People's Democracy

IT gives me great pleasure to bring warmest greetings to this congress on behalf of the Central Committee and membership of our party, the Communist Party of Canada.

Your congress convenes at a complex and extremely grave moment for India and for all humanity. We are confident, however, that your party, a revolutionary party anchored in Marxist-Leninist theory and steeled through a long and proud history of struggle, will steer a correct path forward for the working people and all toiling masses of your country.

Comrades,

We are all painfully aware of the desperate times in which we live. In the wake of September 11, and utilising that terrible event as a convenient excuse, US imperialism is on the rampage. The Bush administration is using the new conditions to shift international relations violently to the right, to punish its enemies, and to secure its unrivalled hegemony around the world. It is even prepared to unleash its nuclear arsenal in order to secure its domination.

This offensive is exacerbating all of the social, economic and political problems and instabilities under capitalism: poverty and social marginalisation; underdevelopment; environmental degradation; racism, national chauvinism and religious fundamentalism; political repression; and war.

Words alone can hardly describe how dangerous the current situation, how precarious humanity’s very survival is at the current moment.

The question which confronts us, and with which --- in the name of humanity itself --- we must all struggle, is: What is to be done ….now?

We do not pretend to have the definitive answer to this question. But whatever the answer is, we do know that the most important precondition for bringing that solution to reality is unity.

Unity, unity, and still more unity! Unity of the labour, democratic and people’s forces! Unity of the Left! Unity of both the national and international levels!

This task has always been a daunting but necessary one. But never before has it been more urgent, more imperative.

Our party strongly believes that this year --- 2002 --- will be a critical year in starting to realise this unity in action. Of course, we are not starting from "ground zero." Much has already been accomplished, but much more remains to be done.

We appeal to your party to give solemn and intense consideration to this problem. How can we transcend the current situation where --- to be honest --- finance capital and its imperialist states increasingly plan and carry out strategies on the international plane, whereas the communist and revolutionary forces around the world are still largely focused on, and preoccupied by, the national level of struggle?

The struggle for state power is still today the key arena of class and democratic action, and it will remain so well into the future. But, increasingly, this must be complemented by regional and global coordination. There is broad recognition of this fact, but how can we as communists collectively translate our words into deeds, our internationalist convictions into reality?

The world has changed dramatically over the past century, and especially over the past decade. Imperialism and reaction are on the move on all fronts. We can no longer afford the luxury of disunity.

We are confident that your party, and all the communists of India, will join in this complicated, but achievable goal. For the sake of peace, for the sake of our environment, and for the sake of survival itself, we must not settle for anything less.

Thank you, and good luck with your deliberations.

Long live the friendship of our two parties!

Long live the unity of the communist and revolutionary forces round the world!

Socialism is our Future!