BURKINA FASO

Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta (PCRV)

The struggle carried out by our people for over two decades, particularly with the popular movement and the revolutionary crisis that followed the assassination of journalist Norbert Zongo and his comrades in 1998, took shape on October 30 and 31, 2014, with the popular insurrection that led to:

• The overthrow and flight, organized by French imperialism and the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), of Blaise Compaore and his companions
• The fall of the CDP [Congress for democracy and Progress] and its allies of the Republican Front.
• The fall of the National Assembly and the flight of its deputies.
• The destruction of that Assembly by demonstrators, who attacked the symbols and dignitaries of the Fourth Republic.

This insurrection has had a great historic significance nationally as well as internationally in the sub-region. The PCRV, which played an important role in the preparation and development of this popular insurrection, both at the barricades as well as throughout the national territory, will work to influence the working class and people, putting forward clearly the following questions:

1. What is the scope and limits of the popular insurrection carried out by our heroic people?
2. What were the maneuvers and plots hatched by French imperialism with its “agencies” (the UN, ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] and OIF [International Francophone Organization]), the reactionary bourgeois opposition and the military coup leaders to save the neocolonial system?
3. What are the main trends of evolution in the current situation and the possible solutions?
4. What does the Revolutionary Communist Party propose in the current situation?

The popular insurrection of our people (October 30 and 31, 2014) is the result of constant heroic struggles, carried out with determination and clarity for two decades by our Party, the sincere revolutionaries and democrats against the autocracy of Blaise Compaore and his CDP. This protracted struggle, particularly since the assassination of journalist Norbert Zongo and his comrades, evolved gradually and had its martyrs, its wounded and its human dramas. We must emphasize the great participation of the popular youth, their combativeness, their spirit of self-sacrifice and their heroism on the barricades.

The insurrection helped the awakening of consciousness of the different strata of the population and forged their will to put an end to the bloody regime, which was corrupt and sold out to French imperialism. The popular insurrection of October 30 and 31 has deep roots and was carried out by the people despite the cruel police repression by the forces of the Fourth Republic supported by French troops, particularly the special forces of the VOS and the RSP, who are remembered for their evil actions and whose members assassinated and threatened detainees: “If you oppose us we will annihilate you, and nothing will happen.”

The popular insurrection was well received by the oppressed peoples of Africa and the world, and has had an immense national, subregional and international historic significance. The insurrection has provided us with several lessons:

• It demonstrated that the working class and the people can carry out a popular insurrection and overthrow their oppressors of the reactionary bourgeoisie and the imperialist powers.
• It showed the revolutionary energy, spirit of self-sacrifice, combativeness and heroism of which the people and the revolutionary youth have given proof.
• It brought hope back to our people, who have become conscious of their strength, and to the peoples of the sub-region, the proletariat and peoples of the world, who in turn have expressed their solidarity and strong support for the popular movement in our country.

This popular insurrection also has limits that prevented it from being transformed into a victorious revolution. These limits are:

• The insurgent people did not have anything more than their hands, and facts have shown that an insurrection only with bare hands cannot achieve total victory over the reactionary bourgeoisie and French imperialism. This is confirmed by the historical experience of the proletariat and the peoples, which shows that as long as the insurgents do not have arms, as long as the armed and defense forces of the bourgeoisie are not brought down and an important part of these forces do not go over to the side of the insurgents, the victory of the revolution is impossible.
• The military apparatus and a part of the political and administrative apparatus remained intact, as did the French and U.S. occupation forces based in our country to defend Blaise Compaore.
• Even the peasant masses, who took part in the popular insurrection, were not significantly involved; this raises the need for work to organize them and put them on a war footing since these peasants are the main force of the revolution in our country.
• The level of organization and leadership of the popular insurrection was insufficient, from which our party has drawn the lessons that are imposed on us:
• Because of these weaknesses of the insurrectionary movement, French imperialism and its allies of the reactionary bourgeoisie of our country and the French network, fomented a counter-revolutionary coup on November 1, 2014, based on the fascistic faction of the Forces of Defense and Security (FDS), which is the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP).

The reactionary bourgeois opposition and its dependents within the OSC [Civil Society Organizations], who had long tried to influence the popular movement, were surprised and terrified by the breadth, strength and determination of the popular insurrection whose main objective was to overthrow the neocolonial system. As the leader of the opposition (CFOP) Zephirin Diabre acknowledged publicly on the radio, namely the RFI [Radio France International]:

• They were not planning to overthrow the regime of Compaore and his clan. They only wanted Blaise Compaore to withdraw the draft amendment of Article 37 and end his term in 2015.
• Because they did not control the popular insurrection, of which they were frightened, the CFOP and its dependents within the OSC made contact with the military to organize a military coup. The head of the anti-referendum Committee put it clearly in the columns of the newspaper “The Paalga Observer.”

