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p Dear Comrades,

p On behalf of Syrian Csmmunists we warmly greet you and express high appreciation of the sincere efforts which have been undertaken by many Parties to convene this historic International Meeting of seventy-five Parties. We would like to make special mention of the role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party.

p The 3rd Congress of our Party, from which we Came directly here, emphasised the importance of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, pointing out that its convocation is a major success on the road to the unity and cohesion of the communist movement and a significant contribution to the cause of unity of action in the struggle against imperialism, for peace, freedom, democracy and socialism. Not only Communists but all progressives in our country hopefor the restoration of the unity of the ranks of the international communist movement, which is the main, dynamic and constantly growing nucleus of the world revolutionary movement. We consider that this is possible, for what unites us Communists is stronger and more important than that which disunites us. To pinpoint the factors that unite us, to demonstrate their significance, to use them as the basis, to discuss the arising disagreements in a calm, resoonsible ?nd comradely way, with the resolve to intensify the offensive against the positions of imperialism—such is the road to the unity of our ranks.

p The 3rd Congress of our Party stressed the importance of Party unity on the national scale and also of the unity of the world communist movement on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. It pointed to the value of fraternal criticism and self-criticism for the development of the Party and the entire communist movement, and also to the need to expose revisionism, opportunism and dogmatism.

p In the epoch of Marx, Engels and Lenin unity was invariably achieved in ideological and political struggle against revisionism, Right an “Left” opportunism. In our time, too, the purveyors of revisionist theories, both Right and “Left”, must be combated to achieve genuine, principled Marxist-Leninist unity. Unity on the national and international scale means ensuring connection between the part and the whole, between theory and practice, between the 569 new and the old. Unity signifies the-ability to see the new that is emerging and developing from the old, to see that which brings together the separate parts. This unity of the international communist movement facilitates unity with other progressive forces, with the revolutionary forces of the whole world.

p In the opinion of our Party, as expressed at its recent 3rd Congress, proletarian internationalism signifies not only recognition of the rights of all nations and nationalities to freedom and independence, not only solidarity with every people fighting the imperialists, with every persecuted Communist; it means also the need to sacrifice national egoism, the ability to subordinate, when necessary, the interests of the struggle in one’s own country to the interests of the common, world-wide struggle against imperialism, for socialism.

p V. I. Lenin wrote:

p “Petty-bourgeois nationalism proclaims as internationalism the mere recognition of the equality of nations, and nothing more... (It) preserves national selfinterest intact, whereas proletarian internationalism demands, first, that the interests of the proletarian struggle in any one country should be subordinated to the interests of that struggle on a world-wide scale, and, second, that a nation which is achieving victory over the bourgeoisie should be able and willing to make the greatest national sacrifices for the overthrow of international capital" (Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 148).

p Such is Lenin’s behest. And if we regretfully note manifestations of national egoism, of petty-bourgeois nationalist illusions which arise in some sections of our movement and sometimes assume such acuteness that they begin to threaten mankind with a universal calamity, as has happened with the Mao Tse-tung group, then our duty to history and to truth is to declare that the state founded by Lenin has been, and remains, loyal to this behest of Lenin, the behest of proletarian internationalism.

p The Soviet people are making great sacrifices to support all the anti- capitalist revolutionary movements, all the peoples fighting imperialism, rendering them political, moral, economic and military aid. All the Arab peoples and especially, those of Syria and Egypt, know from their own experience the tremendous magnitude of this Soviet aid which helps us defend our independence, freedom and the progressive national regime against imperialist and Zionist aggression.

p Some nationalists, referring to the policy of the Mao Tse-tung group and some other phenomena in the socialist camp and the world communist movement, say to us: "Look, our age is the age of nationalism! The principles of proletarian internationalism have become worthless.”

p That is absolutely untrue!

p Proletarian internationalism is developing, its concepts are in various degrees penetrating even into those circles which but yesterday were completely beyond its reach.

