p Comrades, let us go on to international matters. Our attitude on this score was formulated at our 12th Congress and recently in the report of Comrade Longo, its General Secretary, at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee. The text of that report has been forwarded to all the delegations, which enables us to deal here with a few topics, especially those concerning the situation in our movement and the problems of its unity.
p We, too, consider as fundamentally important the task of safeguarding, restoring and developing on a renovated basis the unity of our movement. At our 12th Congress, Comrade Longo declared, on the basis of ideas expressed by Comrade Togliatti, that we proceed from the conviction that the communist movement must have unity not only on the national but also on the international scale, a unity which, by no means being the result of compulsion from without, that is to say, mechanical copying of someone else’s policy, would grow in conditions of the variety and peculiarity of the experience of individual countries, feeding on the spirit of mutual criticism, and drawing strength from the independence of the individual Parties.
p Today, complete unity does not exist among the main participants in the revolutionary struggle. What is more, in this respect many difficulties and very serious problems which remain unsettled have emerged. In a certain sense, perhaps, we may speak even of a crisis of internationalism that we have noi coped with as yet.
383p Beyond question, that crisis stems from varied and complex causes.
p As we see it, the basic, the main reasons are of an objective nature, while others are subjective and should, in other words, be sought in definite political attitudes, in shortcomings and mistakes.
p On the whole, if we glance at the entire 25-year period since the great antifascist war, we shall see that despite all the negative factors, the present crisis of internationalism arose in a world dominated by grandiose revolutionary changes.
p In the past ten years, too, despite the contradictions that have sprung up in the socialist camp and the communist movement, and despite other negative factors, we are able to register the fact that the revolutionary movement in the world has expanded, assuming heretofore unseen proportions.
p The Soviet Union and the socialist countries have scored fresh achievements in economic development and other spheres of social life. The role of the Soviet Union as the main force in the struggle for peace, against imperialism, for the socialist cause in the entire world, has been reaffirmed and enhanced.
p In the American hemisphere the first socialist state came into being in Cuba. In many capitalist countries, often including those where the working-class movement showed signs of stagnating or receding, there has been an upsurge in that movement. But the new factor of the past decade is the entry of new nations heretofore all but unnoticeable on the scene of world history into the struggle for social and national liberation, into the anti-imperialist movement. At the same time, new social strata are joining the class and political struggle in the capitalist countries. Admittedly, we Communists have not, by and large, succeeded to the desired extent in establishing ties with these movements and in utilising these stimuli. Possibly, the reason lies, among other things, in the somewhat narrow conception of our tasks and of how the unity of the world revolutionary movement should be secured in our time. In any case, the foundations on which this movement grows and can advance have never been so broad as they are today.
p In these circumstances, the demand for internationalism resounds more compulsively than ever. In face of the aggressiveness of imperialism, the unity of the communist movement and co-operation among all anti-imperialist forces is more necessary than ever before. What is more, the situation has ripened for asserting and securing a new upsurge of internationalism. It seems to us, this upsurge will become possible only if we proceed in our activity from a realistic estimation of the facts as they are and if we succeed in aligning with them and boldly reformulating the problems, methods and the very concept of unity.
p It goes without saying that the forms of united action and international solidarity effective in recent years are very important, especially in relation to the heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people and other areas of the anti-imperialist struggle.
p But if our approach to the situation is to be realistic we must first and foremost consider the contradictions existing between socialist countries and between Communist Parties.
p The gravest fact, one that deeply troubles all of us and the working masses of the world, is that the contradictions with the Chinese Communist Party have 384 come to a point where the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China now oppose from hostile positions the Soviet Union, nearly all the socialist contries and nearly all the Communist Parties, that is, the decisive majority of the revolutionary and anti-imperialist movement. Not only is this extremely damaging to the working-class movement; it also exercises a negative influence on the entire international situation and causes grave apprehensions. This conflict is, moreover, the cause of confusion and dejection among the masses.
p For many years now, and particularly at the latest plenary meeting of our CC, we have been openly criticising what we consider the erroneous positions adopted by the Chinese Communist Party.
