The 7th International Conference  of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations was organized in autumn last year in a European country. It was a big success. Twenty-five Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations from twenty-four countries took part in it. The participants were Marxist-Leninist Organization from Afghanistan [MLO Afghanistan], Partido Comunista Revolucionario [PCR, Argentina], Workers’ Party of Bangladesh [WP Bangladesh], Partido Comunista (Marxista-Leninista) de Bolivia [PC(M-L) Bolivia], Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany [MLPD], Partido Comunista (Marxista-Leninista) Dominican Republic [PC(M-L) Dominican Republic], Partido Comunista del Peru (Marxista-Leninista) [PC del Peru (M-L)], Marxist-Leninist Communist Organization–Proletarian Way [OCML Voie proletarienne, France], Revolutionary Marxist Organization A/synechia, Greece, CPI(ML)–Janashakti, India, CPI(ML)–New Democracy, India, Japanese Communist League [JCL Japan], Revolutionary Organization from the Congo [RO Congo], Communist Organization of Luxembourg, [KOL, Luxembourg], Nepal Communist Party (Mashal), GML/Rode Morgen, Netherlands, Workers’ Communist Party [AKP, Norway], Partido Comunista (Marxista-Leninista) Panama [PC(M-L), Panama], Movimienteo Popular Revolucionario Paraguay Pyahura [MPRPP, Paraguay], Communist Party of the Philippines, Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist), TKP/ML, Turkey, Partido Communista Revolucionario [PCR Uruguay], Ray O. Light Group, USA, Revindo, Revolutionary Organization from South-East Asia.

The Conference began with a cultural event in honour of Mao Zedong on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his death.

The 7th International Conference unanimously approved the report on the work of the JCG, the agenda and the conference rules. Six member presidium was unanimously elected to preside over the proceedings of the Conference.

On the basis of the discussions on the items of the agenda, resolutions were drawn up and adopted. These included resolutions on the economic and political situation in the world, on the advance of the struggle of the proletariat and the people, on the perspectives of the world communist movement and on the perspectives of the 7th International Conference and the preparation of the 8th International Conference.

Furthermore, the Conference passed a solidarity resolution on Afghanistan and the participants signed a solidarity resolution against the introduction of solitary confinement and torture in Turkey.

We are here publishing resolutions on the economic and political situation in the world and on perspectives of the world communist movement. Solidarity resolutions on Afghanistan and against the introduction of solitary confinement and torture in Turkey have already been published in the last issue of New Democracy.

Resolution on

The Economic and Political Situation in the World

1. We are in the era of imperialism and proletarian world revolution. Lenin’s writing “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” is a fundamental guidance for the concrete analysis of the present situation and its course of development.

The fundamental contradictions created by the imperialist world system remain valid and are intensifying:

 the contradiction between imperialism and the oppressed people and nations,

 the contradiction between proletariat and bourgeoisie,

 the contradiction among the imperialists themselves.

The majority of the participants consider the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed people and nations as the main contradiction today, while other participants hold the view that the present stage of the general crisis of imperialism is determined by an all-round intensification of all essential contradictions and that today we cannot speak of a clear focus of the struggle against imperialism and of the proletarian revolution on a worldwide scale.

2. An essential background for the growing aggressiveness of the imperialist powers against the people of the world and the international revolutionary working class movement, which struggle for their national and social liberation, is the economic development of the world economy. While the majority of participants consider that it has already entered a worldwide overproduction crisis, others hold the view that the world economy is in a transition to such a crisis. The world economy is essentially determined by the development of the economic main forces. These are, aside from Japan, EU, China and Russia, especially the USA as the biggest economic power.

The worldwide counter-revolutionary offensive of imperialism launched subsequent to the capitalist restoration in China since 1978 and intensified after the fall of the social-imperialist Soviet Union (where capitalism was restored following the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU) and its bloc in 1991 succeeded in eradicating historic achievements of socialism and of the working class and the people.

The development of this so-called neoliberal offensive on the economic level generated tremendous suffering for enormous masses of working people in the cities and countryside, for hundreds of millions of people in the whole world. It meant a brutal increase in unemployment, cuts in the starvation wages, intensification of exploitation, massive displacement of peasants from their land, greater misery, serious problems in the health system, housing and education. It bankrupted millions of peasants in the oppressed countries, forcing them to migrate to the cities to live there in intolerable misery.

