them within the range of certain propaganda campaigns.

p The experience of our Party in these years—we might even say throughout its history—shows that the position of openness towards the youth is decisive for the viability and revolutionary consolidation of the party of the working class. If the Communist Party of Spain had not unconditionally opened its ranks to young workers, peasants and students, it would not wield the strength and influence it wields now. The toll exacted from us by fascist repression during the thirty years of the Party’s illegal activity, by shootings, imprisonment, concentration camps, tortures and exile—would have bled it white. We would be no more than a heroic memory for posterity and would no longer be the living, active and militant reality we are in the political life of Spain today.

p Allow me to say, without the intention of criticising anyone, that to become the leading force in the fight for democracy and socialism, the Communist Parties must not only have a correct policy but must be able to rejuvenate themselves and bring into their ranks great numbers of young people, who are 362 joining in struggle in a highly militant spirit and with a desire to achieve deepgoing social changes. Our Communist Parties today should be characterised by a receptive attitude to new phenomena, a readiness to do what the Catholics call in their camp aggiornamento, that is, to update Marxist-Leninist theory and political action in a creative revolutionary spirit.

p There is an immense difference between the world of today and that in which we Communist veterans began to fight. At that time the first socialist revolution was triumphing under the leadership of Lenin’s Party, and every effort was aimed at preserving it, at defending that first gain, which was growing, encircled by the armed forces of the imperialist powers. What did the mistakes or shortcomings there could be with the first steps in a socialist experiment that was absolutely new in history—what did they matter at that time! Besides, Lenin, far from concealing those mistakes and shortcomings, spoke of them courageoush/j so as to use them as a lesson and be able to correct them. The important thing was to prevent imperialism from stamping out the hope, the example and the light which the victory of socialism was spreading all over the world, showing us all the way to the abolition of capitalism, to the socialist revolution.

p We were right! We regret nothing! But the world is different now. Surely there is no one in our camp who does not know that imperialism is still strong, aggressive and extremely dangerous, that we will yet have to fight grim battles in order to deliver mankind for good from oppression and the threat of destruction which are concomitants of imperialism. But after the October Revolution the Soviet Union became a great power and the strongest bulwark of the cause of socialism due to the devoted effort of its people. It defeated the Hitlerite aggressors and paved the way for the development of eight new socialist states in Europe. Subsequently, on this basis, the revolution in China triumphed, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam came into being, the Cuban revolution, particularly cherished by us Spaniards, achieved victory. The colonial system began to disintegrate and dozens of countries freed themselves from colonial tyranny. In the developed capitalist countries today the scientific and technological revolution imperatively demands radical socialist change and points up the necessity for the working class and its allies in the struggle against monopoly to take power.

p Since October 1917 and the formation of Communist Parties the forces of the world revolution have become so strong that historically imperialism has already lost its game although we may still suffer temporary reverses.

p We are now faced with a new situation and we must not shut our eyes to it if we do not want to lag. We have not yet completed the victory over capitalism on a world scale and have yet to fight serious battles to achieve that victory, and now questions of a new type are coming to confront us that disconcert those who view the present situation with the same eyes as in the twenties and thirties.

p What I mean is problems that crop up in what we may call our world, the socialist world. They are born of contradictions inherited by the socialist countries as a poisoned legacy from their capitalist and even feudal past, and of the differences in their development levels. With a subjectivist approach, these contradictions may and de become aggravated. Imperialist propaganda 363 plays them up, trying to make the masses distrustful of the superiority of socialism over capitalism and to conceal the far more serious, and insurmountable, evils of its own system. However, our position in the face of imperialist propaganda should not consist in denying obvious things—this would undermine confidence in our Parties—but in admitting the existence of these problems, in analysing their causes and showing in this way that we Communists can overcome these difficulties. This obliges our propaganda to speak of the problems of socialism without beating about the bush precisely in order to give our struggle against the capitalist system greater striking force. Socialism is already so strong that neither imperialist propaganda, its difficult problems, nor our own mistakes can in the long run check its progress.