p Indeed, the dividing line between socialism and imperialism remains the main watershed of the present epoch and of the entire present political situation. Precisely for this reason, from the standpoint of the common interests of the struggle of the peoples for national independence, social emancipation and peace, we consider it a grave and troubling aberration that the Chinese Communist Party puts on the same level US imperialism and the Soviet Union, attacks the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, the majority of Communist Parties and many democratic and anti-imperialist forces.
p Secondly, we consider it a bad mistake that the Chinese Communist Party should reiterate its claim to imposing on all countries and all Parties its way as the only correct one, proclaiming Mao Tse-tung’s thought as the “ MarxismLeninism” of the present epoch and conducting divisive activities. We have also stated that we shall consider, and do consider to this day, that any “ excommunication” and any tendency to counter polemical extremes with polemical extremes would be incorrect. That is why we see it as a positive fact that the draft Document prepared for our Meeting contains no denunciations and no “excommunications”.
p It stands to reason that at an International Meeting we should discuss all the most important international questions if we wish to produce an objective analysis of the situation. We consider it self-evident, however, that conditions are lacking today for us to arrive at collective conclusions and to define the position of our Meeting on these questions, for this would, as we see it, yield results contrary to those expected.
p This does not rule out, I repeat, that our Party will continue its elucidative critical work in relation to the erroneous positions of the Chinese Communist Party. And not so much because in Italy, too, splitting activity is being fostered under the signboard of the Chinese positions, but because the problems at issue concern some of the central aspects of the revolutionary perspective and our political line.
p To be sure, the China problem obviously remains an objective one that we have to face up to.
p Coming in the wake of such decisive events in the history of mankind as the October Revolution the building of socialism in the Soviet Union, the victory over nazism and fascism and the emergence of socialist states in Europe, the Chinese revolution was an event of historical significance that made for change in the structure of the world.
385p Besides, it is obvious that People’s China exercises a strong influence on the world situation. That is why we hold that efforts must be applied to understand the objective demands behind the changes that have occurred in China and in Chinese policy. This does not mean that we should exonerate erroneous positions and an erroneous course; what we must do is define more accurately the objective conditions that impelled this course and China’s entire political development.
p Furthermore, we should try and pinpoint the mistakes and shortcomings in relations with China and in our common political activity.
p But we should like to stress, first and foremost, the need for unfolding political actions consistent with the magnitude, complexity and gravity of the questions created by the China problem and consequently the need for measures aimed at renewing the political dialogue and resuming relations of unity. It is evident that any efforts in this direction have to take full account of the objective requirements of the development of the Chinese economy and Chinese society, and China’s role in the world.
p The policy of peaceful coexistence and the struggle against imperialism also require China’s positive contribution.
p That is why we cannot regard as congealed and final the situation as it looks today, with the menacing prospect it may entail, and which must be averted in any case. In this respect our Party is prepared to study and promote any initiative which may prove to be useful in overcoming the present situation or, at any rate, in easing the existing tension.
p The erroneous line of the Chinese Communist Party must be criticised, it must be fought, but at the same time China’s problem, as Comrade Togliatti noted, must be solved by developing our policy, by displaying a concrete ability to find positive solutions for the most important problems of the modern epoch.
p Alongside the problem of the threat of world war and nuclear disaster, one of the most dramatic problems of the modern epoch is undoubtedly that of the vast backward areas existing in the world. Masses of people live in tragic conditions of malnutrition, hunger and death from starvation, and denial of freedom— consequences of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism3 and, at the same time, of class exploitation, which is being carried on in the most backward countries. The gulf between these vast areas of the world and the industrially advanced countries is widening. That is why the prospects here are cheerless, also because of the population explosion in the backward countries.
p On the other hand, in the industrialised capitalist countries, of which Italy is one, the gap between backward areas with a predominantly agricultural economy, as the south of Italy, and industrial, economically developed areas is widening. That may also be why the Italian working class is especially sensitive to the serious problems of the masses which live in conditions of backwardness throughout the world.
