Under the central slogan “Loyalty to the Martyrs of the Popular Front and the fatherland; a Party at the service of the front and a Front at the service of the people,” the 4th National Congress of the Workers’ Party of Tunisia was held on June 25, 26 and 27. It is the second since the legalization of the party in 2011.
The opening session saw a massive presence of party activists, friends and supporters as well as delegations from the parties of the Popular Front and from democratic parties in the country. Also present were the ambassadors of Algeria, Cuba and Venezuela, along with representatives of the Tunisian General Union of Labour and the National Union of Tunisian Women and many NGOs.
In his inaugural speech, Comrade Hamma Hammami placed the Congress in its context by outlining the internal situation in the country, but also in the region, drawing attention to the dangers that threaten the Tunisians and their revolution due to the proliferation of centres of terrorism within the country as well as in the region. He considered that the country is at a crossroads, as the trend towards the consolidation of the gains of the revolution has become hypothetical and it was therefore necessary to prepare for all eventualities, even the worst. He made a harsh criticism of the transitional government, which is far from honouring its commitments to implement the provisions of the road map, based on which it was appointed.
Many speakers took turns in saluting the courage of the Workers’ Party in holding its congress in this pre-electoral context, where many other parties had preferred to postpone their own, for fear of internal quarrels that could undermine their unity.
Telegrams of solidarity from fraternal parties were read during the same session and were greeted by an ovation from the activists present.
Then the work of the conference took place behind closed doors for two days: 151 delegates took part, of whom 25% were youth, 20% women and 17% workers. Rich discussions took place in commissions and plenary sessions around two main themes:
1. The political situation and trends of its development and the tasks of the party.
2. The organizational questions in order to benefit from the experience of the past three years for a greater bolshevization of the party and a consolidation of its structures.
The general elections to be held in four months were the focus of debate in the political commission. Since the participation of the party is taking place within unitary lists of the Popular Front; delegates reviewed all possible scenarios regarding alliances with other democratic forces. And so that these elections can take place in conditions of peace, transparency and democracy, the delegates gave the leadership the mandate to work for the organization of a national conference against terrorism that would bring together all progressive and democratic patriotic forces hostile to the spread of this scourge.
At the organizational level, a detailed and thorough review of the three years of fighting under legality was drawn up. A critical analysis was made of certain activity related to either a certain liberalism or a certain sectarianism, and the congress proposed ways to fight to make our party an organization of a Leninist type, namely a vanguard party or vanguard organized detachment of the working class. The debates focused on a central issue, namely a greater rooting within the working class and the poorest popular strata, of which the party wants to be the spokesperson. Also, certain clauses of the statutes and internal rules had to be revised for greater harmonization of criteria for the recruitment of members, training of cadres and functioning of structures of the party but also for the general application of principles of democratic centralism.
Following the adoption of political and organizational motions, the delegates elected a new Central Committee of the party made up of 19 members including 3 women. It immediately proceeded to the re-election of Comrade Hamma Hammami as Secretary General. In its first meeting on Wednesday, July 2, the Central Committee elected the Executive Committee of the party.
From La Forge