The International Conference of the Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations held in Quito, Ecuador in 1994 issued the following Declaration with an invitation to all parties and organisations to ratify it if they agree with it.
As long as there are humans exploiting humans, as long as capitalism destroys human existence over the earth there will be struggle!
As long as the imperialists and the bourgeoisie oppress weak nations and defenceless people there will be struggle!
As long as the workers and peoples of the world aspire to transform the present society, to transform it to their benefit and as long as, in order to achieve it, they are ready to win or die, there will be struggle!
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Contrary to the conciliatory claims of the capitalists that the workers and bosses have the same interests, we subscribe firmly to the Marxist thesis that the class struggle is the driving force of history.
The class struggle will not be accomplished as long as the highest general objectives that conscious humanity sets itself have not been attained. That is, knowing how to construct, over the ruins of capitalism. the new world of socialism and communism.
In the last few years the communist and workers' movement has experienced some great reverses. The process of the restoration of capitalism since the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which developed and opened the way to events such as those in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Albania, etc, bears the marks of the actions of imperialism, of the reactionary forces, of the revisionists and pro-capitalists.
The historical limitations, inexperience, absence of theoretical development, under-estimation of socialist society's internal contradictions, the bureaucratisation and the communist party's isolation from the workers and masses have all been causes contributing to the inability of the communists, the working classes and the people to defend their achievements and avoid the restoration of capitalism. Furthermore, we have not been able to prevent the regeneration of a bourgeois class which, masquerading as 'socialist' seized power and destroyed socialism.
After the latest assault of imperialism and capitalism (which pretends to have finished off for good Marxism-Leninism, scientific socialism, communism, proletarian revolution and anti-imperialism) we are established again over all continents.
We, the communists, will re-emerge in every strike by workers, in every popular mobilisation, in every struggle of the working class and people for freedom and democracy, in every revolt of the youth, in every guerilla movement.
We will organise, we will unite, we will draw lessons from what has gone on in the past and will continue to march onward.
As long as we have not accomplished our historical mission we will not give up our undertakings.
There are millions of us humans in struggle. We, the workers, will continue in our position as the fundamental producers of all wealth, wherever and whatever the variations in the level of development of the means of production.
Nothing, in the end, will change as long as others continue to live a good life from the sweat of our brows, as long as we have not succeeded in transforming the existing society into a just and superior one.
What invention, what technico-scientific advancement can over-ride and ignore the fact that we are the principal axis of present society? All the advances, scientific and technological, do not and cannot nullify the nature of the proletariat, nor the fact that the means of production continue to be in the hands of the capitalists.
The wealth created by our labour has been and always will be the material basis of all technological and scientific development. The class struggle cannot be abolished or made to disappear as long as the private ownership of the means of production exists.
Nevertheless we must take account of technological and scientific advance, learn to master it and to use it for the benefit of the people and the revolution.
"The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority in the interests of the immense majority. The proletarians have nothing of their own to secure and to fortify; their mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of individual property." Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Today, no class or social strata other than the working class can achIeve the tasks. It is the task of the proletariat, which is the most revolutionary class in society with the highest driving spirit and practice, capable of uniting and leading the other classes and exploited strata of society in the struggle against capital.
We are there in the front line, active in the present epoch. We, the working class and the people, have never ceased, for a instant, struggling for our objectives.
Nothing essential has changed since Lenin defined the epoch. It is the same today: the era of imperialism and proletarian revolutions.
All the events which have taken place since the October Revolution of 1917, the Second World War, the defeat of fascism, the liberation of the colonial countries, the Chinese revolution, Vietnam etc, as well as the progress realised during the construction of socialism, the latest imperialist offensive and the current situation and people's struggle confirm Lenin's theses on the era in which we live. The fundamental contradictions remain.
Imperialism and the bourgeoisie deliver violent attacks against Marxism-Leninism and proclaim its demise. We pose the question: if Marxism-Leninism has become obsolete why do they attack it so venomously?
The reality is that they know that the Marxist theory is very much alive and kicking. Marxism-Leninism relies on the development of scientific knowledge, the experience of social development and progressive thought. It is the theory of a revolutionary character which represents the historic interests of the proletariat and of all humanity.
It advances in a dialectical manner, surmounting obstacles, engendering the new.
We Marxist-Leninists are conscious of our weaknesses as regards the application and development of Marxism-Leninism, a matter of our own shortcomings which we will overcome. Historical experience points clearly to the vitality of Marxism-Leninism. If there are decrepit and obsolete ideologies and theories belonging to the past they are those of the bourgeoisie. Marxism-Leninism is the present and the future.
"Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that human ideas, views and conceptions, in one word, human consciousness, changes with every change in the conditions of its material existence, in its social relations and its social life?