p We believe that in these circumstances one of the central elements of the struggle for peace, the policy of peaceful coexistence and the very development of the revolutionary struggle of the world’s proletariat for socialism must be a fight against backwardness, poverty and hunger, a struggle to secure for all 386 peoples freedom and justice, independent development, and an opportunity to use the immense human resources—labour, intellectual and moral, which are now being downtrodden and stifled—to achieve their own free economic, political and cultural progress. The policy of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries is aimed at the attainment of this lofty and revolutionary goal. They devote much attention to this question, exerting great efforts to render vast assistance to the lagging countries, and making serious sacrifices. All this does credit to the socialist nations and states, to socialism. But experience shows, we think, that this is not enough to resolve this dramatic problem facing the whole of mankind.
p We feel it to be necessary for all our working-class and democratic movement, all the sound forces of mankind to work for a new world order and for new directions in international development assuring all peoples peace, national independence, freedom and economic progress. The international proletariat, as a revolutionary class, must fully shoulder the task of working for these goals.
p In the capitalist countries the struggle of the working class for economic demands and for an extension of its share of power in direct conflict with the capitalists must combine in this plane with the struggle of the peasant masses and the section of the world’s population which is being kept in poverty and backwardness. Ultimately, only insofar as this is realised can the working class put an end to any manifestations of corporate narrowness and overcome Social-Democratic limitations, establishing itself as a revolutionary force.
p With problems of this kind is connected another one, which we believe to be very important. It relates to the role which all peoples and all states, whether big or small, can and must play in international affairs.
p We are in no doubt at all that to the Soviet Union belongs the leading role in the maintenance of peace. That is why, in particular, we reject as incompatible with the interests of peace any condemnation of dialogue between the USA and the USSR, whatever its source. Such a dialogue is absolutely legitimate and necessary. The US imperialists would, of course, like this dialogue to lead through bilateral agreement to the preservation of the status quo. But these strivings Of the imperialists have come up against the policy of the Soviet Union and the struggle of the revolutionary, progressive forces, the broad masses and peoples. It should be obvious that an equally important role belongs to the other great world powers, including China. That is why the question of restoring the Chinese People’s Republic to its place and role in the United Nations is also an urgent one .
p But what is especially characteristic of the present situation is the urge of every people and state to be independent, to make itself heard, to have an equal say in shaping international policies and the world order.
p In contrast to the ideas of those who, like the conservative forces in our country, resist the elimination of the division of the world into opposed blocs, none of the great world powers today could enter negotiations as a representative of other countries.
p That is why in present-day conditions, the cause of peace and a new international order guaranteeing each people independence and an opportunity to be the architect of its own future demands full respect for sovereignty, equality, 387 and the possibility for each state and each people to participate in determining world development.
p In our camp too, that is, in the camp of socialism, experience shows that it is not right to ignore national conditions and interests, and wound national feelings.
p There can be no true international unity if the national element is forgotten or violated. Declarations about internationalism alone are likewise not enough. True internationalism is when effective international solidarity and common international struggle are reinforced with the strength and struggle of the working class and the masses of one’s own country.
p For that reason we reaffirm the thesis that international unity and the unity of the socialist countries itself can rest only on the utilisation of the unique and creative capacity of each national community and each Party.
p The difficulties of the communist movement largely spring precisely from the fact that we are faced with such vast problems and also front the very scope of the movement and the revolutionary forces.
p This has produced a great diversity of demands, concrete interests, incentives and also modes of approach to the solution of tasks, even though they are common ones. This has given rise to new problems bearing, in particular, on relations between various contingents of the single broad liberation movement. It is in resolving these problems, we believe, that the lag in the development of our work, in our theoretical research and in the development of Marxism has made itself felt.
p How are these difficulties and this lag to be overcome, how is the unity of the movement and broader unity of the anti-imperialist forces to be achieved? We lay no claim to being able to give an exhaustive answer to these difficult questions. But we feel that the experience gained by our movement in the last few years indicates what does not benefit unity.
p First of all it is absolutely clear that no benefit accrues from a sharpening of differences and polemics and mutual accusations; on the other hand, no benefit accrues from hushing up differences when they are there, because when they have been concealed for a more or less long period there is an explosion and then it is much harder to overcome them. Experience has shown, besides, that a solemn declaration about the need for unity will not in itself suffice. Similarly, unanimity achieved on the basis of vague formulations, which can be interpreted in various ways and which can only temporarily cover up the differences, does not make for genuine unity.
