Solidarity with Cuba

Communist and Workers’ Parties' Statement of Solidarity with Cuba

20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties

Athens

23-25 November 2018

On the second anniversary of his loss on 25th of November 2016, we commemorate comrade Fidel Castro, a heroic revolutionary, a patriotic popular leader, and a dedicated communist. Today, Fidel is among us, in our minds, thoughts and in our struggle. As in the words of Cuban youth, Fidel will always live!

We address that, despite the ceaselessly encountered challenges and attacks, the 60 years of experience of Cuba, at a very close distance to the bastion of the world imperialism, is the living proof of the historical legitimacy of socialism against capitalism.

In these 60 years, Cuba has established a participatory social system on the basis of equality and justice and has been able to cover the essential needs of all citizens, with out any single citizen being left unprotected. Exceptional developments in education, health, culture and science has been accomplished, which have in many ways enlightened and benefitted peoples of the world. Cuba not only inspired but also supported the liberation struggles and just causes of people who rose up against imperialism.

As the communist and workers’ parties who participate at the 20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Athens, we hereby declare that we salute the memory of comrade Fidel with respect, admiration and Revolutionary feelings. We are standing in solidarity with the Communist Party of Cuba and the Cuban people against the imperialist aggression and fully condemn the unjust blockade of the USA against Cuba.

Long live the Cuban revolution!

Hands off Cuba!

1.      Communist Party of Albania

2.      Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism

3.      Communist Party of Argentina

4.      Communist Party of Australia

5.      Party of Labour of Austria

6.      Communist Party of Azerbaijan

7.      Democratic Progressive Tribune

8.      Communist Party of Bangladesh

9.      Communist Party of Belarus

10.   Communist Party of Belgium

11.   Communist Party of Bolivia

12.   Brazilian Communist Party

13.   Communist Party of Brazil

14.   New Communist Party of Britain

15.   Communist Party of Britain

16.   Communist Party of Bulgaria

17.   Party of Bulgarian Communists

18.   Communist Party of Canada

19.   Socialist Workers' Party of Croatia

20.   Communist Party of Cuba

21.   AKEL (Cyprus)

22.   Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

23.   Communist Party in Denmark

24.   Force of Revolution

25.   Communist Party of Ecuador

26.   Communist Party of Estonia

27.   Communist Party of Finland

28.   French Communist Party

29.   Communist Party of Macedonia

30.   German Communist Party

31.   Communist Party of Greece

32.   Hungarian Workers' Party

33.   Communist Party of India

34.   Communist Party of India (Marxist)

35.   TUDEH (Iran)

36.   Communist Party of Iraq

37.   Communist Party of Kurdistan-Iraq

38.   Communist Party of Ireland

39.   Workers Party of Ireland

40.   Communist Party of Israel

41.   Communist Party, Italy

42.   Jordanian Communist Party

43.   Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan

44.   Workers Party of Korea

45.   Party of the Communists of Kyrgyzstan

46.   Lao Peoples' Revolutionary Party

47.   Socialist Party of Latvia

48.   Lebanese Communist Party

49.   Communist Party of Luxembourg

50.   AKFM

51.   Communist Party of Malta

52.   Communist Party of Mexico

53.   Nepal Communist Party

54.   New Communist Party of Netherlands

55.   Communist Party of Norway

56.   Communist Party of Pakistan

57.   Palestinian Communist Party

58.   Palestinian People's Party

59.   Paraguayan Communist Party

60.   Communist Party of Poland

61.   Portuguese Communist Party

62.   Romanian Socialist Party

63.   Communist Party of Soviet Union

64.   Communist Party of the Russian Federation

65.   RCWP-CPSU

66.   Union of Communist Parties - CPSU

67.   Communists of Serbia

68.   New Communist Party of Yugoslavia

69.   Communist Party of Slovakia

70.   South African Communist Party

71.   Communist Party of Spain

72.   Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain

73.   Communist Party of the Poeples of Spain

74.   Communist Party of Sri Lanka

75.   Sudanese Communist Party

76.   Communist Party of Swaziland

77.   Communist Party of Sweden

78.   Communist Party of Turkey

79.   EMEP (Turkey)

80.   Communist Party of Ukraine

81.   Union of Communists of Ukraine

82.   Communist Party USA

83.   Communist Party of Venezuela

84.   Communist Party of Vietnam

Peterloo: A very British massacre

Review

By New Worker Cinema Correspondent

Peterloo (2018). Director: Mike Leigh. Stars: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake and Neil Bell. 214

minutes. PG-13.

