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p Dear Comrades,

p In the name of the Presidium of the German Communist Party, I would like to thank the comrades of CPI(M) and wish this meeting a lot of success.

p Such a meeting of representatives of Communist Parties of various continents on the subject "Contemporary World Situation and the Validity of Marxism" is a significant occasion. It is now the time to produce answers to new challenges, analyse errors and to be conscious of the revolutionary force of the ideas of Marxism.

p The collapse of socialism in Europe and in particular, of the socialism on the German soil was for the GCP a deep shock and it represents the worst defeat of the German working class.

p The political, social and the overall condition of class struggle is fundamentally changed in our country. The bourgeoisie had unfolded a climate of extreme anti-communism. Not only are the achievements of socialism put aside but also every trace which in the slightest way reminds one of socialism and the existence of the GDR is being destroyed. In the erstwhile concentration camps, which are the memorials for anti-fascism, it is proposed that in the future, the perpetrators of fascist terror will be presented as victims.

p In this situation, the GCP has started a discussion on its programmatic basis at this important juncture of its reorganisation.

p In the concluding statement of the opening of this discussion, it is stated that "in view of the present political process following the annexation of the GDR and the collapse of the socialist countries 170 along with the threat of an imperialistic world order, it has become clear as to how urgent the working people of Germany need a Communist Party. We are fighting for a politics which: 

p is consistently anti-capitalistic in the fight for the day to day interests of the working, exploited and the oppressed people by exposing the fundamental contradictions of this social order, and which wants to break out of the property relations of monopoly capitalism.

p fights for the establishment of a new, exploitation-free social order having faith in the future of socialism.

p sees the central motive force of history in class struggle and also finds the working class to be the decisive social force for progress.

p is based on dialectical materialism which was founded by Marx & Engels and was further developed by Lenin and other Marxists.

p In order to make this politics effective, we would like to examine these basics of communist politics with respect to the realities of today in both theory and practice, to renew it and to reorient ourselves to the new political conditions" (Preamble of the Party Congress resolution for the discussion on the thesis of programmatic renewal).

p With this, we have named the main points of the document of our 12th Party Congress, January, 1993.

p A question, which is very important as far as scientific socialism is concerned, is that on determining the epoch in which we live. This question was all the more relevant because on this question of the epoch an assessment was made during the concurrently occurring debate of the Parry of Democratic Socialism in Germany, which said that the socialism which collapsed had been the beacon of the world . It has been prematurely dispossessed by capitalism. Its potential to enrich human civilisation will be relevant for a prolonged period. What now is the position of GCP on this question?

p Scientific socialism facilitates an analysis of the epoch we live in. It shows us how the productive forces have organized their respective historical developmental state in different production relation which determine the nature of social formation. In the course of its development there arise contradictions which lead to if s destruction. There are always people who are not ready to accept this contradiction. In a revolutionary break with the old 171 society new contradictions are created in which the fundamental principal contradiction of the old must be removed. This can be done if in the old society such productive forces ripen which make transformation possible.

p We live in an era in which the dissolution of capitalism by socialism has become necessary in the interest of conservation and progress of human society. The threat to human beings which exist is the result of highly developed productive forces under capitalist production relations. The scientific - technological revolution has generated in this century almost infinite possibilities to intervene in nature and to improve the quality of human life. Never have the people had so many possibilities to unfold their productivity and creativity and simultaneously reduce their physical burden. It would be possible today to overcome hunger and destruction world wide to enable the humanity to live a worthy life without poverty and at the same time conserve the earth as a life worthy ecosystem for future generations.

p Surely the reality looks to be different. The tremendous potential of productive forces and the increment of social wealth took place and is taking place under the direction of capitalist production system. At first these had generated scientific-technical and, in the industrialized countries also social progress as a result of organized struggle of the working class. However the development of productive forces serves capitalism only as a medium of capital and profit realization. Thus it becomes a source of danger for the basis of existence of human life. It is possible today to destroy humanity and the higher forms of life in a flash by a nuclear, chemical or biological war and the manipulation of human genes. The destruction of living environment continues forth and if s becoming irreversible. Under the compulsions of accumulation of capital, which is the principle of this societal formation, there does not exist any means to ban this danger effectively. Every scientific and technical progress is accompanied by degeneration and destruction under capitalist conditions.

