The following is the text of the message of greetings sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to the 22nd Congress of AKEL that was held in Nicosia, Cyprus from June 4-7, 2015. DEAR Comrades, The Communist Party of India (Marxist) greets the 22nd Congress of the AKEL and wishes the Congress all success. We are confident that the deliberations you have in this Congress will lead to the further strengthening of the Party. We thank the leadership of AKEL for inviting us to your Party Congress, but express our sincere apologies for not being present amongst you. As you are aware, the 21st Congress of our Party was held recently and the first meeting of the newly elected Central Committee to finalise the future course of action, based on the resolutions adopted in the Congress, is scheduled on these very dates, which makes it impossible for our presence amidst you. Comrades, The global economic crisis had further increased the burdens on the working people all over the world. More than seven years have passed since the crisis had erupted in the United States and is not yet showing any signs of abatement, with the US economy once again contracting this quarter as the recently released data indicates. For us Marxist-Leninists, this is not something surprising, as Marx had taught us long back that capitalism is a social system laden with crises – intrinsic and inherent in the manner it organises production. The present crisis, once again proves the validity of Marxism-Leninism. The present crisis in the capitalist system is once again leading to enormous concentration of wealth, which is further accentuating the gap between the 'producing' classes and the 'consuming' classes. According to the OECD Report, (In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All, May 21, 2015), income inequality in many developed countries has reached an all-time high, along with the growth of social inequality that has been accompanied by the growth of part-time and contract labour. For the OECD countries as a whole, the top 10 percent of the population owns 50 percent of the wealth, the middle 50 percent owns about 47 percent, and the bottom 40 percent owns just three percent. As the Report notes, a large portion of the increase in income inequality has occurred in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. It is in this background of growing inequalities, we find sectarian, racial attacks growing across the world, as witnessed in the attacks on Afro-Americans in the US, Muslims and Romas in Europe and Rohingyas in Myanmar. The growing inequalities are also breeding tensions between various social groups, an expression of which can be seen in the reactions to the immigration question. The growing conservative and right-wing forces are targeting the immigrants as responsible for their economic hardships. Religious fundamentalism, sectarian, racial hatred are breeding on the rising discontent among the people and hence trying to divide the striking force of the toiling classes, by diverting their attention away from class exploitation. Imperialism is using all the means at its disposal – economic, military and political – to shift the burden of the crisis on the toiling peoples, particularly of the developing countries and come out unscathed from the crisis. All such attempts are bound to fail because of the inherent manner in which capitalism and its 'highest stage', imperialism are organised. The crisis once again reminds us of the necessity to hasten our work among the masses, strengthen the 'subjective factor', the Party of the working class, as Lenin used to call and intensify our struggles against the present exploitative capitalist system. Comrades, People are coming out onto the streets against the burdens imposed upon them and in defence of their rights. If we communists, fail to decisively intervene and lead these protests, there is every chance that the fundamentalist forces will intervene to divert peoples' anger into various sectarian and divisive movements. We had witnessed the growth of fascism and Nazism during the 1930's, an off-shoot of the Great Depression. Today, we are once again witnessing a spurt in the activities of the right-wing, fundamentalist, neo-nazi forces in many countries. Comrades, As you are aware, the CPI(M) and the Left had suffered an electoral setback in the recently concluded general elections to the Indian parliament. The right-wing Hindu fundamentalist forces, represented by the BJP won a comfortable majority on their own and formed the government. They are backed by the big bourgeoisie in the country. There is a three-pronged attack launched by the new government – one, it is aggressively pursuing neo-liberal economic policies and further burdening the common people; two, it is encouraging attacks on religious minorities and is thus trying to break the unity of the people and three, there are distinct attempts to impose authoritarianism through growing intolerance towards dissent and attack on the rights of working class. These are ominous signals, which need to be resisted and fought by mobilising all the Left and democratic sections of the people. The 21st Congress of the CPI(M) had thoroughly discussed the political-tactical line that we need to pursue during this period and we are in the midst of an intense struggle. Comrades, On this occasion of your 22nd Congress, we once again wish you the very best in all your endeavours and the struggle for socialism. We are confident that the deliberations of your Congress will contribute to the further strengthening of the AKEL. The CPI(M) cherishes and treasures the friendship it shares with AKEL and we are confident that these bonds will be further strengthened in the coming days. Central Committee Communist Party of India (Marxist)