Solidarity with the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans and the Middle East

We condemn the imperialist wars and interventions

in the Middle East and Northern Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans

We express our solidarity with the peoples of the region

The Communist and Workers' Parties participating in the 19th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties and who sign this resolution:

Note that the intra-imperialist contradictions and antagonisms for the control of gas, oil, energy pipelines, and more generally, resources and markets, are the basis of imperialist wars and are directed against the peoples.

We condemn the imperialist wars and interventions that have marked the developments in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, under the responsibility of the US, NATO and the EU, in the context of intra-imperialist rivalries, as witnessed by the many years of warfare against Syria, Iraq, Libya, the presence of NATO forces in the Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, and in the wider Balkan region.

We express our internationalist solidarity with the people of Syria, Iraq, Libya and the other peoples of the region.

We demand a just solution to the Cyprus issue, which remains unresolved 43 years after the invasion – occupation by the Turkish bourgeois state.

We support the just struggle of the Palestinian people to end the Israeli occupation.

We stand by the side of refugees and immigrants and at the same time we struggle against the causes that give rise to this phenomenon.

We condemn the involvement of the Greek government of SYRIZA-ANEL, as well as all other NATO and EU governments, which provide troops, bases and other military facilities as a base for imperialist designs in the region.

We call on the peoples to strengthen their struggle against imperialist wars, to eradicate the causes that give rise to them, to escalate the struggle against NATO and the EU, against imperialist alliances.

No involvement of our countries in imperialist plans, no involvement of our country's military forces in imperialist missions. We demand the removal of American-NATO and other foreign military bases from each country. NATO out of the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Balkans, from every region of the globe.

Neither land nor water to the murderers of the peoples

Signed by:

1. PADS (Algeria)
2. Party of Labour of Austria
3. Communist Party of Bangladesh
4. Communist Party of Belarus
5. New Communist Party of Britain
6. Communist Party of Bulgaria
7. Party of Bulgarian Communists
8. Communist Party of Canada
9. Communist Party in Denmark
10. Communist Party of Denmark
11. Communist Party of Ecuador
12. Communist Party of Esthonia
13. Communist Party of Finland
14. Communist Party of Greece
15. Hungarian Workers Party
16. Communist Party of India
17. Communist Party of India [Marxist]
18. Workers Party of Ireland
19. Communist Party (Italy)
20. Communist Party of Jordan
21. Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan
22. Socialist Party of Latvia
23. Communist Party of Mexico
24. Communist Party of Norway
25. Palestinian Communist Party
26. Communist Party of Pakistan
27. Paraguayan Communist Party
28. Communist Party of Poland
29. Philippine Communist Party [PKP 1930]
30. Romanian Communist Party
31. Communist Party of the Russian Federation
32. Russian Communist Workers Party
33. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
34. Communists of Serbia
35. Communist Party of Slovakia
36. South African Communist Party
37. Communist Party of the People of Spain
38. Communist Party of Sweden
39. Syrian Communist Party
40. Communist Party of Turkey
41. Communist Party of Ukraine
42. Union of Communists of Ukraine
43. Communist Party of Venezuela

    ---

Solidarity with Catalonia

The undersigned, Communist Parties and Workers gathered in St. Petersburg at the XIX Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties condemn the repression that the police of the Spanish State exercised on October 1 against the people of Catalonia in their struggle for the right to self-determination , the right of expression, assembly and demonstration. They express their rejection of the application of art. 155 of the Spanish Constitution in Catalunya made by the PP Government, which has led to the dissolution of the Catalan Parliament, the removal of the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, his Vice-President and all his Government, as well as intervention in all areas of the political rights of Catalonia.

We request the dismissal of the case open to Joan Josep Nuet, Secretary General of Communists of Catalonia and other members of the Parliament's Board of Crimes of Sedition, Rebellion, and embezzlement of public funds.
St Petersburg 2nd November 2017

Los abajo firmantes, Partidos Comunistas y Obreros reunidos en Sant Petersburgo  en el XIX Encuentro de Partidos Comunistas y Obreros  condenan la represión que la policia del  Estado espanyol ejercio  el dia 1 de octubre contra el pueblo de Catalunya, en su lucha por el derecho de autodeterminación,  el derecho de expresión,  reunión y  manifestación.   Manifiestan su rechazo a la aplicación del art. 155 de la Constitución española en Catalunya que hace el Gobierno del PP, y que ha supuesto la disolución del Parlament catalán, la destitución del President de la Generalitat de Catalunya, su Vicepresidente y de todo su Gobierno, así como la intervención en todos los àmbitos de los derechos políticos de Catalunya.