p The world wide crisis is an economic, social, ecological, cultural and political crisis of capitalism. A system, in which the fruits of human work only partially benefits the toilers while another part, the surplus value, is appropriated by the capitalist bosses with the most important means of production and which is used over 172 and over again to generate their capital and to an increased exploitation of the working people. This brings inevitably to the fore the contradiction between the real needs of the people as a whole and the interest of the capital, between working class and bourgeoisie, which remains an unresolved contradiction of the social formation.

p Imperialism has produced on the one hand all material precondition for socialism. On the other hand, it has sharpened the basic contradiction of capitalism, the contradiction between the generation of the social production and the continuation of private property in the present state of capitalism to such an extent that it threatens to altogether destroy the civilized society. The defeat of socialism in East Europe increases the danger which capitalism poses. This is because it can now carry out carefree exploitation and increase profit at the cost of the underdeveloped and weakly developed countries and the working class of industrialized nations. The effect of capitalist crisis becomes thereby aggravated. Democratic rights gained through struggles are being more and more restricted and removed. Disenchantment, manipulation and increasing repression of the masses are to ensure the role of capital.

p However this also generates the resistance of those who do not let themselvesbedisheartened,manipulatedand suppressed. Only a society in which the overcoming of profit enables an advance of the productive forces, in which the results of production serve to satisfy human needs regulated by the entire society, can put an end to the spiral of simultaneous generation of wealth and poverty, of mastery and destruction of nature. In the place of competing the individual interest, one then has global responsibility, international solidarity, true democracy and rational, planned progress of all productive forces. This societal form is socialism.

p The more uninhibited the imperialist forces become, the more the danger of war, hunger, poverty and ecological destruction of the world and the more the dangers of social cutbacks and political repression.

p Capitalist exploitation and repression have reached their highest stage today in the functional units of monopolies and state power. In the centres of capitalist operation bank and industrial capital have blended together into finance capital and have created a financial oligarchy which to a large extent determine the economic and political course of the groups of countries controlled by 173 them. These imperialist centres of power which were formed towards the end of the 20th century, are the USA, Japan and West Europe (where Germany is the foremost power). The scientifictechnological revolution, which serves on the basis of economic development of the present decade, is takingplace essentially in the developed capitalist countries in which around 23% of the world population live. AH variants of the ’new world order’ propagated by imperialism have the goal to strengthen this leading position.

p The developed capitalist world market is robbing three-fourths of humanity of any asppiration for development The countries, in which these people live, are partially included in the capitalist world market only as cheap sources of raw material, as countries of cheap wages, as dustbins, as dumping market for mass productions, as objects of brutal exploitation and as global recreation parks. The States of the imperialist nucleus have the function to ensure the national basis of finance and industrial capitals, to administer these and to bring these into the international network in a profitable form. This is taking place in the generation of transstate political and undemocratic structures like the IMF, the World Bank and the EC administration. Also the UNO is being increasingly misused by the centres of imperialism to attain their goals.

p The German imperialism, with Japan which served as the principal supplier during the fascist world war follows the central goal of actively becoming the main winner. With annexation of the GDR already the essential results of the war have been reversed. The German imperialism played a decisive role in the separatist dissolution of the BalticStatesfrom the Soviet Union. With Slovenia and Croatia, historically artificial satellite States have been created and Yugoslavia destroyed. In die shortest time Germany could ensure its influence in Russia, Ukraine and in other republics of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

p In this manner German imperialism is attempting to comprehensively strengthen itself economically, politically and militarily, which should enable it to play a leading role in West Europe and also in the larger parts of die world. Its craving for expansion has found a concrete form also in its desire to create a political union out of die European community under its leadership. The EC internal market and die new market of East Europe are meant to be die domain of influence dominated by it.