p As regards certain difficulties, they arise because social development, as Lenin noted on more than one occasion, does not follow a straight line. The way to overcoming these difficulties lies in still greater loyalty to proletarian internationalism and not in its abandonment as our enemies assert. Proletarian 570 internationalism is today the most important slogan needed by the three principal revolutionary forces of our time—the socialist camp, the revolutionary working-class movement, and the national liberation movement—in order to rally forces in the struggle for the great historical goal, deliverance of mankind from imperialism, from the danger of war and the horrors of exploitation, for the sake of the victory of the cause of national independence, peace, democracy and socialism throughout the world.

p Proletarian internationalism signifies that support and defence of the socialist gains in any place, in any country is a duty of all the socialist countries and of the entire international communist movement.

p The principles of proletarian internationalism do not permit exaggeration of the peculiarities of every country which may make us forget or obscure what is common to all of them. The national peculiarities and objective conditions of every country should, of course, be taken into consideration by all Communists, but this cannot and should not make us forget what is the main thing, namely, common laws valid for all.

p Each Communist Party is truly independent and shapes its internal and international policy independently, proceeding, on the one hand, from its concrete conditions and, on the other, from the international situation. But this independence does not imply separation from the international communist movement, it is not opposed to it. What is common, basic and powerful for the Communist Parties, what unites them is Marxism-Leninism. Hence, every Communist Party is independent and at the same time a part of the whole. It bears responsibility not only to its people and its country, but also to the international working class and the Communist Parties.

p Each Communist Party is at once national and international. The successes or setbacks of one Party concern not only that Party, but influence, to one degree or another, the entire world communist movement. Therefore mutual assistance, exchange of opinions between Parties, consultations, analysis of new phenomena to prevent mistakes and, on the other hand, common rebuff to enemy attacks, to intrigues of imperialism and international reaction—all this is vitally necessary both for the entire international communist movement and for every Party.

p The delegation of the Syrian Communist Party declares its full support of the analysis and assessment of the situation in the world, in the socialist camp and in the Soviet Union, contained in the speech of Comrade Brezhnev.

p This brilliant analysis of the international situation clearly shows the alignment of class forces in the world arena, points to the profound and ever deepening internal contradictions of imperialism, and reveals the dynamics of the world revolutionary process which is constantly deepening and developing, opening up great prospects and giving confidence in victory to all the revolutionary forces of the world.

p «• ;

p Without doubt, Comrade Brezhnev’s words about the danger of war and the possibilities of averting it and preserving peace carry tremendous weight and authority, for they,reflect the position of the biggest and most powerful socialist state which is aware of its role in world development and of its responsibility not only to its own people but to all progressive mankind.

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p We were greatly impressed by the comradely, unassuming and frank way in which Comrade Brezhnev spoke about the Soviet Union, the life of the Soviet people, their achievements and difficulties. This inspires us Communists with still greater confidence that the power and might of the great Soviet Union will grow constantly owing to its firm Marxist-Leninist policy and boundless devotion to the principles of proletarian internationalism. Therein lies the main and greatest guarantee of the victory of socialism all over the world.

p The attitude towards the Soviet Union has become in our country, as in all the fraternal Arab countries, a criterion of patriotism. Throughout its history the Soviet Union has been rendering support and help to the Arab national liberation movement and especially during the tripartite aggression of 1956 in the Suez zone and the imperialist Israeli aggression of 1967. This Soviet support extended to all spheres—political, economic and military. That is why millions of workers and peasants, the popular masses as well as ever broader progressive national circles regard friendship with the Soviet Union as a yardstick of patriotism and condemn everything that harms Arab-Soviet friendship.

p All this fills us with joy and pride,, for history has proved the correctness of our invariable, appeals. Today we are not alone in calling for Arab-Soviet friendship. But our friendship should be deeper and more comprehensive than that. of non-proletarian elements. It should be constant and firm, and not dependent on any political Considerations. It is a position stemming from the very nature of the Party as a Party of Communists,

p Comrades, we have always held that the attitude towards the Soviet Union and the CPSU is a central question for every Communist Party and the entire international communist movement. It is precisely on this fundamental issue of attitude towards the first victorious proletarian revolution in the world that the workingrclass movement split, after the First World War, into revolutionary and opportunist movements.