Solicitamos el sobreseimiento de la causa abierta a Joan Josep Nuet, Secretario General de Comunistes de Catalunya y otros miembros de la Mesa del Parlamentde los delitos de Sedición,  Rebeldia, i malversación de fondos públicos.

Signed by:

Communist Party of Bangladesh
New Communist Party of Britain
Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Denmark
Communist Party of Esthonia
Communist Party of Finland
Communist Party of Norway
Communist Party of Pakistan
Palestinian Communist Party
Philippine Communist Party [PKP 1930]
Romanian Socialist Party
New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

Turkey must withdraw its troops from Syria!

A call from the Communist Party of Turkey endorsed at the annual 19th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in November 2017

Under the leadership of Erdoğan, Turkey has provided political and material support to terrorist groups in Syria, and has been an accomplice to all massacres perpetrated and humanitarian/economic devastation inflicted upon this country since the very beginning of imperialist intervention. Yet today, in defiance of all international agreements and rules, Turkey is carrying out military operations in Syria under the pretext of "counterterrorism".
We, the undersigned communist and workers' parties, hereby protest Turkey's military presence in Syria, and call for the immediate termination
of these military operations.
Erdoğan's foreign policy maneuvers, which solely aim to maintain his personal status and to satisfy the emerging pursuits of Turkish capitalist class, do not serve to the interests of the toiling masses of Turkey or the region by any means. As the undersigned communist and workers' parties, just as we do not sympathize with the pressure and blackmailing exercised by the US and other NATO countries against Erdoğan and oppose to any "color revolution" attempt to be staged in Turkey, we neither accept to label the reactionary and anti-people policies pursued by Turkish government as something positive or even anti-imperialist.
The workers will have the final word in Turkey, in Syria and all around the world. As the communist and workers' parties, we stand by this word and
we will do everything in our power to strengthen it.

Signed by:

1. Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
2. Party of Labour of Austria
3. Communist Party of Bangladesh
4. Communist Party of Brasil (PCdoB)
5. Communist Party of Britain
6. New Communist Party of Britain
7. Communist Party of Canada
8. AKEL, Cyprus
9. Communist Party in Denmark
10. Communist Party of Denmark
11. Communist Party of Esthonia
12. Communist Party of Finland
13. Unified Communist Party of Georgia
14. German Communist Party
15. Communist Party of Greece
16. Hungarian Workers' Party
17. Communist Party of India
18. Communist Party of India (Marxist)
19. Workers' Party of Ireland
20. Communist Party (Italia)
21. TUDEH Party of Iran
22. Communist Party of Israel
23. Communist Party of Luxembourg
24. Communist Party of Mexico
25. Communist Party of Norway
26. Palestinian Communist Party
27. Philippine Communist Party [PKP 1930]
28. Communist Party of Poland
29. Portuguese Communist Party
30. Romanian Socialist Party
31. Communist Party of the Russian Federation
32. Russian Communist Workers Party
33. New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
34. Communists of Serbia
35. South African Communist Party
36. Communist Party of Sri Lanka
37. Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
38. Communist Party of Sweden
39. Communist Party of Syria
40. Communist Party of Syria (Unified)
41. Communist Party of Turkey
42. Communist Party of Ukraine
43. Communist Party of Uruguay
44. Communist Party USA
45. Communist Party of Venezuela

Solidarity with Polish communists

The Communist Party of Poland, within the framework of the annual 19th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, circulated a  Motion against the anticommunist persecutions at the expense of the CP of Poland

On March 31^st, 2016 four cadres of the Communist Party of Poland were sentenced by the regional court of Dąbrowa Górnicza to 9 months of restricted freedom with obligatory social work and fines. The legal procedure at the expense of the CP of Poland and of its cadres that has been going on for two years will restart on the 27^th of November with the charges of “dissemination of the communist ideology” in the Brzask newspaper and on the Party’s website. If the court finds them guilty, the charges are up to two years of incarceration.