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p A point of crystallization of German foreign and military policy is, therefore, the attempt to, once and for all, overcome the restriction forced onto it by the anti-Hitler coalition after the failed world war adventure of the Nazis. After the foundation of the Federal (German)Anny in 1955 and the membership in NATO, these forces are striving to obtain the option to finally have German soldiers participate in global wars. Germany wants to ensure its place in the "new imperialist world order”. This is the background for the deployment of Federal German army for the AW ACS detachment in Yugoslavia or the maneouvre in Somalia which went under the flag of "human rights and humanism’ of imperialism.

p As shown by Lenin the dialectic evinced by emerging imperialism of internal and external aggression is now being proved anew. The challenge of socialism had forced imperialism in the last forty years, particularly in Germany, to allow substantial material and social concessions. Thereby it has created for itself a certain force of attraction vis-a-vis not only its own working class but also within the socialist countries. Such political showpieces have served their purpose. The cutbacks of economic, sodal,political and cultural achievements and rights are not anymore confined just to the ex-GDR. In the old federal States the social decline is also rapidly affecting most of the population. Housing crisis and real poverty are becoming the daily experience for large portions of the population. Rights won by the trade unions over the last four decades are being actually threatened. With the recent attacks by the employees on the agreed-upon rise in wages, they would like to arbitrarily go about the wage policy. Against this the working class of East Germany are going on strike. The weakening of the right to asylum and other provisions in the constitution are being incorporated to put an end to the positive results obtained by the anti-fascist achievements of the second world war.

p Even though imperialism seems to be so invincible towards the end of this century, its very own economic and political mechanisms bring only the potential for resistance against itself, both in the advanced capitalist countries and in the countries of the "third world”. It is the task of communist forces to contribute towards organising and thereby translating these potentials. It is necessary to take away power from those who misuse it to increase their profits at the cost of the humanity.

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p A spedal task of the communists is to make the objective, economic and social laws clear and to fight against any illusion that the essence of imperialism can be changed. This struggle, at the forefront of which the GCP stays, cannot simply merge with a petty reform of the capitalist system. The goal of our struggle is socialism.

p A party which does not have any illusions regarding the reformability of this system but wishes to dissolve the system by going beyond reforms and replace it by a socialist order is a historical necessity. Class consciousness cannot be generated merely by moral appeals. It is produced by the struggle for the interests which are experienced by those belonging to a class. The decisive factor for the power of the working class is its organisation. To strengthen the GCP and to spread its organization and the newspaper in the whole of Germany are the preconditions for the future strengthening of the communist movement in Germany. The development of an essentially anti-fascist strategy with an antiimperialistic component will then be objectively possible and can become a reality.

p The GCP continues in the tradition of other revolutionary social democracy, the Spartakusbund andtheCPG.lt fights in the letter and spirit of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebenekht, Ernst Thaelmann, Wilhelm Pieck and Max Reimann. It is in solidarity with all those who are today persecuted, jailed and discriminated against because of their past work in building up the GDR. It demands the rehabilitation of all those who have fought in West Germany for peace and socialism and have been persecuted for this reason.

p After the Paris Commune the first attempt to build a socialistic social system, socialism began in Russia in 1917 with the October Revolution. This is its continued historical significance which will not be rendered any less relevant even though these attempts have failed. The October Revolution gave humanity the signal to break into a new epoch. Our solidarity, support and sympathy are for those who are working towards the building of socialism in today’s world under their own specific conditions viz. Cuba, the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

p The GCP is a part of the international communist movement and is in solidarity with all communist parties of the worid. The class struggle is since long not a national or a regional strggle. The 176 general crisis of capitalism affects all countries of the world, albeit in different extent. The working class must also organize itself as an international fighting unit against the multi-national powers of capital. Ahighdegreeof responsibility falls thereby on the communist parties who are fighting in the Centres of the capitalist system.

Our party is happy that out of this meeting important impulses are emerging for the collaboration of communist parties the world over and in Europe.