People's Democracy

  The Workers Party of Bangladesh

Comrade Presidium, Dear Delegates and Comrades,

It is proud privilege on our part to be invited to attend the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). I on behalf of the delegation of WPB and on behalf of the Central Committee and the members of the Workers Party of Bangladesh convey our revolutionary greetings to all the delegates, to the leadership and the members of CPI(M).

We have entered a new phase of history when imperialism, particularly US imperialism, the only superpower in the present world has become more aggressive than ever before with the dream of decolorizing the entire world. US military invasion and occupation of Iraq two years ago and Bush’s Nazi like open strategic policy of "pre-emptive war" and "regime change" signaled the starting point of a new dark era. Side by side the propaganda through the monopoly controlled mass media, of the "end of socialism" and even calling it "the end of history" was the triumphant cheering of the victorious imperialist powers, which served to manipulate the oppressed and exploited all over the world who in growing discontent are increasingly working for an alternative to capitalist society. However, the historic period we are now living is not all dark as it apparently looks like. We at this time also witnessed tremendous waves of anti-imperialist struggles both armed and unarmed and the intensification of all fundamental contradictions of the imperialist world system.

The present phase of capitalism and imperialism is characterized, on the one hand, by the very high level of development of productive forces and the internationalization of the capitalist mode of production to a very high extent and on the other hand by the predominance of the speculative capital with its destructive influence and the political disorder accompanied by it on an international scale. The material condition for socialism on a world scale is more mature than it was in the last century.

However, there exist many ideological confusions and revisionist trends in various forms among the rank of the world communist movement. The revolutionary working class parties of the world should unitedly take the task of 1) Fighting the opportunist and revisionist trends now appearing in a new shape. 2) Developing a framework for coordination of the anti-imperialist struggles all over world.

Dear Comrades,

In the area we live the US Imperialism has strengthened its grip and is forcing the countries to sign military and economic agreements which goes against the people and against independence and sovereignty of these countries.

At the same time, the religious fundamentalism has grown in strength and penetrated in the state machinery of these countries and trying to turn back the wheel of history. The rights of the minorities were not threatened like this before. The rise of Islamic militants with their international connections and connections with the intelligence agencies has repercussions not in Bangladesh only, but also in the countries of the region. The peace and tranquility of the region and the national security of these countries are at stake.

In the recently held Congress of our party, we have identified the enemies of the people, imperialism and religious fundamentalism facing us. We propose to build a broad based common platform against imperialism and religious fundamentalism comprising of all the secular and non-communal forces of the countries of South Asia. We also reiterate our proposal for meeting of the Communist and Workers Party of South Asia to exchange our experience and chart out a common course of all of us of the countries of our subcontinent.

Dear Comrades, our party has a long-standing fraternal relation with CPI(M) which we value very much. We remember with gratitude the material, moral and political help CPI(M) gave our people and us during our war of independence in 1971.

CPI(M) having a long history and heritage, which produced great revolutionaries and Marxist theoreticians, is now the largest Left party in India. We hope that the congress will provide proper guideline for the party to lead the working class and the working people of India in the present situation. We hope that the fraternal relations between our two parties will be stronger in the future.