Waterloo – a field in Belgium where in 1815 the armies of Britain, Prussia and other European powers defeated the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. St Peters Field – a square in Manchester where on 19 August 1819 cavalry charged a crowd of unarmed protesters killing around 20 people.  The closeness of the two events led to the latter being called the Peterloo Massacre; an event now the subject of a feature film, Peterloo, directed by Mike Leigh.  The events in the field in Belgium were made into a film almost 50 years ago, in a film entitled Waterloo. A film about the events closer to home is long overdue.

Peterloo starts on the field of Waterloo where a bewildered soldier stares at the carnage around him; it them moves to the House of Lords where the Prime-Minister Lord Liverpool calls for a sum of £700,000 to be paid to the Duke of Wellington for his services to the nation.

The film brings up the issue of history. Whose history? Do we celebrate the aristocratic victory in a field in Belgium or commemorate the working-class victims of a massacre in our own country by an unrepresentative government? It is sympathetic to the largely working- and lower middle-class reform movement. In 1819 only landowners (male ones) could vote in elections, ordinary people suffered the effects of both a downturn in the economy and from the Corn Laws, a tariff in on imported grain that put up the price of bread, introduced by a government dominated by landed interests.

Peterloo features an array of British actors, including Rory Kinnear as the suffrage campaigner Henry Hunt and Maxine Peake as a matriarchal figure and mother of the soldier seen at the start of the film.

Leigh uses her character’s narrative to explain contemporary economic and social problems. Peake has made a success of playing prominent, working-class female characters and has sponsored a number of progressive campaigns.

The film portrays Hunt, a Wiltshire squire, as a pompous character with an exaggerated sense of his own importance. He insists on being the only speaker at the rally and demands that no armed men are present. The arms in question were little more than pieces of gardening equipment as opposed to the sabres and muskets used by the attacking soldiers.  Anyone who has been on a demonstration in recent years would understand that these men would have acted as stewards and their presence may have reduced loss of life.

Leigh captures the events of 14^th August well. He portrays the rally as a family day out with protesters coming from across Lancashire. The massacre involved three separate regiments: the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry, a largely irregular group of cavalry who are shown as violent and dangerous drunks; the more disciplined 14 Hussars; and an infantry regiment garrisoned in the town.

The Manchester & Salford Yeomanry are portrayed as the real villains of the event, which is the view of historians of the period, whilst the infantry, although armed with rifles, were the most vulnerable.

The magistrates, mostly local landowners, who bear ultimate responsibility are portrayed as pompous reactionaries with a sense of entitlement who view the lower orders with a mixture of fear and contempt. It shows them as provoking the massacre; a magistrate reads the Riot Act written on what looks like a post-it note from the window overlooking the square when no one is listening or even able to hear.

We see unarmed members of the crowd killed with sabres; one of whom is the soldier shown at the start of the film. Historic records state show that one of the victims of the attack was John Lees, a veteran of Waterloo.

Peterloo raises the issue of patriotism. An informant who offers his services to the government describes himself as a patriot. At the end of the film Lord Liverpool and the Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth inform the Prince Regent of the events in Manchester; the three of them start mumbling the word “England” over again as if in some kind of trance.  How much of a force for good is it in a country not facing foreign domination?

This leads us to the issue of what should be taught in schools, the events in a field in Belgium or those in a square in Manchester? There is a public house about a mile from my home; I have frequently enjoyed a pint of ale, or two there. It is called the Waterloo Arms – maybe it’s time that its name was changed to reflect our history not theirs.