At the same time, the CP of Poland is facing a new offensive from the Polish capitalist class and from the government party of “Law and Justice” (PiS), which is trying to illegalize the CP of Poland on the context that “the Program of the CP of Poland does not abide by the Constitution”.

The CP’s that participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties condemn the attempts to outlaw the Communist ideology in Poland. We denounce the persecutions against our Polish comrades. These persecutions, as well as the persecutions in other EU member-states, go hand in hand with the intensification of the anti-popular offensive, aim at equating Communism with the fascist monster; they aim at erasing the achievements of Socialism from the collective memory of the peoples.

100 years after the October Revolution, the peoples can and must draw conclusions from the anti-communist political positions of the EU and of the bourgeois governments that are becoming more intense. They must trust the Communists and demand the satisfaction of their modern needs, organizing their struggle against the capitalist system, the monopolies and their power.

All charges against the CP of Poland and its cadres have to be dropped immediately.

Hands off the Communists of Poland, the Communist ideology and their unrestricted action.

Solidarity with the CP of Poland!

Anti-communism shall not pass!

• Communist Party of Australia
• Party of Labour of Austria
• Communist Party of Azerbaidjan
• Progressive Tribune Bahrain
• Communist Party of Bangladesh
• Communist Party of Belarus
• Communist Party of Brazil
• Brazilian Communist Party
• New Communist Party of Britain
• Communist Party of Bulgaria
• Party of the Bulgarian Communists
• Socialist Workers Party of Croatia
• Communist Party of Cuba
• AKEL, Cyprus
• Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
• Egyptian Communist Party
• Communist Party of Ecuador
• Communist Party of Estonia
• Unified Communist Party of Georgia
• German Communist Party
• Communist Party of Greece
• Hungarian Workers' Party
• Communist Party of India
• Communist Party of India (Marxist)
• Iraqi Communist Party
• Communist Party of Kurdistan
• Tudeh Party of Iran
• Communist Party of Ireland
• Workers Party of Ireland
• Communist Party of Israel
• Communist Party (Italy)
• Jordanian Communist Party
• Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan
• Party of the Communists of Kyrgyzstan
• Workers Party of Korea
• Socialist Party of Latvia
• Socialist Peoples' Front (Lithuania)
• Party of the Congress for the Independence of Madagascar
• Communist Party of Mexico
• Party of the Communists of Republic of Moldova
• Communist Party of Nepal
• Communist Party of Norway
• Palestinian Communist Party
• Paraguayan Communist Party
• Communist Party of Peru (Patria Roja)
• Peruvian Communist Party
• Philippine Communist Party (PKP-1930)
• Portuguese Communist Party
• Romanian Socialist Party
• Communist Party of the Russian Federation
• Russian Communist Workers Party
• New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
• Communists of Serbia
• Communist Party of the People of Spain
• Communists of Catalonia
• Communist Party of Sri-Lanka
• South African Communist Party
• Sudanese Communist Party
• Communist Party of Sweden
• Syrian Communist Party
• Syrian Communist Party (Unified)
• Communist Party of Tadjikistan
• Communist Party of Turkey
• Communist Party of Ukraine
• Union of Communists of Ukraine
• Communist Party of Uruguay

Communists celebrate 1917 in the homeland of the revolution

By New Worker correspondent

Opening of the first session of the conference

Communists and progressive forces marked the 100^th anniversary of the October Revolution with two major conferences and a series of events in Russia that paid tribute to the 10 days that shook the world in 1917. It all began when the Bolsheviks led the revolution that overthrew the Kerensky regime in St Petersburg to build the world’s first workers’ and peasants’ state. And in the hallowed hall of the Tavrichesky Palace, where the Czarist parliament met and where Lenin spoke when it was briefly home to the Provisional Government and the Petersburg Soviet, hundreds of communists gathered for the 19^th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the World.

The conference was opened on 2^nd November by Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). He reminded delegates that a new stage in history was heralded 100 years ago with the words of Lenin, the genius of the Revolution, from Red Petrograd to the whole world and added that now is the time for the third Russian revolution, which will ensure the ultimate victory of socialism.