p Throughout its history, the Syrian Communist Party has cherished and will continue to cherish this revolutionary tradition of ours as the apple of its eye. That is one of the fundamental conclusions of our 3rd Congress, which unanimously approved this line. Our Party considers boundless loyalty to and friendship with the Soviet Union, with the Party of Lenin, to be a fundamental criterion of the right to be called a Communist.

p Some people tell us: that is dependence. We reply: no, it is complete independence, communist independence, independence from any imperialist and reactionary propaganda, from the petty-bourgeois nationalist ideology, from the ideology of Social Democracy.

p Comrades, important Changes have taken place since the last International Meeting of Communist Parties in 1960. They testify to a serious deepening and growth of the revolutionary movement. The communist movement has gained in strength and scope, socialism in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries has grown stronger, the working class in the developed capitalist countries and its Communist Parties have won major victories, the national liberation movement has made a considerable stride forward. In the past ten years the Arab national liberation movement has both gained important victories and suffered certain setbacks. But the essential thing is that in a number of Arab 572 countries this movement has been enriched with a new social content determined by deep-going progressive social and economic measures aimed at eliminating the vestiges of feudalism in these countries, striking a blow at big capital and creating a state sector, which is becoming the dominant and guiding sector of the national economy. Furthermore, the foreign policy of these countries rests on the sound basis of principles of irreconcilability towards colonialism and neo-colonialism and friendship and co-operation with the socialist countries, the Soviet Union in the first place. The latest important development in this sphere is the recognition of the German Democratic Republic by three Arab states—Iraq, the Sudan and Syria.

p The principal objective of the imperialist Israeli aggression in June 1967 was to strike a blow at this progressive foreign and domestic policy.

p The temporary setback suffered by the Arab national liberation movement two years ago has thrown light on many things. For instance, today the world has begun to realise the correctness of what we Arab Communists have been repeating for more than twenty years, namely, that Zionism, international in character, is nothing but a reactionary racialist movement, an ally of world imperialism with which it is organically linked. Ideologically it is chauvinist, racialist and hostile to socialism and the national liberation movement the world over. As an organisation, Zionism is seeking to isolate the Jewish working people from the revolutionary and working-class movement in the countries where they live. As Lenin pointed out, "this Zionist idea is absolutely false and essentially reactionary" (Vol. 7, p. 99).

p The history of the Zionist movement since its inception in the late 19th century has been a history of crimes, especially against the Arab peoples.

p Zionism and world imperialism bear the blame for the hardships the Arab people of Palestine have been suffering for twenty-one years; they and their agents, the rulers of Israel, are fully responsible for the high tension that still remains in the Middle East because of Israel’s aggressive policy and that constantlyendangers world peace.

p Economic, social and political discrimination for more than twenty years against Arabs and even Jews living in the eastern part of Israel, the employment of methods of colonial-fascist terror and repression against the masses on the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, the forced eviction of indigenes and the settlement, instead, of immigrants from different parts of the world, the expansionist, annexationist claims and forcible actions with regard to other countries’ territories—this is what makes up the content and essence of the Israeli government’s Zionist imperialist policy.

p Posing before the world as innocent lambs preyed upon by "savage Arabs", acting behind the camouflage of false slogans of self-defence and the right to existence and supported by world imperialism, especially US, West German and British imperialism, they have committed innumerable acts of aggression against the Arab peoples, the last of which was the June war which they called “preventive”. Their real aim is aggrandisement, annexation of ever new Arab territories and nothing short of creation of a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates, which they want to achieve by crushing the Arab national liberation movement.

