Regional Conferences:
The Middle East and the Balkans
Report
of the Regional Conference
Our
parties came together in September 99 and discussed the preparatory work carried
out in the region for the next General Conference. In this framework, alongside
with other topics, our regional conference had debates about “imperialism, the
working class, peoples’ struggles and the tasks of the communists” and came
to the following conclusions:
I.
Since
our last regional meeting, imperialism’s many-sided attacks through its
organisations such as the IMF, WB and EU and in the name of “structural
adjustment programmes” have continued and expanded. These attacks are still
continuing though at different pace because of the fight back of the working
class and people in the countries of the region.
International
capital has not yet achieved all its objectives, nor have the working masses
succeeded in repulsing this wave of attacks. If we leave to one side the
criteria for the statistics of the bourgeois governments of the region under the
name of “economic growth”, in terms of the lives of the working class and
working peoples we see the following developments which took place in the last
three years:
-
increasing unemployment, falling real wages, growing tax burden on working
people, and an increasing absolute and relative poverty incorporating broader
sections of masses both in the urban and rural areas of the regional countries;
-
a hastening process of liquidation of democratic rights and gains, increasing
nationalism and chauvinism, and a more tense international relations, with new
elements of conflict.
To
sum up, since our last regional meeting, we have witnessed wider class
differences with sharper contradictions and growing struggles. In the meantime,
international agreements such as the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investments)
and MIGA have shown the imperialists’ attempts to push our countries into a
process of colonisation. These developments have also helped our working peoples
who have been subject to immense attacks to realise the fact that the present
governments especially in underdeveloped countries are in the service of
international capital and its collaborators. The character of these attacks and
the position of different classes in the struggles fuelled by these attacks have
shown once again the leading role of the working class in the fight for our
countries’ independence and their liberation from imperialist plunder.
II.
The
conflicts and wars that have taken place in our region in the last three years
have proven correct our analysis that “we have entered a period of new
conflicts and wars” in our region which has been the scene for the most
intense and the most evident inter imperialist rivalry and dogfight for the
re-division of the world. At present, in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the
Middle East, we are witnessing wars or war conditions incited by or with the
participation of imperialist states. Also, elements of conflict in the region
are increasing as in the case of the recent tension between Iran and Turkey.
The
US imperialism has been successful to a certain extent in its attempts to
enforce its positions and bases in the Middle East through the Turkey-Israel
Co-operation Agreement and through the support given to Egypt. However, on the
other hand, it has continued to gain the hatred of regional peoples because of
its continuing bombardment, together with Britain, of Iraq, and its direct or
indirect threats on Iran. The humiliating impositions and sanctions on the
people of Palestine in the framework of the “Israel-Palestine Peace Process”
presented by the US as a blueprint for the Middle East “peace process” have
shown to the peoples of the region
the meaning of “Pax-Americana”.
While
the Anglo-American alliance has become apparent in the imperialist dogfight in
the region, especially the Middle East and the Balkans, other imperialist powers
such as Germany and France have not been sitting idle. They are continuing to
fight for the control of the oil reserves in the Middle East and the Caucasus,
and making greater efforts to take Iran on to their side and not to leave Iraq
to Anglo-Americans.
The
turbidity created by the propaganda about the “New World Order” is clearing
up, and the peoples of the region are becoming more and more aware that the
conflicts or wars in Iraq, Kosovo and Daghistan, no matter who seems to be the
parties and no matter what excuses they put forward, are being incited and waged
by the US and other imperialist powers in order to expand their spheres of
influence in these regions which are of great economic and military-strategic
importance.
Another
important change that has taken place in the last three years is that the
religious reactionary forces in the region have begun to lose credibility. Their
influence on broad masses is weakening both in Iran and Turkey. The fact that
the religious reactionary parties and currents in our region have been losing
their power of controlling the struggle against imperialism and capital creates
new opportunities for our parties and other progressive and revolutionary
forces.
We
must also highlight the fact that a diplomacy based on threats and the threat to
use military violence, punishment and war have become more widely used
instruments by imperialist powers both in their inner fights for spheres of
influence and in their relations with underdeveloped countries. This has brought
about two important developments:
1. Especially the war in
Yugoslavia has revealed that, despite being in the same military organisation,
the US and Britain on one side, and the European imperialists, mainly Germany
and France, on the other, are fighting for hegemony, and that this fight has
intensified with new dimensions. This war has frightened the peoples of Europe
who had been under the illusions of “dialogue”, “peace” and
“co-operation” created especially by the propaganda about the “New World
Order”. And these illusions have been replaced by scepticism and concern.
2. The bloody and destructive
burden of these imperialist conflicts and wars is put on the peoples of the
region. These wars are being “justifed” by use of peoples’ sensitivities,
aspirations and demands, as was the case with the Kosovo-Albanians. The peoples
and ethnic minorities of the Balkans have been made enemies. However, the
biggest obstacle for them to practise their right to self determination is the
very imperialism itself which has militarily occupied the region again. They are
not yet aware of how imperialists make use of their demands and aspirations, but
this does not change the fact that imperialism has drawn itself into an impasse.