p . In striving to update the thinking and action of Marxist-Leninist Parties, we must bear in mind the effects of changed social structures in the sphere of the political struggle. In Spain the balance of political forces has changed deeply and we think this applies in one way or another to some other countries. The Socialist Party, the anarcho-syndicalist movement and the historical republican parties, which played so important a role in the Second Republic and were within the framework of the Popular Front our chief allies in the war against fascism, have lost their one-time importance. But then a democratic and progressive Catholic movement has emerged, a substantial part of which is orientated towards socialism. This movement is destined to play, and is already playing, an important role. In the national regions of Spain—Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia—national sentiment, which Francoism has been trying in vain to stamp out, has given rise to new progressive political alignments that never existed before.

p On the other hand, socio-political mass movements are developing among the workers, peasants, students, intellectuals and other categories. They are of prime importance at this stage, and irrespective of their future character, they will retain their importance in one form or another. In Spanish politics these movements, which are not political parties properly speaking, are and will go on operating, despite their autonomy, as active factors in the fight for democracy and socialism.

p On this basis, an alliance of the forces of labour and culture is being forged step by step, in line with our strategic conception of the advance to socialism in Spain. But at this stage our Party is willing to conclude a "pact for freedom" with all the political groups that may resolve to put an end to the Franco dictatorship, whatever their tendency,

p In view of the present power of socialism in the world, we visualise socialism in Spain as a system under which the political, cultural and personal liberties which the bourgeois revolution wrested from- feudal society and which in their day were—as they are even now in the face of fascism—a gain of vast importance will develop in close connection with the fundamental freedoms which socialism alone can ensure to mankind, doing away with capitalist exploitation, oppression and inequality.

p According to our vision of socialism, a multi-party system and the cooperation of diverse parties having a socialist orientation are one of the characteristics due to the peculiarities of the Spanish revolution.

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p In setting this perspective before ourselves, we Spanish Communists proceed from the general principles of Marxism-Leninism and from the experience of our own political practice. Let us recall that during our national revolutionary war a multi-party government, in which we co-operated with the Socialist and and other democratic parties, effected deep-going economic, political and social changes that indicated in outline progress towards socialism and turned republican Spain into the first people’s democracy in Europe.

p In the history of our country, that was the first milestone on the road leading to a new approach—not only to the struggle for democracy but even to the possibility of going over to socialism with the support of a broad coalition of the working-class and other democratic forces. We are not trying to impose our socialist perspective on anyone as an obligatory model (which would, by the way, be puerile), although we are convinced that socialism is a system which must and will provide the greatest freedom as it becomes stronger and thoroughly remoulds people’s lives.

All this means that our Party sees its mission in winning power in alliance with other socialist and progressive forces of our country and in accomplishing the revolution by methods and in forms corresponding to the conditions of the Spain of today in the world of today.

p Comrades, as I go on to some problems of the world socialist system set forth in the draft Document submitted to our Meeting for consideration, I would like to repeat that we approve of the fundamental thesis that the socialist world, primarily the Soviet Union, is the decisive force in the struggle against imperialism, the solid bulwark on which the peoples fighting for national and social liberation rely for support.

p After the Second World War a change of colossal importance came about which we have possibly not studied as yet in all its complexity, in terms of all the repercussions it had in our movement. That change was the formation of the socialist world system, which today comprises fourteen very different states with dissimilar historical traditions, economic structures and geographical situations, states which arrived at socialism in very different ways.

p This new situation, which accounts for the increased complexity of the relations between our Parties and the socialist countries, does not in the least reduce our internationalist duty nor our solidarity with them. Now as in the past, we are on the side of the socialist countries, on the side of the Soviet Union, against imperialism. We are prepared in any situation to give them all the assistance and solidarity we can. No one can question this position of ours. Due to our Party’s trying history itself, we Spanish Communists know very well the great value of proletarian internationalism. For our part, we have always shown fraternal solidarity with the Soviet Union and other countries, and we took part in battles against Hitlerism on the most diverse fronts of World War II.

p Our loyalty to Leninism is not a mere declaration, it is embodied in the activity of our Party, in its ability to lead the working people’s struggle.