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p Our people have a saying, "a friend in need is a friend indeed". Since the time when the June 9, 1967, Statement of Communist and Workers’ Parties on solidarity with the Arab national liberation movement was published in Moscow and six socialist states—the USSR, Bulgaria, the GDR, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia—broke off diplomatic relations with Israel and rendered us all-round political and military assistance, the Arab peoples have felt even more strongly, from their own experience, the force of real and not sham international proletarian solidarity, the force of proletarian internationalism.

p Comrades, the Arab peoples have not capitulated and will never capitulate before imperialist Zionist aggression. The Arab national progressive regimes have held out and continue to gain strength. Ever broader Arab masses are joining the resistance movement, which includes guerrilla action. Our Party vigorously supports this movement.

p The June 1967 aggression raised to a higher level the struggle of the Arab people of Palestine for the right to their homeland, the right to self- determination in their land, and we Syrian Communists support this just and legitimate struggle.

p The progressive democratic movement in Israel itself against Zionism and imperialism, against the aggressive expansionist aspirations of Israeli policy, a movement in which Communists and other progressives, Arabs and Jews alike, are taking an active part, is meeting with the understanding and growing appreciation of the patriotic and progressive forces and the broad masses in the Arab countries. The names of many participants in this movement, such as the poets Mahmud Dervish and Taufiq Ziyad and the revolutionary leader Meir Vilner are given prominence in the progressive Arab press.

p Comrades, the primary and basic task now facing our country is to eliminate the aftermath of the Israeli aggression, i. e., to liberate the Golan Heights and all other Arab territories occupied by the Israeli invaders. . We regard it as our duty to express here, on behalf of the Syrian Communist Party, sincere gratitude and appreciation to all the fraternal Parties for the solidarity statement which our Meeting adopted on June 7 in connection with the second anniversary of the Israeli aggression, and also for the inclusion in the Main Document, to be adopted by the meeting, of the following passage:

p “The struggle of the Arab peoples against imperialism and the Israeli aggression is a part of the general struggle between the forces of freedom and socialism throughout the world, on the one hand, and world imperialism, on the other.”

p The struggle of the Arabs is thus given a definite place in the general world revolutionary process and thereby inspires the Arab people with a deep and firm belief that their just cause is bound to triumph, regardless of further developments in the Middle East and the rest of the world. -

p Together with the other progressive forces of the Arab world our Party is working for the settlement of the Middle East problem by political methods, i.e., through the implementation of the Security Council resolution of November 22,1967, with which Israel, abetted by US imperialism, refuses to comply.

p At the same time our people are fighting for the enhancement of their defence and combat capacity in order to stand up to any new imperialist and Zionist aggression and be ready, should political methods fail, to compel the aggressor 574 to withdraw his troops from the occupied Arab territories as demanded by the Security Council.

p Clearly, the struggle to remove the consequences of the Israeli aggression and the struggle to consolidate the progressive national regime in Syria are two aspects of one problem, two interconnected, mutually complementary tasks.

p Wise from their own experience, our people realise the correctness of our Party’s policy with regard to the elimination of the results of the aggression. We hold that at least three basic conditions are necessary for the liberation of our territories from Israeli occupation and for the preservation of our independence and sovereignty:

p 1. Enhancing the defence capacity of our country.

p 2. Co-operation and co-ordination of actions with the progressive Arab countries and especially the UAR.

p 3. Constant strengthening of the bonds of friendship with the Soviet Union and the socialist countries.

p The present regime in Syria pursues an anti-imperialist course manifested specifically in its support of the valiant people of Vietnam.

p Of: late this course has found expression in the full political recognition extended to the German Democratic Republic and also in the recognition, announced yesterday, of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

p In its internal policy, pur country strives for the establishment of a solid basis for economic independence through building large civic and industrial projects with the help of the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist camp; These projects are to expand the state sector in the national economy, which plays an ever greater role in the entire economic development of Syria and is capable—given other political conditions, especially those pertaining to the nature of power—of turning into a socialist sector.