The countries dependent upon and oppressed by imperialism were plunged into economic stagnation, financial ruin, the massive destruction of productive forces and the systematic plundering of their resources and labour. In addition, they are crushed by oppressive foreign debt.

With this policy, the imperialists and the local ruling classes tried to make the workers of their own countries and the oppressed people the ones to foot the bill for their crisis.

In spite of this, crisis broke out in South-East Asia in 1997, then in other countries, and most recently in Turkey and Argentina.

The USA now are in the midst of crisis. The ongoing decrease in industrial production since the end of 2000 has sped up from month to month, and in August 2001 production was 4.8 percent below the level of last year. In the USA the capacity utilization of 76.2 percent in the industry was even below the lowest level of the overproduction crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. Due to the relatively small share of export the future course will mainly depend on private consumption. Here, mass unemployment and wage cuts for the workers are forcing them to further reduce their expenditures. Out of 1 million industrial jobs that have been cut down during the last 12 months more than half of them have been cut down during the last 4 months.

In Japan industrial production has fallen considerably and is now at the same level as in the middle of 1999. 6 of the 15 EU countries register a decrease in the growth rates of the industrial production and of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In the UK, Spain and Finland industrial production has already fallen absolutely. In Germany the growth of industrial production has decreased more and more since the beginning of the year. The expected devaluation of the dollar will mainly affect the EU countries and the export-dependent FRG economy. The fall in the growth rates or the slump in industrial production in all the main economic regions makes it more difficult for the imperialist countries and mainly for the USA to shift the phenomena of the crisis onto other countries.

The USA put hundreds of billions of dollars in 8 reductions of the interest rates of the US Central Bank since the beginning of the year, in massive tax reductions for the monopolies and in growing military expenditures, without being able to prevent the trend towards an overproduction crisis. In the USA the consequences of the attacks on the WTC towers and the Pentagon can considerably speed up the development of the crisis.

We must not harbour illusions about the prospect that the economic world crisis will be a short one or will be the shorter the more the interest rates in the imperialist countries are being reduced. As a side effect the international crisis on the stock market is deepening.

Company mergers, which tripled between 1990 and 1999 from about 9,000 to 25,000, as part of a monopolistic concentration process, have declined by 25 percent, while the stock market value of the merging companies fell 54 percent in the first half of 2001.

The stock market and financial crisis has already erupted in the “new economy” (computer sector) and rapidly expanded to the “traditional” sectors, because the diverse sectors are not things separated from each other.  Likewise, it does not seem that the war, as it is going on now, will create a big demand for industrial production as in World War II.  And there will be no possibility of getting out of the crisis rapidly.

The imperialist countries and monopolies continue trying to shift this crisis to the colonial, semicolonial and dependent countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and the proletariat and the masses in their own countries.

The present development of world capitalism will result in an aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism at the beginning of the 21st century.

3. The economic, political and military antagonism between the big powers (USA, EU, Japan, Russia and China) is tending to a multipolar world. No single major political problem in the world can be solved without taking these powers into account. The USA as imperialist superpower arrogates to itself the role of “global cop”. It is the biggest economic, political and military superpower, which generates 28.64% of world output and whose military power allows it to be present all over the world. It is the leader in the UN and NATO. The antagonism between the main imperialist forces tends to lead to the formation of new alliances and axes.

IMF, World Bank, WTO and other international organs are instruments of the imperialist countries and international monopolies to enforce their policies.

They do not do away with competition, but provide it with a framework in which the struggle of the imperialist powers and international monopolies for predominance is waged.

US imperialism has stated that the military aggression against the Afghan people is only the first military stage of a “New War”. It is significant that, for the first time, all imperialist countries without exception have entered into an alliance in this “New War” to support the military activities of the USA and Britain. Russian imperialism also has agreed to collude politically and militarily with the USA and the imperialist NATO countries Germany, Britain, France and others, and expects that criticism of its bloody war in Chechnya cease. China supports the imperialist “New War”.

The US invasion of Afghanistan aims at the control of a geostrategically important Central Asian region rich in raw materials. Though the imperialist countries currently take joint action, this alliance will break up sooner or later. An imperialist war unfolds its own laws and can lead to a destabilization of the entire imperialist world system such as never witnessed since the Second World War.