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p That is why we think the decisive criterion of proletarian internationalism at this stage is the ability of a Party to evolve a national and international policy furthering at once the revolution in its own country and the world revolutionary process.

p One of the sections of the draft Document under discussion says very correctly: "The winning of power by the working class and its allies is the greatest contribution which a Communist Party fighting under capitalist conditions can make to the cause of socialism and proletarian internationalism.”

p The mobilisation and political maturing of the revolutionary forces in our country are taking place in the atmosphere of a great discussion on the problems of socialism in which members of our Party, our friends and allies participate. The class enemy steps in too, using the powerful propaganda media at his disposal to attack us and slanderously misrepresent and smear the achievements of socialism.

p How do we take part in that discussion ? First of all—and this is the important thing—we try to demonstrate the fundamental superiority of socialism over capitalism, stressing the decisive gains of the socialist countries in the most diverse spheres.

p That does not prevent us as Marxists-Leninists from taking a critical stand when we consider that a negative phenomenon is occurring in a socialist country.

p It is the duty of our Party to express, with a full sense of responsibility, its own opinion on the problems of socialism, because these problems affect political life in Spain and we cannot but state our opinion.

p When we take a critical stand—it is worth stressing this—we consider that we are thereby upholding principles common to us and are fulfilling our duty to the working class of our country and the world. We are not prompted by narrow national considerations but by our proletarian, internationalist position.

p That was the case when, last year, the five Warsaw Treaty countries took their action in Czechoslovakia. Our disagreement over that is known. It does not mean interfering in the least in the life of any Party. We must not withhold our opinion when events of international significance take place affecting the whole of our movement and causing concern to the working people and, first of all, to the members of our own Party.

p At this Meeting, the most positive approach that would enable us to avoid an aggravation of the disagreement and give a crushing rebuttal to the speculations of imperialist propaganda is that recommended in our relevant amendment to the Document, namely, to proceed from reality as it is and declare that, despite the divergences over the events of August 1968, there is a firm resolve among us, the Parties represented at this Meeting, to maintain and strengthen our unity in the struggle against imperialism.

p We think the Document under discussion has some other shortcomings. The Document would become more effective if it avoided some triumphalist expressions and acknowledged obvious realities, such as the existence of contradictions between socialist countries. This would, furthermore, stimulate the progress of contemporary Marxist thinking in a sphere in which it is clearly behind times.

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This is not only a theoretical matter. Enriching Marxism-Leninism by studying these problems will help the Communist Parties to reduce differences and contradictions, prevent them from assuming acute forms and find ways of reaching early solutions to them.

p Comrades, our movement is faced with the task of overcoming the divergences existing today.

p We note with satisfaction the presence here of 75 Parties, but we cannot shut our eyes to reality, cannot ignore the fact that some Parties are noticeably absent.

p A long-range policy should be aimed at restoring the unity of the whole of our movement regardless of all the negative or situational factors that may emerge.

p The Main Document submitted to this Meeting says: "It is an internationalist duty of each Party to do everything it can to help improve relations arid promote trust between all Parties and to undertake further efforts to strengthen the unity of the international communist movement.”

p The Document contains the important statement that the Parties represented at the Meeting "consider that the absence of certain Communist Parties should not hinder fraternal ties and co-operation between all Communist Parties without exception. They declare their resolve to achieve joint action in the struggle against imperialism, for the common objectives of the international working-class movement, as well as with the Communist and Workers’ Parties not represented at the present Meeting”.

p The Communist Party of Spain is ready to act in this spirit. In the interest of the unity of our entire movement and all socialist countries, without renouncing the possibility of expressing our points of view on what we regard as harmful positions, facts or phenomena, we will strive, however, to do so in a fair confrontation, through political arguments, refusing to be exasperated in reply to someone else’s exasperation.

p The Main Document submitted to this Meeting sums up an aspect of interparty discussion. It is therefore essentially political in character and puts on record the points of agreement. However, our Party has made serious reservations on some points which we would like to be more in keeping with reality. These reservations have always been voiced in a constructive, unitary and internationalist spirit.