Referring to the symbolic meaning of the salvo from the cruiser Aurora that sparked off the uprising and the unforgettable days of October in the capital of the Russian Empire, Zyuganov recalled the historical stages the city hosted from the struggle for Soviet power to the heroic resistance against the Nazis.

Zyuganov also commented on the development of the meetings of the communist and workers’ parties, starting with the initiative of the Communist Party of Greece 20 years ago. He recalled that the main tasks of the meetings were the restoration of inter-party ties that had been interrupted after 1991 and exchange of information on their activities. Zyuganov stated that over the years, valuable experience in preparing and holding such meetings has been accumulated and the number of parties participating in them has been constantly growing.

Delegations from 103 parties, including the New Communist Party of Britain (NCP), took part in the conference. NCP leader Andy Brooks and Peter Hendy from the Central Committee joined 188 other comrades from all over the world, which included 60 Party leaders amongst the 188 delegates that filled the hall.

Andy Brooks joking with Rob Griffiths of the CPB

Conference agreed to add the Communist Party of China, the Workers Party of Korea and the Hungarian Workers Party to the Working Group, the steering committee of the international movement. Conference also unanimously adopted a statement calling upon all communist and workers’ parties to intensify coordination and to take up joint actions. It was also decided to organise scientific research and exchange of opinions on the causes that led to the counter-revolution in the USSR and the dissolution of the socialist camp. It was decided that the 100th anniversary of the seminal work of Lenin, The State and Revolution, would be observed in a systematic manner. The communiqué noted that 2018 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx and there needs to be appropriate efforts to discuss the contributions of Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto. It was agreed to build joint efforts to protect the rights and democratic freedoms of working people and to fight racism and fascism. The communiqué also called for focused activity targeting the youth because they are being misled by reactionary forces in every country, and expressed solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Palestine, Syria, Venezuela and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

 The two-day conference closed with solemn singing of the Internationale. The delegations then proceeded to join 4,000 Russian communists at the vast October Concert Hall for a rapturous concert dedicated to the spirit of the revolution. The following day international delegations were taken to the historic Smolny Institute, the home of the Soviet government before it moved to Moscow, and to the Aurora and a 1917 exhibition in the Hermitage museum.

The delegations then travelled by high-speed train to Moscow to take part in the even bigger Left Forum, which also included delegations from the Syrian Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Baath) and other progressive forces from the Third World.

Delegates paid tribute to Lenin at Lenin Mausoleum, and the ashes of Joseph Stalin and other leaders of the revolution, including the hundreds of unknown soldiers and martyrs honoured along the Kremlin wall.

With numerous events, rallies and parades, thousands of people of every age celebrated the 100 years since the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and other countries of the former USSR.

The centenary celebrations of the Great October Socialist Revolution concluded in Moscow with a rally on 7^th November. It was attended by not only comrades from Moscow, but also leaders of over 100 communist and workers’ parties from across the world.

Delegates joined demonstrators led by the CPRF leaders in a march from Pushkin Square to Revolution Square, waving the flags of the Lenin Komsomol, portraits of Lenin and Stalin, and chanting communist slogans. A rally was then held in front of statue of Karl Marx in Revolution Square. 

Large rallies, organised by the CPRF and the Russian Communist Workers Party (RCWP), took place in Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Omsk and other smaller cities. The celebrations took place despite a deliberate effort by the Putin government to distract public opinion away from the great anniversary. Major communist concerts in Moscow and St Petersburg were ignored by the Russian media, which chose instead to mark the centenary with the start of an eight-part series on Leon Trotsky!

Although President Vladimir Putin did send greetings to the international communist conference, the Russian government refused to hold any events in honour of the October Revolution, apart from a pageant in Red Square that was partly dedicated to the 1941 Red Army parade before leaving to the front against the Nazis. But this simply reflects the reactionary and anti-communist orientation of the Putin government that serves the interests the national bourgeoisie.

But as Gennady Zyuganov said: “7^th November will always remain a celebration for us. Today’s Russia is a different place but they can’t take away our whole lives from us.”

• Vesti News report on the Meeting
• Vesti News report on the march through Moscow