p We believe that it would be well for us, when we get together, to inform the working people and emphasise that on which we are agreed, without however concealing that on which our standpoints differ. This would not only help to enhance the prestige of our movement (in fact, no one today would believe us if we said that we had agreed on every single point); but in addition this would enable Communists and working people to make their conscious contribution to overcoming the differences and solving the problems
p From this approach to the question it follows, we believe, that the differences which may arise at international conferences and in discussions with respect to documents or proposals or during a vote on them—as well as non- 388 participation at such conferences—should not affect relations between Parties.
p As for our Party, it does not and will not consider differences and distinctions of standpoint—in particular, at this Meeting and as to what pertains to its results—either a cause for rupture or a cause for worsened relations with other fraternal Parties.
p Finally, we consider the sticking of labels and the pronouncement of ideological verdicts on those who take a different stand to be a negative tendency. To try to explain any difference by “deviations” from the purity of our teaching—without it being clear who is to be its keeper—means in fact not only to sharpen these very differences but also, to block for oneself the way to an understanding of the objective causes, the real interests lying at their root.
p We believe that to overcome the present difficulties there is need for long and patient work, there is need for action in various planes, by methods appropriate to each of them.
p We believe, first of all, that the free exhange of opinion we hold on all the major political and theoretical questions facing our movement should become more outspoken. This exchange of opinion should be concerned with scientific analysis of the principal processes of the modern world, and also with the contradictions which arise in the development of socialist societies and our whole movement, and should be based on what we believe to be the fundamental principle of “historicity” of socialism and Marxism itself.
p We must advance in the realm of theory as well, because the point is to restore Marxism and Leninism to the power of its cultural, theoretical, critical, scientific and historical direction, ridding it of the diverse revisionist interpretations, including positivist and dogmatic interpretations, which have been to no little extent characteristic of Marxist thinking in the last few decades.
p These tasks, as Comrade Brezhnev has noted, are best solved at conferences of a scientific nature, which could be convened more often.
p There is another important side to the type of relations which should exist between the Parties. On this score our opinion has been and remains that given the maturity and scope achieved by our movement there can be no leading centre, no leader-Party, no leader-state.
p It is necessary to recognise and fully respect each Party’s independence not only in determining its own policy, not only in seeking its own way of struggle for socialism and the building of socialist society, but also in determining its positions on important questions of our movement.
p It is essentially a question of overcoming any gravitation towards a monolithic concept of our movement’s unity, a concept which would be not only erroneous but also Utopian. We do not of course close our eyes to the "possibility that there may—and do—appear centrifugal, nationalistic tendencies and the risk of provincial seclusion. To fight such tendencies there is need above all to activate contacts and international co-operation between the Parties in the most diverse spheres, and their struggle for common goals. It is on this concept, which makes strict respect for each Party’s and each state’s independence and sovereignty of fundamental importance, that we base, alongside our concern for further democratic development in the socialist countries, our attitude to the Czechoslovak events: from solidarity with the 389 new course started in January 1968 to the serious disagreement with the entry into Czechoslovakia of the troops of the five Warsaw Treaty countries, and, finally, to the subsequent assessments, which we confirmed at our Congress and at the last plenary meeting of our Central Committee, and which we reaffirm here too. In taking this attitude we have not had and do not have any intention to interfere in the internal affairs of the Czechoslovak comrades, of their Party, and of their state. No one is more convinced than we that there is need to avoid any interference in matters which are the business only of the people and the Communists of Czechoslovakia, to whom we once again express our trust and our wishes for fulfilling the difficult tasks which face them.
p But there are aspects to the Czechoslovak events which bear upon fundamental questions and are the business not only of the countries concerned but of our entire movement. These are questions of independence and sovereignty, and these are also questions of socialist democracy and freedom of culture.
p That is why we welcome every step in the development of democratic life in the socialist countries as a factor enhancing the prestige of socialism in the eyes of the masses, and every act aimed at ensuring complete respect for the independence of these countries as the basis of their unity.