4. Bush’s ”New War” is a permanent declaration of war to the world under the pretext of combating terrorism. Bush stated that “every means of diplomacy, every possibility open to the intelligence services, every necessary weapon of war” will be used in this war. It is the expression of the failure of the so-called New World Order. The imperialists directly intervene and occupy, violating sovereignty and the right of self-determination with or without using the UN as a cloak. In 1999, NATO decided to deploy so-called crisis reaction forces against revolutionary struggles and liberation movements and independent states. Since then, it arrogates to itself the right to operate outside the so-called treaty area, practising this in the imperialist war against Yugoslavia or currently in dramatic fashion in the occupation of Macedonia. The entire structure of the military has long since been converted to do what is now being practised against Afghanistan in the invasion. In the Andean countries of Latin America, this is already being practised in bloody fashion under the “Plan Colombia” to suppress revolutionary liberation movements by armed force. If one follows the logic of US imperialism, invasions in Iraq, Palestine, Syria or Sudan could take place next under the pretext of  “combating terrorism”.

This is combined with an intensification of oppression in the countries dependent upon imperialism and the fascicization of the state apparatus and massive curtailment of democratic rights and freedoms in the imperialist countries themselves. It includes intensive psychological warfare in conjunction with open censorship and a climate of spying and control.

5. The International Conference intensely discussed the question of the changes of the class relations in the world. The Conference also discussed the necessity for analysing the causes of urbanization. The massive displacement of peasants from their land has contributed to a process of urbanization. The significance of the anti-globalization movement and the tasks of the communists with regard to this movement were also debated. The International Conference defends the leading role of the working class in the struggle for new democratic revolutions and socialist revolutions.

6. The development of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism gives rise to immense suffering for the masses. Technological progress is accompanied by a great destruction of productive forces. The destructive effects of the capitalist mode of production can only be overcome if the forces of production are freed from their capitalist fetters. Only when the capitalist relations of production have been overthrown will the productive forces be able to develop such that they can satisfy the constantly growing material and intellectual needs of society.

7. The imperialist war increasingly brings the workers and the masses of the people in the world into opposition against it. It will bring to head all the contradictions worldwide. It has the potential to enable the proletariat and the oppressed people and nations to find a revolutionary way out in every country in the world. This obligates the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations to develop their work with this prospect in mind.

Resolution on

The Perspective of the World Communist Movement

1.         The developments during the last decade and the way humanity entered the 21st century confirm in the most indisputable way that we are still in the era of imperialism; that, in order to attain a future without war, exploitation and national oppression, humanity has to confront and overthrow this parasitic and moribund capitalism.

2.      The developments of the last years are also proving that – in spite of the declarations about the ”end of history” and the ”end of communism” and in spite of the huge retreat provoked by the domination of revisionism – the only historically possible and necessary way out is socialism and communism. The sharpening of all the contradictions of imperialism/capitalism and the very existence of the communist parties and organizations show that we live in the era of the proletarian revolution.

3.       All over the world, the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations are intensifying their struggle to face the duties posed by the historical moment. The responsibilities and the duties of the communists vary from country to country, region to region and from continent to continent. Each party, on its own responsibility, must formulate and carry out its strategy and tactics on the basis of a concrete analysis of the concrete circumstances in each country. Nevertheless, their struggles are inter-linked by the red thread of the effort to open paths towards the proletarian revolution, through their struggle against the ruling classes and in close connection with the struggle against reformism, revisionism and Trotskyism.

4.       The discussion and exchange of opinions that took place within the 7th International Conference on the issue of the strategy and tactics of the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations arrived at certain general conclusions, summed up as follows:

(a)   In the struggle for socialism and communism, the working class cannot accomplish its historical role without Marxist-Leninist strategy and tactics. The International Conference upholds the leadership of the proletariat in the new democratic and socialist revolutions. At the same time, it acknowledges that today the main forces in the world revolution are the people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The proletariat and the masses of the people have engaged in developing various forms of struggle based on their own experience, and it is the task of the Marxist-Leninist parties to develop these struggles of the masses, organize class and mass organizations and raise them onto a revolutionary level. To this end, the Marxist-Leninist parties must be closely linked to the masses.

The two big paths towards the proletarian revolution that have been given to us as a legacy in the 20th century by the October Revolution and the Chinese Revolution remain timely. Their teachings provide a lively guidance for all forms of contemporary proletarian revolution.

(b)   Semi-Colonial, Semi-Feudal and Dependent Countries

In the semi-colonial, semi-feudal countries, the path for the seizure of power is to wage the new democratic revolution, that means, a democratic, agrarian and anti-imperialist revolution with a socialist perspective. This revolution is based on the alliance of workers and peasants under the leadership of the working class, establishing a democratic dictatorship of the people. In many semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries, the strategic line of protracted people’s war is applicable.

The Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought parties that are waging armed struggle as the principal form of revolutionary struggle in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries are pursuing the strategic line of protracted people’s war. This strategy and tactics of people’s war is one of the most advanced detachments of the proletarian revolution and, therefore, should be supported.

In the dependent countries, the seizure of power also requires a new democratic revolution, i.e., a democratic, agrarian and anti-imperialist revolution in an uninterrupted way to socialism. The revolutionary struggle for power is developing in different fields of political and social struggle and can adopt the form of armed uprising, combined or not, with guerrilla warfare in the countryside.

In certain dependent European countries, the anti-imperialist, people’s democratic revolution may take several forms of revolts and struggles aiming at the overthrow of the dependent political power and the establishment of the People’s Democratic Power with a socialist perspective.

(c)   Imperialist Countries

In the imperialist countries, the organization and consolidation of the vanguard, the winning over of the decisive majority of the working class and involving the broad masses in the struggle against the government as well as the strengthening of the internationalist spirit comprise the main immediate duty. The initiation of working-class struggles and their development to higher levels and the strengthening of the proletarian class organizations constitute the main objective in the present period. Such an effort will prepare the Marxist-Leninist parties, the working class and the labouring masses to be able to play a decisive role in conditions of crisis and revolutionary situations. The revolutionary parties in the imperialist countries have the duty to form their members and the most advanced elements with the orientation of overthrowing the bourgeois power and replacing it with the new political power of the proletariat.

5.        The strengthening of the Marxist-Leninist party in any country cannot be achieved unless it is  based on the principles of the ceaseless class struggle, the propulsion of the revolution, the forcible destruction of the bourgeois state machinary and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Particular attention must be paid to the process of party building that will link it tightly to the basic masses and the working class through its ideological and political strengthening. The communist parties must further develop their ability to build broad united fronts and alliances, and train themselves and the masses for the decisive confrontations with the bourgeoisie, feudalism and imperialism. In the contemporary situation, the ideological work and the effective response to the bourgeois propaganda and of the revisionist theories, are of particular importance for the process of strengthening the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations. Organized youth work is the richest source for winning new party members.

6.         The struggles in the different countries stand in dialectical interaction. It is necessary to carry out proletarian internationalism and to organize international solidarity for cooperation and mutual benefit. This requires a close unity of struggle of the Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations. No line of demarcation must exist between the movement of the semi-colonial and dependent world and of the developed capitalist countries – only the unity and the joint struggle will promote the common cause.

7.         The Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations recognize, in the contemporary conditions, those necessities through the response to the following duties:

(a) The decisive mobilization against the “new” war inflicted upon the people and nations, covered up as a war against terrorism.

(b) The promotion, support and solidarity with all the genuine, popular, democratic and revolutionary movements all over the world.

(c) The concrete effort for the coordination of struggles and movements of the working class, especially those that develop in the multinational corporations which are established in several countries; the encouragement for holding regional meetings and the development of various forms of coordination among the Marxist-Leninist parties.

(d) The support and solidarity with African communists in their involvement in building a powerful democratic movement in Africa by strengthening Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations and building movements that fight against misery, plunder and bloody crimes.

(e) The Marxist-Leninists must develop an active rank and file work for developing the militant women’s movement without which half of the working class and other people remain unorganized.

(f) In the growing mass movement against imperialist globalization, coordinated intervention is necessary in order to promote the anti-imperialist line and the socialist perspective as well as a principled debate with other currents. This orientation must also be supported wherever the working people and the youth are living, working, studying and fighting.