THE 22nd International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) gave a clarion call to launch united campaigns against oppressive and exploitative policies of imperialism and capitalism. 145 representatives of 78 Communist and Workers parties from 60 countries participated in the 22nd IMCWP, held for the first time in the heroic Cuba. The IMCWP session was held in Havana, the capital city of Cuba on October 28-29, 2022. A meeting of the working group (WG) was held on the 27th.

The main work of the IMCWP was to listen to the experience of the participating parties in the struggles defending the livelihood of people in the respective countries. Interventions by leaders of Communist and Workers Parties shared their experiences in organising movements on the demands of workers, peasants, agricultural labour, women, youth, students and various other marginalised sections of the people.

The global problems of imperialist exploitation and aggression, environmental degradation, subjugation of women, cultural degeneration, unemployment, destitution, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, xenophobia, racial discrimination, apartheid etc were taken up during the deliberations.

The IMCWP considered the request for membership in the fraternity of the organisational structure and unanimously decided to admit Reunionise Communist Party, Communist Party (Switzerland) and the Swiss Communist Party.

Election of the working group was another organisational task of the IMCWP. Through consultation, first a 24-member proposal was circulated. Following nomination made by various parties, the strength of the WG was increased to 35. Both CPI(M) and CPI are included in it from India.

Adoption of the final declaration of the 22nd IMCWP was also successfully carried out through consultations. The title itself covered most of the areas addressed by the final declaration: “Solidarity with Cuba and all the struggling peoples. United we are stronger in the anti-imperialist struggle, together with social and popular movements, in the face of capitalism and its policies, the threat of fascism and war; in defense of peace, the environment, workers' rights, solidarity and socialism…”. The concept of Communist and Workers Parties cooperating and collaborating with social and popular movements against imperialist domination and in defence of the rights of the oppressed and exploited has been stressed in the final declaration (text is separately published).

Discussion and adoption of a separate plan of action (PoA) provided common ideas to the Communist and Workers Parties to evolve independent and joint activities. The first task in the PoA is to carry out mobilisation in defence of peace and rejection of the imperialist war, belligerent interventions, nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, foreign military bases, as well as against NATO and other imperialist alliances like AUKUS.

Observance of September 21 as International Peace Day, with a worldwide mobilisation to denounce war is another important proposal.

Call to find a constructive, realist resolution to the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue and negotiation is another important campaign proposed. Involvement of more and more youth in various activities in future has been stressed in the PoA.

Series of activities – virtual workshops and seminars as well as physical meetings – to exchange, analyse and disseminate theoretical and practical concepts related to Marxism-Leninism and the unique value of socialism would be planned.

The first international meeting of the editors of theoretical publications to be held in Cuba from February 10-12, 2023 is an important step in this direction.

Call has been given to actively participate in popular mobilisations to demand the care and protection of the environment and to reject the capitalist mode of production and consumption aimed at mindless profit maximisation.

Another suggestion to achieve a greater and more active participation of IMCWP member parties in solidarity with Cuba to be held on the last weekend of each month is also endorsed. More widespread activities are proposed to be initiated on international day of solidarity with Palestinian people on November 29. Demand for a just and lasting solution to the question of Western Sahara needs to be raised in a focused manner. While taking up this issue, programmes must be organised on May 10, which is the foundation day of the Polisario Front which spearheaded the liberation struggle for the establishment of the Saharavi Arab Democratic Republic.

PoA underlined the following few landmark political events in the western hemisphere.

The day of the first armed uprising of people of Puerto Rico against US colonial domination is October 30, 1950.

2023 is the bicentennial of the independence of Central American countries. It is also the 170th anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, martyr, poet and the national hero of Cuba.

The year happens to be the 70th anniversary of the assault on Moncada and Carlos Manuel Cespedes Barracks.

These would be appropriately observed and celebrated as historical events of great importance.

The notorious Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed on December 2, 1823. In the context of growing progressive advance in Latin and Central America and efforts of imperialism led by the USA to intervene there through direct and indirect machinations, it is very important to observe the bicentennial of Monroe Doctrine and the 50th anniversary of the Coup d’ etat in Chile and the 40th anniversary of the US invasion of Grenada.

2023 is the 175th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto and 140th death anniversary of Karl Marx. The significance of these historical moments needs no elaboration. Proper programmes to observe these need to be planned by those who work and struggle for the creation of a classless society.

The 23rd IMCWP would be held in Turkey, as per the request from the Communist Party of Turkey.

The concluding session of the IMCWP was addressed by the president of Cuba, who is also the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez. He stressed the negative impacts of the illegal blockade that USA and its lackeys are imposing on Cuba and all its ill-effects. He declared that Cuba would be able to overcome the difficulties faced by it due to these factors, with the hard-work of the committed comrades and people of Cuba and also with the help of the strong solidarity pouring from all corners of the world.

22nd IMCWP concluded with the singing of the International and reverberating slogans:

United in the struggle against imperialism and capitalism!

Long Live socialism!

Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties

 FINAL DECLARATION

“Solidarity with Cuba and all the struggling peoples. United we are stronger in the anti-imperialist struggle, together with social and popular movements, in the face of capitalism and its policies, the threat of fascism and war; in defense of peace, the environment, workers' rights, solidarity and
socialism”

1.    The 145 representatives of 78 Communist and Workers’ Parties of 60 countries, present at this 22nd IMCWP, held in Havana, Cuba, on October 27-29, 2022, warn about the dangerous situation in which humanity finds itself.

