People's Democracy

 Johannesburg to Host 12^th Int�l meeting of

Communist and Workers' Parties

THE working group meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties was held in Lisbon on March 13-14. Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member and Head of the International Department of the CPI (M) attended the meeting. This meeting was held essentially to discuss and finalise the dates and theme for the 12^th International meeting of the Communist and Workers' Parties. It should be recalled here that the decision to host the 12^th meeting in South Africa was taken by the 11^th international meeting held in New Delhi.

The South African Communist Party that is to host the 12^th meeting had proposed Johannesburg as the venue and December 3, 4 and 5 as the probable dates. As is the practice, the theme for the upcoming 12^th meeting was finalised taking the current international situation, particularly the global capitalist crisis and the attacks on the working class, into consideration. The theme that was decided is, �The deepening systemic crisis of capitalism. The tasks of Communists in defence of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism�.

The theme decided for the 12^th meeting, in fact, carries forward the conclusions arrived in the 11^th meeting, as reflected in the Delhi Declaration. The subsequent period had proved that the conclusions arrived in that meeting were correct � in spite of all their efforts the ruling classes have failed to come out of the capitalist crisis. This period is also characterised by increasing number of struggles and growth in working class militancy. No wonder that most of these struggles are led by organised working class unions and the communists. The working group expressed its solidarity with these struggling workers and called upon them to resolutely carry on the fight against the anti-people policies.

The meeting also reaffirmed its commitment to implement the decisions taken in the 11^th meeting in New Delhi. It had reiterated its decision to counter the anti-communist campaign equating Nazism with Socialism carried on by imperialism. The experiences of many Communist parties in Europe, who were directly facing this offensive � the ban imposed on communist youth, followed by attempts to ban the communist party in Czech; ban on the usage of communist symbols in Poland � were shared in the meeting. The meeting decided to undertake an extensive campaign against the imperialist attempts to deliberately re-write and distort history, demeaning the heroic role played by the Soviet Union and the communists in resisting the fascist onslaught during the Second World War. In this context, all the parties had decided to observe the 65^th anniversary of the victory over fascism on May 9, 2010 in a befitting manner. The meeting decided to issue a joint-statement on behalf of all the communist and workers parties and organise meetings, demonstrations etc throughout the world.

In pursuance of the decision taken in the New Delhi meeting to organise protest demonstrations during the NATO summit to be held in November in Lisbon, the working group adopted a common declaration �For Peace, No to NATO�. Joint actions would be undertaken against NATO and its global expansion, against the renewed imperialist aggressiveness and against foreign military bases.  This declaration calls upon all the progressive and left forces, workers and peace loving people across the world to join this struggle for peace, against war and NATO.

The working group also extended its solidarity to the 'Campaign in defence of peace and against the NATO Summit in Portugal � Peace, yes! NATO, no!' and expressed its confidence that there would be massive demonstrations against NATO in November.

The working group condemned the slanderous campaign launched by the European Union against Cuba and adopted a resolution expressing its solidarity with Cuba. The participant parties also expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the Cypriot people against Turkish occupation and for the reunification of their country.

Thirteen parties, including all the members of the working group attended the two day meeting.