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14th Congress
Opening speech by General
Secretary Andy Brooks
Comrades,
We meet at a time of great crisis and great hopes. British imperialism is
at war with the Iraqi people playing the shameful role of running dog to
American imperialism and its dream of world domination while at home the
rich get richer while working people suffer to pay the price for the global
crisis of capitalism. We have a Labour government led venal Labour
class-collaborators that would put Ramsay Macdonald to shame.
At the same time the prospects for change have never been better.
The Blair government has aligned itself with the most reactionary,
chauvinist and aggressive sections of the bourgeoisie - the camp of war. In
doing so it has fuelled the biggest rift within the ruling class since the
Corn Laws and Free Trade issues of the 19th century. The ruling class is
bitterly divided over Europe, the American alliance and the Iraq war and
this division is reflected in the media, the parliamentary parties and the
labour movement itself. It mirrors the division in the European Union
between the allies of France and Germany and those who support
Anglo-American imperialism.
To win this struggle both wings of the bourgeoisie seek to enlist the
masses behind their banners. The war party uses the Labour Government and
the Labour Party machine along and the Eurosceptic Tories to justify their
crimes. Though they have no need for fascism at this moment in time they
are not above trying to whip up racist and chauvinist opinions within the
working class. Sometimes it's the French but it's always the asylum seekers.
Likewise the pro-European camp needs the anti-war movement to mobilise mass
support against the Blair leadership, as they would have a hard job trying
to raise any enthusiasm behind the Euro. But remember they, like the French
and German ruling classes, are not "anti-war" but only "anti" this war in
Iraq.
Germany and France led the pack against Yugoslavia only a few years ago and
they are not concerned about the plight of the struggling Iraqi people one
iota but are only concerned to ensure that American imperialism does not
totally control the global oil market.
But for communists divisions within the ruling class present opportunities
for the working class. Our motives are not theirs. But the we state that
the primary contradiction in the world is between American imperialism and
the rest of the world, which includes the weaker imperialist powers, and
the paramount objective is to stop the drive towards American world
domination, which they call the "new world order" or "globalisation".
We are against all imperialist wars. We demand the immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of all British troops from Iraq. We support the
Iraqi people's armed resistance to the Anglo-American occupation and we
support the efforts of all those within the Labour party seeking to change
the course and leadership of this government.
Many working people were taken in by the Blairite call for a "New Labour"
and the "Third Way". Now more and more understand the true nature of the
Blair government that will move heaven and earth to avoid offending the
tiny minority of landed gentry in England and Wales obsessed with
fox-hunting but will readily ignore the voices of the millions against the
war in Iraq. They see a Government that is ready to scapegoat
asylum-seekers as the source of all woe for working people while the real
robbers and thieves gorge themselves on the tax-breaks and privatisations
that make this country a paradise for the exploiters, capitalists and
land-owners who rule over us.
In days gone by the ruling class frowned on ostentatious display lest it
enrage the millions beneath them - a lesson learnt from the French
revolution. Now they wallow in their riches and flaunt their corrupt wealth
like a badge of honour.
According to The Times the total wealth of the "top 1,000" in Britain is
£155.861 billion of which 100 of these people have £79.200 billion between
them which is just over half the total. The Duke of Westminster heads the
Top Ten with £4,900 million while Lord Sainsbury and his family trail in
tenth position with a meagre £1,500 million.
In contrast last year one and a half million adults up to the age of 22
were paid less than £4.40 an hour and 3 and three-quarter million were
available for work but unemployed as opposed to those fortunate to be able
to claim benefits which is put at just under a million.
Millions live in poverty. The low-income threshold is worked out at the
rate of 60 per cent of median income. This equated to £187 for a couple
with no children, £114 for a single person, £273 for a couple with two
children and £200 for a lone parent with two children. Last year 12 and a
half million people lived below this income threshold. Though the numbers
soared to 14 million in 1996.97 the numbers of people on relatively low
incomes has in fact remained broadly unchanged throughout the 1990s.
Significantly the numbers doubled in the 1980s when the Tories began their
sustained attack on the working class following Labour's defeat in 1979.
In one of the richest countries in the world 3.9 million children live in
poverty. This is the reality of Blair's Britain.
There is nothing new in this. The reality of Britain today can be seen with
our eyes or culled from the cold statistics of the social scientists. And
their answers, their solutions are the same old story. Bourgeois charity or
social democratic reforms.
But we have the answer for the immediate period and for the future and it
is charted in our main resolution and our communist philosophy.
Of course we want democratic reforms. We want to make the rich pay for the
crisis. We want the restoration of the so-called Welfare State and the
public sector and all of this could be done now by making the rich disgorge
a fraction of their wealth.
But we also know that working people can never be free under capitalism. We
know that working people can never control their own lives except under
socialism. And we know that socialism, revolutionary socialism can only be
achieved through revolutionary change.