p The 3rd Congress of our Party was highlighted by the following slogans:

p —Struggle to wipe out the aftermath of the imperialist Israeli aggression.

p —Struggle to, consolidate the progressive national regime in Syria, for Arab unity, for socialism.

p Our Congress assessed the present stage of Syria’s development as that of completing the anti-colonial and anti-feudal national democratic revolution and at the same time as that of struggle for the consolidation of the economic and social transformations, for their extension and deepening as necessary prerequisites for advance towards socialism.

p Thus, the stage of completing the national democratic revolution overlaps the stage of creating the conditions for advance towards socialism.

p It is clear, however, that the implementation of these tasks calls for resisting the development of big capital and encouraging and supporting the development of elements of socialism in all spheres—development which cannot be spontaneous or automatic, governed only by economic laws. What is needed is a conscious, guiding influence and leadership with the following aims in view:

p   first, democratic freedoms for the workers, peasants and all working people, releasing their initiative; control over production and distribution; freedom of action for the forces and parties devoted to socialism;

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p   second, a progressive national front as an all-embracing organisation which would include the Baath Left wing, Communists and other Left elements in all the progressive national movements, and not merely as a form of limited cooperation, as is the case at present, when there is one Communist minister in the government;

p   third, growing weight and influence of the working class in alliance with the peasant and other working masses, in charting the country’s policy and the present regime’s course on the basis of scientific socialism, the MarxistLeninist doctrine.

p Our 3rd Congress examined thoroughly, and from new angles, the sociopolitical system in Syria", and posed the following question: can the existing regime, in the specific conditions of Arab Syria, transform into a power of the working class acting in alliance with the peasantry, providing that it represents— actually and not nominally—an alliance or bloc of the Communists, Left Baathists and Left elements from other genuinely progressive movements?

p The Congress replied that that is possible, if everybody correctly understands the character of the present stage and its prospects and if, on the other hand, the subjective intentions of all conform to the demands of objective development.

p In any case, the Congress reaffirmed the stand long proclaimed by the Syrian Communist Party, namely, that socialism cannot be built without working-class leadership and that it cannot be built on the basis of any other teaching than scientific socialism, i.e., Marxism-Leninism. And, of course, in the practical implementation of its fundamental principles valid for all countries consideration should be given to national traits and peculiarities.

p Comrades, the events in Vietnam help the Syrian Communists and all true champions of progress, the masses of workers and peasants to understand world development and its features. The courageous and selfless struggle being waged by the people of South Vietnam under the wise and bold leadership of the National Liberation Front, the all-round assistance of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, the broad solidarity of the Communist movement, the progressive and democratic forces of the whole world, including those in the United States—such are the factors which have ensured the Vietnamese people’s victory over US imperialism and which will eventually ensure their inevitable final victory!-

p These are factors which contribute to the ultimate and certain triumph of the forces of revolution over those of imperialism and international reaction in our epoch.

p The example of Vietnam makes it particularly clear that the correlation of world forces now favours the forces of liberation and socialism which, given unity and co-ordination of their tremendous possibilities, can conduct a general offensive against the positions of imperialism, inflict defeats upon it and keep it at bay until the world is delivered from this plague. Knowledge of the real correlation of forces in the modern world, mobilisation of the principal revolutionary forces and their allies, correct guidance and utilisation of these forces can assure victory over imperialism.

p Any ignoring of these factors, overestimation or underestimation of the 576 role of imperialism will lead either to loss of faith in the near victory or to adventurism. Both are a grave danger to the international communist and national liberation movement.

p Comrades, we warmly salute once again the International Meeting and are happy to declare our agreement with the Main Document and also with the Appeal in Defence of Peace and the address "Centenary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". We consider-that the best way to celebrate this jubilee is to study Lenin. We are gratified to note that the work of our Meeting proceeds in a, spirit of communist comradeship aimed at securing unity of action of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, of all anti-imperialist forces.

Long live the unity of the international communist movement!