p The stand we have taken on these questions in terms of reaffirmed international solidarity with the socialist countries and with all the Communist Parties is in line with the principles in which we believe. Moreover, this stand has enabled us to give an effective rebuff to the campaign of anti-Sovietism and anti-communism.
p The main task of our movement is to achieve greater unity of action.
p United action is undoubtedly not the highest form of unity, but it is important and necessary if we want to avoid a vacuum of initiative in the antiimperialist struggle. Thus, it is also possible to strengthen accord between those Communist and Workers’ Parties which, while adopting different attitudes, are prepared to work for common political goals.
p United action and the creation of a higher stage of unity are interrelated.
p United action may enable us to secure, in addition, the ground for accord between Communist Parties and other anti-imperialist forces. In this sphere, we Communists have a task, perhaps the most important one just now—that of making a contribution to uniting the whole international anti-imperialist movement, while showing respect for and using the specific features and independence of each of its components.
p That is why, in particular, we proposed that revolutionary and progressive non-communist movements should be able to take part in our Meeting.
p The main aim of united action by the Communist Parties and the democratic forces is to avert a nuclear war, an aim which can be attained.
p In this plane, it is necessary to carry on a struggle for the peaceful settlement of conflicts and contradictions, and support the peoples fighting for liberation from colonialism and neo-colonialism and for emancipation from reactionary and fascist regimes.
p There is need to secure a fresh upswing of the movement for solidarity with the Vietnamese people. The peaceful settlement of the Vietnamese problem on the basis of the platform of democracy, national sovereignty and neutrality, 390 recently reaffirmed in the 10 points of the South Vietnam National Liberation Fronts fully meets the interests of peace and security in Southeast Asia and the whole world.
p The Mediterranean must once again become a sea of peace. Today, the presence of a Soviet fleet in the Mediterranean has served as a counterweight to the US 6th Fleet and has averted fresh attempts at aggression against the Arab countries. In order to create the conditions for transforming the Mediterranean into a zone of peace and disarmament, it is necessary to stop the imperialist pressure against the Arab countries and direct or indirect support of Israeli aggression.
p Consequently, the rights of the Arab peoples must be restored, naturally with Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state obliged to respect the system of peaceful coexistence and collective security. Bearing in aiind this prospect, which lies in the UN resolution of November 22, 1967 j it is necessary to work for the full recognition of the rights of the Palestine Arabss who have been denied their own national existence for 20 years.
p A tense situation latent with many dangers remains in the heart of Europe. Of course, the new attitudes which have appeared in the Federal Republic of Germany, within the Social-Democratic Party in particular—although they are not free from serious contradictions—must not be underestimated. However, it is a fact that in West Germany there has been a menacing revival of revanchist and even avowedly fascist forces. It is a fact that the Bonn government still refuses to recognise the existence of two German states and the borders set up as a result of the Second World War, above all the borders of Poland, and that it has not yet signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
p The Karlovy Vary Conference outlined a clear platform of struggle for collective security in Europe. The Budapest Appeal of the Warsaw Treaty countries is another important political act in the same direction, which has already had a positive response. We must now advance along that road, working for any possible agreement, even if a partial one, with the other democratic forces—Socialist, Social-Democratic and Catholic.
p There is a process of differentiation in the midst of European Social Democracy, and a crisis, which are reflected at the top. Thus, nothing can be more harmful than to ignore or underrate this crisis and differentiation, especially in the European countries where Social Democrats give a lead to a sizable section of the working class. This is not taking place in Italy, where the contradictions in Italian society and also our struggle as well as the struggle of other progressive, socialist and democratic trends have left little room for Social-Democratic influence on the workers, while Catholic reformism enjoys greater influence. In Europe the problem of relations with the masses following the Social Democrats and of their switch to consistent class positions is one of the most important.
We believe, moreover, that some new positions, even if limited and contradictory, as expressed by some Social-Democratic circles on the question of peace in Europe, could open fresh possibilities for more effective struggle in order to isolate the most aggressive and reactionary groups of the capitalist bourgeoisie^ for the struggle for peace, security and democracy in Europe.
Notes