p The months of discussion preceding our Meeting revealed the advantages of the collective method of work. This is undoubtedly a positive thing compared with past practices and it should be retained, consolidated and carried forward. The numerous amendments proposed by various Parties reveal not only a keen interest and active participation in the discussion but an increased ability to contribute diverse experiences to our common treasure-house.

p For that reason and for others, this Meeting is different from the Meetings of J957 and 1960.

p •

p The Document is not presented as a "programmatic charter" or a "general 367 line" for the Communist Parties, We might say that it is the result of extensive debate, is eminently political in character and contains a number of important new elements but also areas of ambiguity. And then, necessarily, owing to the situation in our movement, there are obvious gaps.

p We think a characteristic of the present situation is that the factors for unity considerably outweigh the factors dividing us, and that a strong will for unity in the struggle against imperialism has been displayed despite all divergences. We must avoid summary condemnations and the method of anathematising and putting on labels. This does not mean renouncing criticism or self-criticism, nor dispensing with the necessary confrontation of ideas. Our line of action has been to state our occasionally critical views sincerely, in a spirit of cordiality and comradeship, according to what we consider a standard between revolutionary organisations of the working class. Communist criticism and self-criticism are basic and indispensable elements of our movement. Diplomacy is foreign to our methods of relations.

p There is a problem to which we attach particular importance and which I would like to deal with so that you may have an accurate idea of it and interpret our position correctly. I mean the need of a new unity of the world communist movement.

p Logically, the new situation calls for appropriate new forms of unity.

p We emphatically state beforehand that the solid theoretical basis of this new unity can be nothing but the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. However, we must also take into account the new features of the present stage of our movement. Since there exists no leading centre nor a leading party—and this was stressed in a number of speeches—it is evident that the method should also be different from that used earlier, when our movement did have such a centre and such a party. At present unity can only be achieved on the terms of complete independence of the Parties in shaping their policy line, in applying the general principles of Marxism-Leninism in the actual conditions of the country concerned, as is stated in the draft Document. Recognising diversity does not lead to disunity. On the contrary, being based on our principles, it is a factor for enriching our movement.

p During the preparatory discussions a conception we do not share was occasionally put forward, namely, that of majority and minority, and of even overwhelming majority. We wish to stress with the best of intentions but also with the utmost frankness that, unlike the situation in our Parties, the world communist movement is not governed by the principle of democratic centralism. In our movement, fundamental problems cannot be solved by voting nor by a majority vote. But apart from this, it is not certain that there is a majority and a minority. On some issues we all agree, on others some Parties agree while others do not, but the very same dissenters are sure to agree on other issues with some of those with whom they disagreed before while the area of dissent will involve still others.

p On the other hand, if we finalised the concepts of “majority” and “minority”, we would push our movement towards new splits. Our Party, which is aware of its internationalist duties, forms an integral part of the communist movement on an equal footing with others and it is not prepared ever to be a minority.

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p The right method would be to discuss the problems in a spirit of understanding, trying to reach common conclusions. To be sure, that is a longer road requiring greater patience and more in the way of arguments, but there is no other road if we really want to advance to unity. Experience has shown us that by this method we have achieved results which at first seemed impossible.

p We are stating these views with utmost clarity because we are deeply convinced that, by using proper methods, our communist movement will be able to accomplish its great historic tasks. We are convinced that here, too, the new will in the end triumph over what life has passed, that we are the bearers of the future and will make it a reality.

p Comrades, we are confronted with an enemy, imperialism, who will go on doing its utmost to prevent or delay its inevitable disappearance from the historical scene.

p ’Despite all adversities, the grimness of revolutionary battles and the severity of persecution, we Communists retain an unshakable faith in our ideals and confidence in the working people. We know that, given a correct, unitary Marxist-Leninist policy, nobody and nothing can defeat us, that the socialist transformation of the world initiated by the Great October Revolution and the Bolshevik Party under the leadership of our teacher, Lenin, will be crowned with success.

There are hard tests ahead but we will withstand them in doing our revolutionary, internationalist duty.