"When people speak of ideas that revolutionise society, they do but express the fact that within the old society the elements of a new one have been created and that the dissolution of the old ideas keeps even pace with the dissolution of the old conditions of existence." Manifesto of the Communist Party.
In line with their class interests, the revisionists and opportunists of all hues have distorted the statements of the Communist Manifesto and drawn anti-communist conclusions. They wish to preserve their position as 'great leaders' and their privileges. They want to manipulate the workers' movement and hinder the workers from taking their destiny in their own hands. This way they serve the bourgeoisie and cause a lot of harm to the working class.
In opposition to this, we the communists, fight against these deviations. We isolate these servants of the bourgeoisie and help the working class to rely on their own forces and advance.
Revisionism constitutes a danger to the revolutionary process, to the communist Party and to the construction of socialism. The revisionists and opportunists of all hues continue to be a danger against which the fight cannot and must not be stopped or weakened.
Discussing these questions, taking positions on the discussions, establishing what we must do today, taking part in the inevitable ideological struggle, to take this into the revolutionary camp is necessary and urgent as a revolutionary ideological offensive to parry and thrust against the assault of reaction. No communist, no avantgarde Party of the revolution must shy away from these confrontations of ideas and conceptions. We must open the debate, confront the ideas, the analyses, the experiences, the lessons and the objectives so as to reach the conclusions that will allow us to advance. Facts are stubborn, said Lenin and it is precisely that which requires us to remain as Leninists.
We have created our Party in the fire of the struggle against revisionism and opportunism which, due to their ideological degeneration and their political treason, have been the principal culprits for the damage caused to the international communist and workers' movement.
The communist parties are the indispensable instruments for organising the revolution in each one of our countries. We are together, we in this international conference of Marxist-Leninist parties and organisations, the real alternative for the working class and the peoples. The flame of the proletarian revolution and the hope of the peoples are in the hands of the communists.
"The communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; but in the movement of the present they also represent and take care of the future of the movement." Manifesto of the Communist Party.
We think that the ordinary people are and must always be the main actors of history. It is only when the communist parties are hureaucratised and ideologically degenerated and have lost their revolutionary avant-garde character in the service of the working class and the peoples, that the ordinary people have turned their backs on them. The proletarians and communists, the workers and the peoples must never destroy the thousands and one ties that bind them.
We, the communists, fight together with the working class and the people for their interests. Together with them we must and can win power; together with them we must build all the popular democratic forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the socialist state and advance forward.
Imperialism has been and will always be the source of wars of aggression and conquest. The latest ones, Iraq, Somalia, Panama, Yemen, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, Haiti etc have been theatres of wars of aggression, of racist and reactionary wars.
We denounce the real nature of these wars. There must be organised and sustained popular mobilisation against this policy of war waged by imperialism. The workers, the peoples, the communists must be in the forefront of this mobilisation.
The revolution requires the unity and action of the working class and the people. We must be the artisans of this unity. The unity is at the same time a concept and a practice. Alliances are necessary. To bind them together we must use our own forces, unite with others, practise the policy of alliances with revolutionary objectives. We can then embark on undertakings which do not lead to concessions on questions of principles. These alliances and undertakings must never make us forget that the class struggle always remains alive.
We fight for the revolution. We defend the right of peoples to use revolutionary force for the attainment of power. This requires us to master and use all the forms of struggle.
We reaffirm our will to maintain and hold high the banner of Marxism-Leninism, to fight for its application, to transform our parties and organisations into an organisational, socio-political alternative, nationally and internationally. We Marxist-Leninist parties and organisations reaffirm our decision to fight side by side with the working class and people, together with the democrats, the patriots and the progressives and to counter capitalist and imperialist domination with struggle for the proletarian revolution, struggle for the independence and sovereignty of the peoples.
We will keep alive the spirit of the Paris Commune, the October Revolution and all the revolutionary processes and experiences by relying on the principles elaborated by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
"The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of the existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution! The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of All Countries, Unite!"
The following parties and organisations signed the declaration:
The Communist Party of Germany (KPD),
The Communist Party of Columbia (M-L),
The Communist Party of Chile (Proletarian Action),
The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador,
The Communist Organisation 'October' of Spain,
The Communist Party of the Workers of France,
The Organisation for the Construction of the Party of the Italian Proletariat,
The Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist),
The Communist Party of Labour of the Dominican Republic,
The Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP),
The Bandera Roja Party of Venezuela,
The Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta.
New Signatures:
Communist Party of Benin,
Revolutionary Communist Party of the Ivory Coast,
Party of Labour of Iran.
Click here to return to the September 1995 index.