Mass
anti-war actions in Italy and Greece prove that our peoples are becoming more
concerned about imperialist aggressions and incitements. It is important that
this concern has become a growing tendency again. This is because our countries
are continuing to be the subject of inter-imperialist struggle for the
re-division of the world and they have been practically drawn into being the
controlled spokespersons of imperialist aggression. Under these conditions,
withdrawal from the existing imperialist alliances like NATO and the EU has
become a current demand in our countries which are part of these alliances.
We
must also emphasise that in a period when imperialism has incited nationalism,
especially in the Balkans, and when nationalism and chauvinism have gained
significant positions in Turkey a short while ago, the solidarity of the peoples
of the world, especially of the region, with the earthquake victims in Turkey
has expanded the grounds for the consolidation of fraternity amongst our
peoples. The earthquake has shaken the prejudice and distrust created between
the peoples of advanced and underdeveloped countries based on the hierarchy of
the “New World Order”. It also created an atmosphere of hope and fraternity
which the peoples have always aspired for.
III.
In
the last three years, despite not being able to repeal the attacks of the
imperialists and the collaborating monopolist bourgeoisie, the workers’
movement in the regional countries has scored achievements which cannot be
overlooked.
Most
importantly, the working class and working people in general have manifested a
clear stance against international capital’s attacks implemented through
bourgeois governments. Certainly, these stances and struggles have sometimes
resulted in defeat and sometimes in victory. In Turkey, the exemplary struggle
of the power and paper workers against privatisation, or more recently, the 500
thousand strong general strike of 24 July 1999 against international arbitration
and new regulations in social security; the student demonstrations and
workers’ local strikes supported by the working people of Iran; the ongoing
strike, general strikes and boycotts against privatisation and the EU directives
by the workers, the rural and urban working people and the youth in Greece,
etc.; all this indicates that the opposition of the workers and working people
of our countries is getting stronger, and that they are not putting up with the
decisions and attacks of capital and their governments.
In
the last couple of years, the “left” government in Italy has played a
restraining role in terms of the workers’ movement. For this reason, in the
last European parliamentary elections, the “left” lost 3.8 million votes.
The D’Alema government is now preparing for further attacks on the working
people and pensioners, in line with the IMF directives. The contradictions
within the trade unions are getting bigger, while general opposition and acts of
protest are increasing all over the country. With the movement of the
unemployed, students and peasants, and anti-war demonstrations, the mass basis
of the struggle is broadening. This rise of the movement is taking place out of
the control of the revisionists and the trade union bureaucrats.
In
Greece, public workers, especially in the electric, mail and banking-finance
sectors, are continuing with their struggle against privatisation. University
students are opposing the government’s plan for privatisation. Secondary
school students carried out a several months long struggle against a planned
education reform. They organised boycotts, occupations, and mass demonstrations
all over the country. Pensioners held demonstrations against the government’s
pensions policies and received the support of the workers. Workers from
different sectors protested against the fragmentation of the social security and
the increase of the retirement age. The Greek peasants organised demonstrations,
including setting up barriers on motorways, against the agricultural policies of
the government and the EU. The workers’ struggles during the war waged by the
Nato imperialists against the peoples of Yugoslavia turned into anti-war
demonstrations with an anti-imperialist character.
In
Iran, the working class revolted with a political general strike in 1979 against
the Shah regime, the servant of imperialism, and played a determining role in
its collapse. The Iranian working class joined the revolution in order to
achieve their economic, social and political demands. However, the Islamic
government did not only omit these demands but also took away all the basic
gained rights in its 20 years in power. According to official figures, the
inflation rate is around 26 per cent, and 22 per cent of the economically active
workforce is unemployed. In the last 20 years, the GNP has decreased by one
third, and the crude oil production has dropped from 6 million barrel to 3.5
million. In the same period, foreign debts has reached 30 million dollars. The
reduction of the crude oil prices and the spread of corruption in the society
since the beginning of the 90s have led to the deterioration of the living
conditions of the working people. The economic and fascist political attacks
have led to a growing discontent among the people. The workers held strike
actions in the main industrial centres, including the oil refineries. They
demanded an increase of wages, backdated payments, and the establishment of
independent trade union confederations. They also expressed their opposition
against unemployment and privatisation. The struggle of the working class gave
courage to other sections of society. The six day long student actions which
started in Tehran spread all over the country. These actions were the
expressions of the anger of the past 20 years.
*
* *
Despite
its weaknesses, the workers’ movement is experiencing a growing tendency to
organise itself and to reclaim the existing mass organisations. The mass
movement, in spite of its spontaneity and retrogression, is accumulating
experience and strength, developing and bringing out its dynamic forces and
leaders.