This is the message we have to take to the factories, depots and offices,
the housing estates, the universities and schools and on the streets. We
fight for revolutionary change. We fight for genuine popular democracy.
Mass democracy - not the bourgeois fraud that masks their class
dictatorship. Mass democracy which makes working people the masters -- not
bourgeois parliamentary democracy which ensures that the maximum number of
votes is manipulated by the smallest number of people.
We fight for a party of the new type - one that represents the best
elements and the finest traditions of the British working class, one that
joins hands across the world with working people building socialism and
struggling for independence.
We fight for a new world - a world that was heralded by the Great October
Revolution, a world that was led by Lenin and Stalin - a world that keeps
up the fight in Democratic Korea, People's China, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba.
The building of a revolutionary party - a monolith party based on the
principles of Marxism-Leninism, a Bolshevik party worthy of the trust of
working people is the task ahead of us.
Our future is coming. The new world - a world of peace and plenty, of
justice and equality is coming.
This weekend we take the Party forward to meet the challenges of the
future, Let's face it with confidence and determination.
******************
We fight for a new world!
by Elizabeth Farrell
THE NEW COMMUNIST Party held its 14th Congress last weekend at a time of
deepening global capitalist crisis, with British imperialism in crisis at
home and abroad and at war with the Iraqi people.
But the comrades, meeting in the historic Marx House in London, were ready
to face the future with confidence, a sharp political analysis and a new
rule book that makes a final break with revisionism.
The Congress began with General Secretary Andy Brooks moving the main
political resolution, which was then thoroughly debated and, with some
amendments, passed unanimously.
The adoption of the new rule book reflected a continuation of the work of
the 13th Congress in building a party of the new type: a Bolshevik party
and a monolith party based on Marxism-Leninism and democratic centralism.
Congress summed up two years of activity; during in which the Party made
modest successes. The vibrant discussion reflected the strengthening of
fraternal relations, at home with the Revolutionary Communist Party of
Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and with communist and workers’ parties
throughout the world.
Fraternal guests included Ri Si Hong and Ha Sin Guk from the new Democratic
Korean embassy in London. They delivered a message from the Workers’ Party
of Korea wishing us great successes after the Congress. Our good friends
and comrades from the RCPB (ML) spoke, as well as comrades from the
Workers’ League for the restoration of the Communist Party of Germany
(AWKPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). We also welcomed Jim
Brann from CND national council who attended in a personal capacity.
Solidarity messages from communist parties all over the world were read out
during the sessions including those from the Communist Party of China,
All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Russia), Communist Party of
Greece, Communist Party of Bangladesh and Belgian Workers Party.
Congress elected two honorary vice presidents in recognition of their
lifetime service to the British communist movement. Joe Parker, the first
Chair of the NCP who worked closely with Sid French and Eric Trevett in our
early days, was honoured together with Mick James another founder and
leading member of the Party, in recognition of their outstanding work for
the Party over the years.
The Main Political Resolution reaffirmed the Party’s opposition to the
European Union, noting that when a referendum is called the Party must call
for a massive “No” vote. We must point out that the EU cannot be reformed
and is neither genuinely federal nor democratic. It must be dissolved and
the Treaty of Rome, which first established the Common Market, repealed.
Congress also supported the courageous resistance of the Iraqi people to
Anglo-US imperialism and backed Sinn Féin’s efforts to get the Good Friday
Agreement restored. The main resolution noted that the invasion of Iraq was
an illegal and criminal act of aggression. British troops, which should
never have been sent to Iraq in the first place, must be withdrawn
immediately.
The Party noted that, over the past year, an anti-war movement of an
unprecedented scale has swept the world. In Britain mass demonstrations,
including one two million-strong, reflected the opposition of the vast
majority of the people to the invasion of Iraq.
Solidarity with Democratic Korea and Cuba has been strengthened.
The new rule book adopted by Congress reflects the experiences of fighting,
revolutionary communist parties around the world.
It reiterates that the New Communist Party is based on democratic
centralism. The political basis of the Party is Marxism-Leninism, as
developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
Congress, from now on, will take place at least every three years instead
of the previous biennial Congresses.
Basic Party units will now be known as cells or branches, and Party members
active in the broad and trade union movements will now be organised into
fractions.
NCP General Secretary Andy Brooks told Congress: “We meet at a time of
great crisis and great hopes… …The Blair government has aligned itself with
the most reactionary, chauvinist and aggressive sections of the bourgeoisie
– the camp of war.
“…We fight for a new world – a world that was heralded by the Great October
Revolution, a world that was led by Lenin and Stalin – a world that keeps
up the fight in Democratic Korea, People’s China, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba.
The building of a revolutionary party – a monolith party based on the
principles of Marxism-Leninism, a Bolshevik party worthy of the trust of
working people is the task ahead of us.”
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