2.    The current predominance of imperialism imposes an unjust and unsustainable international order, intensifies exploitation and worsens the conditions of the working class and the peoples, causes growing conflicts, antagonisms and wars, and hinders the solution of global problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which socialist countries historically, and Cuba today in particular, with its public health system and scientific development, have effectively confronted and where the superiority of socialism is manifested. We communists defend a new world order, based on the abolition of the exploitation of man by man, on relations of mutual benefit between states and the peoples, peace, sustainable development for the satisfaction of social needs, social justice and solidarity.     

3.    As a consequence of the growing aggressiveness of imperialism and the geopolitical recomposition underway, we face a new escalation of the arms race, the strengthening and expansion of NATO, the emergence of new military alliances, the aggravation of tensions and military conflicts, such as the one in Ukraine, the resurgence of fascism in various parts of the world and the "cold war" and the threat of a nuclear conflict, which we must reject.

4.    We denounce that the predatory nature of capitalism leads to increasing inequality, polarization of wealth, exclusion and migratory flows. It causes the intensification of the food crisis and the aggravation of the environmental crisis, while we are rapidly nearing a point of "no return".

5.    The bourgeois political system, which defends the interests of monopolies and corporations, manages the systemic crisis of capitalism for its own benefit, attempts to control the growing social discontent of workers and peoples through pressure and violence.

6.    The gradual decline of the power of the United States of America and its allies, as a result of its internal crises and in the face of its competitors, has reinforced the indiscriminate use of double standard and threatening blockade policies, illegal coercive measures, military interventions, and the interference in the internal affairs of States. Imperialism deploys a vast arsenal of subversive actions in the context of unconventional warfare, particularly media-related actions, as destabilising tools to disrupt governments that do not align themselves with its interests.

7.    The battle of the world working class against the capitalist system of exploitation requires, in the first place, the unity of the Communist and Workers Movement together with the social and popular, peasant and indigenous movements, to strengthen the class struggle against the bourgeois and imperialist plans and for the construction of a world of peace, justice and social equity.

In the face of the attempts by the imperialism to contain the workers and peoples struggle and to undermine the unity and solidarity of the anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces, the Communist and Workers’ Parties, participants in the 22nd IMCWP in Havana, agree as follows: 

·      To join efforts to strengthen the struggle against imperialism, to contribute to transforming the current unjust and undemocratic international order in which capitalist interests prevail, for an international order based on peace, sustainable development, social justice and solidarity, to pave the way for the construction of the socialist society.

·      To demand respect for the principles of self-determination of the peoples, independence, sovereign equality, and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, as well as for the legitimate right of peoples to peace and to choose their own path of development.

·      To strongly reject imperialist wars, the threat and use of force in international relations, and promote the struggle for peace. To strengthen internationalist action and solidarity in defense of the common interests of the peoples, against the bourgeois classes.

·      To mobilise the masses to denounce and reject the arms race and the large cuts on social spending caused by it, the existence and modernisation of nuclear weapons, foreign military bases; against NATO and its project to expand and become a global military organization.

·      To fight against the reemergence of anti-communist, reactionary, ultra-nationalist and fascist forces in various parts of the world, which intensify violence, xenophobia, racism and political, ideological, social, ethnic, religious and gender intolerance, and promote ethnic-national conflicts.

·      To strengthen solidarity with the peoples who withstand the interference and aggressions of imperialism and reject the policy of blockades, sanctions, unilateral coercive measures and double standards, as an instrument of pressure and blackmail against governments and peoples.

·      To defend and promote Marxism and Leninism to confront the ideological, cultural and symbolic offensive of imperialism, aimed at legitimizing the injustices of the capitalist system, disqualifying socialism and communism and eroding or destroying the cultural identity of our nations.

·      To redouble the struggle in favor of all just and emancipatory causes of the peoples and to increase solidarity with workers, peasants, indigenous peoples, youth and women's organizations, in defense of their rights and against capitalism. To stand by the side of refugees and victims of wars.

·      To increase the denouncement of and fight against the development model based on capitalist profit that destroys the environment and endangers the survival of ecosystems and the human species.

·      To comply with the Plan of Action approved at the 22nd Meeting in order to strengthen the unity of the International Communist and Workers Movement, jointly with social and popular movements against imperialist domination, aiming to intensify the struggle in defense of the interests of the workers and the peoples, for revolutionary transformations for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of Socialism.

With the coordinated effort carried out by the vanguard of the working class, jointly with social, popular and democratic organisations, forces and movements and those in defense of the emancipation of women’s rights, we will be able to defeat capitalism as a dominant, destructive and futureless world system and achieve a true revolutionary transformation. 

We thank the Communist Party of Cuba, its revolutionary government and its people for their contribution to the organization of 22nd IMCWP, and for the warm welcome extended to the participants. 

We reaffirm our solidarity and support for the just cause of the Cuban people and their struggle for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the unjust, criminal and tightened economic, commercial and financial blockade to which they have been subjected for more than 60 years and demand that the U.S. government remove Cuba from the spurious State Sponsors of Terrorism List.  

We pay tribute to the legacy of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, who together with the teachings of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and the succeeding generation headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, are a constant inspiration for the struggle of the peoples for their true and definitive emancipation on the road towards the construction of a socialist, independent and solidary society. 

United in the struggle against imperialism and capitalism!

Long live Socialism!

Havana,

October 29, 2022