This
period creates greater opportunities for our parties, but also puts more
responsibilities and tasks on us. For example, there are greater opportunities
to fight against the de-unionisation attacks of international capitalism and to
gain new positions. Collaborationist policies of trade union bureaucracy have
increased contradictions with and oppositions from the rank and file. In order
to rebuild the workers’ movement, whether unionised or not, and to gain new
positions, different tactics have been developed in different countries. This is
of particular importance in imperialist countries. The international trade union
conference organised in our region has been a concrete proof of this.
Unless
our parties rely on this tendency of the workers’ movement and overcome the
weaknesses which restrict their ability to utilise and expand the opportunities
presented by this tendency, their assertion to win over the working class
leaders and to rebuild themselves as real parties of the proletariat will be a
hollow one. This is the way forward for the workers’ movement to organise as a
party and for our parties to become the main body of this movement.
Independently of the
present situation of our parties and organisations, the conditions and
opportunities exist for this.
Declaration
The threat of war and tension in the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus is continuing. This region is known for its strategic importance in the struggle for world hegemony and for its natural resources. It is a region of sharp contradictions which are open to manipulations and which lead to capitalist fights.
With the aim of strengthening the imperialist control and hegemony, big imperialist countries, particularly the USA, Britain and Germany have disintegrated Yugoslavia, pushing the peoples of the Balkans to turmoil and creating enmity between them. This continues to be one of the most significant developments of the present day and causes new fights.
The imperialist rivalry facing the Middle East and the Caucasus is in a sharper state today. Contrary to the claims of the top bandits of the world reactionary forces, the elements of fight and rivalry have not been diminished but grown. The US imperialist bourgeoisie proves that it does not work for ”stability in the region” or ”co-operation for development”, but leads the imperialist attacks and the fight for greater spheres of influence, strengthening its position in the Middle East through the Turkey-Israel Co-operation Agreement, and striving to maintain the ”order” through the creation of a Turkey-Israel-Egypt-Jordan and Saudi reactionary front, and through forcing Syria, Iran, Iraq and Libya to kneel down to threats and siege. Russia, in proportion with its economic, political and military power, and the British and French imperialists, the former colonialists in the region, exploit every opportunity and accumulate power to strengthen their influence on the countries of the region.
The turmoil and national slaughter in the Caucasus, with the interference of imperialists, is continuing to escalate.
The imperialists show their presence in the region as something inevitable and imperative ”for peace in the region”, plundering the resources and keeping the peoples of underdeveloped and dependent countries under their yoke. Those who provoke the Serbian-Bosnian, Serbian-Albanian and Armenian-Azarbaijani conflicts, who played an active role in the Chechnian ”rebellion”, and who armed the Afghan tribes in order to incite enmity, want to spread the illusion that all this was done for ”peace” and ”in defence of common values of humanity”. The imperialist bourgeoisie and their army of propagandists call this the ”New World Order” which is supposedly free from contradictions. In fact, it means capitalist slavery of the world proletariat and peoples as well as subordination of underdeveloped countries.
This ”order” has proved to be out of order, with sharpening contradictions causing two grave wars, on Iraq and Yugoslavia, which pulled in all ”big powers”. Sharpening contradictions and the state of being out of order prepare the grounds for new wars and attacks.
All these developments require our peoples to have greater alertness against imperialist bourgeoisie, imperialist aggression and the countries of our region being wrecked in blood for the interest of international monopolies. The working class and peoples cannot kill each other for the interest of imperialist and the collaborationist bourgeoisie. They must live in fraternity, freedom and peace. The only way to achieve this is to raise the struggle against imperialist reactionary forces.
It is inspiring to see a new rise in the struggle of the working class and peoples against the economic and political attacks of international capital in spite of the bourgeoisie’s attempts to demoralise and divide them through chauvinist provocation. This struggle has to develop and expand in order to put an end to these regional fights, national slaughters and imperialist attacks which give peoples nothing but blood, grief, poverty and destruction. The growing anger against imperialist reactionary forces in the ranks of the proletariat and working people and the acts of protest attended by hundreds of thousands in some countries prove the possibility of developing and broadening this struggle.
Considering the particularities of our region and the trend of the events, our parties believe that for the future of our peoples and for them to live in friendship and fraternity, it is vital to fight for the following demands:
- an end to the occupation
of Kosovo, and withdrawal of all foreign and imperialist military forces from
the Balkans and the Middle East;
- an end to the embargo on and the bombardment of Iraq;
- withdrawal from imperialist military alliances such as Nato and the WEU, and
dismantling of the military bases of such aggressive organisations from our
countries;
- withdrawal from the EU which is based on the exploitation of our peoples and
which is an instrument of the hegemony of monopolies;
- refusal of the colonialist agreements such as the MAI and MIGA imposed by the
WTO under the directives of big imperialist states;
- refusal to pay the economic bills of imperialist wars, mainly the war in Iraq
and Kosovo;
- unconditional defence of the oppressed peoples’ right to self-determination,
including the right to independence.
Being aware of our increasing responsibilities in advancing the organised struggle of the working class and the peoples, we call upon all the workers and peoples of the region to take up the struggle for these demands.
Labour Party of Iran (Toufan)
The Organisation for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
Organisation for the Communist Party of Greece
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP)