The 17th Congress of the New Communist Party
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| Andy Brooks ,Alex Kempshall and Theo Russell at the rostrum |
by New Worker correspondent
IT MAY have been cold and frosty outside but it was nice and warm in
London’s historic Marx House as delegates and guests gathered for the
17th Congress of the New Communist Party of Britain.
That historic house in Clerkenwell Green, with its memories of Lenin and
the Marxist pioneers of the British working class movement, was once
again the venue for the NCP’s triennial congress last weekend.
Sadly ill-health prevented some comrades from taking part in the
discussions, like NCP President Eric Trevett and National Treasurer
Dolly Shaer. But both their voices were heard in messages to Congress
that were read out by national chair Alex Kempshall during the opening
of the first session on Saturday afternoon.
Eric said: “This Congress is a very important event. It equips our party
with a forward strategy that takes into account national and
international events...We operate in a major imperialist country where
reformism has been the major ideological force in the labour movement
from its inception. We find in a more recent period that many communist
parties capitulated to the revisionist ideas of social democracy and
there was much talk of crisis free capitalism. The present crisis has
wiped away the basis the basis for such false ideas”.
“In the present attack on the working class young and old alike are
having to face the reality of the class struggle for millions of
people”, Eric declared. “Our way forward is to maintain the
organisational unity of the working class, combining the struggle for
peace and the fight for jobs and social amenities and to merge these
struggles to achieve the defeat of the capitalists and their system. Our
Party can be proud that it has a developed strategy that is in
conformity with the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism and takes into
account the concrete realities of our struggle”.
Dolly, who is recovering after a major operation, was also there in
spirit, greeting delegates with a message that said: “I wish more than
anything that I could be with you all over this weekend to help further
the work of our Party”.
deepening crisis
deepening crisis
Congress stood in silence to remember comrades Albert Williams, Katina
Elllis and Otto Cahn who had all sadly passed away since the last
congress. And after the formalities of electing tellers, the Congress
panels and standing orders committees, general secretary Andy Brooks
moved the main resolution in a speech. This covered imperialism,
revisionism and the growing resistance to the draconian austerity plans
that the ruling class in Britain and throughout Europe are imposing on
working people to make them pay for the economic crisis, which has
plunged the capitalist world into the biggest slump since the crash of
1929.
As the crisis deepens, so does the danger of even more imperialist
aggression. “We meet again at a time of sharpening contradictions and
the primary contradiction in the world today is between United States
imperialism and the rest of the world it seeks to dominate,” Andy said.
“As the political and economic crisis deepens around the world the
struggle for markets and spheres of influence becomes acute, so much so
that the aggressor countries, in their need to win the battle for
markets and minerals turn to war and crude methods to replace diplomacy
and negotiations. The United States is the major imperialist power and
is keeping to its aims of provoking war and building up its military
machine. The American people and the world peace movement are largely
ignored — as was former President Eisenhower when he warned of the
danger of the military industrial complex. It is precisely that section
of the ruling class that has gained the upper hand and is responsible
for the foreign policy of the United States”.
solidarity
solidarity
Andy’s speech was followed by a solidarity message from Michael Chant of
the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (ML). Michael said: “Our
two Parties, NCP and RCPB(ML), are dedicated to building a Party of a
new type in today's circumstances, a Party composed of professional
revolutionaries. Our two Parties are dedicated to the same cause. We do
not just co-operate, but take up for solution the problems of
contemporary society on a national and global scale, including working
together to solve the issue of What Type of Party in today's conditions.
“Our Parties agree that modern definitions are necessary for the success
of our work, and we are united in taking up the programmatic slogan:
One Class, One Programme! All the efforts in the discussions we have had
over many years are focused on finding the way forward based on this
programmatic slogan...the outlook of the communist party is a very
optimistic one. This is because our parties base ourselves on the most
advanced theory, the theory of Marxism-Leninism, which gives us
confidence in the sureness of our victory.”
Michael was followed by a number of fraternal delegates from other
communist and workers’ parties who brought messages of support from
around the world during the sessions over the weekend and joined
comrades and friends for a reception in the hall on Saturday evening.
These included Ioli Gouma and George Giannakis from the Communist Party
of Greece (KKE) and Loukas Papagiannis of the People’s Progressive Party
of Cyprus (AKEL). Joe Appard delivered the message from the Communist
Party of Malta and Jack Callan brought greetings from the Workers Party
of Ireland.
The struggle of the Cuban people against the US blockade and the fight
to free the Miami Five was highlighted in the message from the Communist
Party of Cuba given by Rafael Sardinas from the Cuban embassy in
London, while DPR Korea diplomat Myongsin Mun brought greetings from the
Workers Party of Korea and told Congress the good news about the
imminent north Korean satellite launch. Messages from old friends of the
NCP, like the comrades from the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Danish Communist Party,
Communist Workers Party of Finland, Communist Party of the Peoples of
Spain (PCPE), Communist Party of Mexico and the Communist Party of the
Russian Federation (CPRF) were read out over the weekend along with the
greetings from Dermot Hudson of the UK Korean Friendship Association,
Left Front Art and the Britain- Vietnam Friendship Association.
new worker
new worker
Ideological issues and the day-to-day struggle in the peace and trade
union movement were taken up by delegates in committee and on the floor
of Congress along with the key issue of the future of the New Worker and
the need to expand its sales and influence across the labour movement.
Ray Jones, our printer who is also a member of the Central Committee,
opened this discussion by announcing that the New Worker would be going
tabloid in January. This was forced on us because our existing machines
were rapidly coming to the end of the operational lives and no suitable
replacement was available on the market.
Though this means abandoning a paper size we had used with little
variation since 1977, it will lead to an overall larger paper. The new
equipment would enable us to use colour on any page of the planned
12-page New Worker that will hopefully come out in January.
On Sunday delegates voted to endorse the reports of the standing orders
and panels committees — thus the new central committee was elected and
the main resolution, setting out the NCP’s policy for the next three
years, was agreed.
communist alternative
communist alternative
Winding up NCP leader Andy Brooks said the document was an important
collective work that began in January on the Central Committee and has
now ended with the adoption of the main resolution as amended by
Congress. Now the task is to project our analysis into the movement and
raise the profile of the communist alternative across the country.
It was a busy and worthwhile two days. It ended, as always, with a rousing rendition of the Internationale.