All this was in the framework of the objectives set by French imperialism, whose ambassador in Ouagadougou openly linked the CFOP headquarters and the general staff of the French forces, to transmit directives as the colonial governor of the country. It was with the support of the CFOP that the coup forces of certain OSCs, such as French imperialism, organized the counter-insurrection, the counter-revolution:

• Organizing a counter-revolutionary coup d’état in order to stifle the revolution. To achieve this they based themselves on the most fascistic faction of the army, the RPS, and forced the entire corrupted high military hierarchy to join the RSP and Lieutenant Colonel Zida.
• It organized the flight of Blaise Compaore and his entourage to the Ivory Coast to escape justice, to guarantee impunity to them and to all their civil and military supporters in the RSP. The implementation of the COS allowed Laurent Fabius to calm the French residents, assuring them that the situation was under control.
• Forcing their lackeys of the reactionary bourgeois opposition to support the coup as something positive. In this regard Salif Diallo shamelessly declared on RFI airwaves that he could not do anything without the RSP, which is the best organized and best equipped faction of the armed forces.
• It avoided even formally condemning the coup d’état, and hence the silence of all the heads of state of the French network.
• It led the African Union (UA) and the ECOWAS to not condemn the coup d’état, but to prepare a transition, “including” transparent elections and “including” involving dignitaries of the mafia power of Blaise Compaore and his allies in the Republican Front.

If the transition to hand over “power to the civilians” was approved by French imperialism, this is due to the following reasons:

• The counter-revolutionary coup d’état was denounced by our people, who saw it as an attempt to steal their victory to hand it over to the army, in power since 1966, to take away the power.
• French imperialism is trying, through this transition, to create a coalition of reactionary bourgeois forces that are divided and unable to save the neocolonial system, to organize rigged elections that will allow the reactionary bourgeois opposition and the dignitaries of the authority of the Fourth Republic and its allies to divide up the authority with total impunity. The chiefs of the reactionary bourgeois opposition have served in the fairly recent past as a puppet and mafia power of Blaise Compaore, which is why they have accepted the counterrevolutionary plan of French imperialism, of which they are the real vassals.

That is, nothing good for the working class and people can come out of this transition, which is part of the maneuvers and plots of French imperialism to defend its political, economic, strategic and military interests in our country that it already occupies militarily; it is a counter-revolutionary maneuver which must be energetically denounced and rejected.

III. The major trends of evolution in the current situation and some possible solutions

French imperialism will try everything to save the neocolonial order and break the revolutionary movement, as François Hollande stated, during the counter-revolutionary coup d’état carried out on November 1 and against which the people are resisting.

• The people who have become aware of their strength and their revolutionary potential will not allow the fruits of their struggle be snatched away; they want to push the popular movement for the revolution forward, to achieve their fundamental aspirations for political freedom, real social progress and national independence, that is, for a real change in favor of the people.
• The crisis that is affecting our country is worsening and it is not certain that the reactionary bourgeoisie will be able to manage the transition with stability, especially since the people are already rejecting the measures taken to protect the leaders of the former regime and the attempts to reconstitute the unity of the bourgeois forces against the revolutionary movement.

On this basis the possible present outcomes in our country are the following:

• The current maneuvers of French imperialism, namely to bring together the reactionary bourgeois opposition, the coup leaders and the reactionary and retrograde forces (the Catholic and Protestant clergy, the Muslim community, etc.) with the support of the AU, ECOWAS and the UN, will lead to the establishment of a neocolonial authority with elections in the framework of a reformist solution. This is the less bad outcome.
• The most dangerous outcome would be to unleash a reactionary civil war with all the divisions and contradictions that exist within the reactionary bourgeois opposition and the FDS [Sankarist Democratic Front], in addition to the work done by associating the CDP, its allies in the transition, with the possibility of a reinforced military occupation with everything that this entails, leaving our people desolate.
• The most favorable outcome is the revolutionary one, which is to deepen and strengthen the revolutionary movement and the triumph of the revolution.

IV. What does the PCRV propose in the current situation

To begin, the PCRV pays solemn tribute to those who fell during the popular insurrection, which include our members and sympathizers. We wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. Their heroism will be remembered forever in the history of the struggle of our people for the revolution.

The popular insurrection of October 30 and 31, 2014, is considered by the PCRV, and it should be considered by all our people, as a dress rehearsal to better organize the victorious revolution, for the national and social liberation of our country. Therefore the PCRV:

1. Calls on the people to continue to denounce and oppose the defensive counter-revolutionary coup d’état carried out by French imperialism through the RSP with the support of the reactionary bourgeois opposition and its minions within civil society, by which they exposed themselves and chose the camp of reaction. We call on the people to demand the withdrawal from our country of the foreign troops, particularly the French and U.S. troops.
2. Calls on the people to distance themselves from the bourgeois reactionary opposition and the coup supporters within the OSC:

• To reject the pro-coup, reformist and electoral illusions to which these agents of French imperialism are trying to lead them to better serve their sordid interests.
• To redouble the efforts in the fight against impunity that French imperialism, the coup leaders and the reactionary bourgeois opposition, as well as backward and obscurantist forces, want to protect the mafia clan of Compaore and all those who have taken advantage of the looting of our country under the Fourth Republic.

• To unite around the Political Platform of Action for a revolutionary change, and on that basis to contribute to deepening the popular movement, whose revolutionary potential is immense.
• To organize even better based on the achievements and lessons learned from the popular insurrection of October 30 and 31, to carry out the National Democratic and Popular

Revolution that will establish a provisional revolutionary Government and a Constituent Assembly in the service of our people, from which will be excluded the exploiters, oppressors and plunderers of our country. Only the general armed insurrection of the people will achieve these objectives.

Long live the popular insurrection of October 30 and 31, 2014!

Long live the Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta!

Central Committee of the PCRV
November 20, 2014