A two-day seminar was held in Mexico City on February 2-3 on the
important topic of Political Parties and a New Society. Organized
by the Party of Labor of Mexico (PT), the Seminar was attended
by the following political parties: Argentinian Movement of
Everybody for the Country; Communist Party of Argentina;
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist); Communist Party of
Cuba; Dominican United Left Movement; Party of the Dominican
Revolutionary Forces; Party of Democratic Unity of Honduras;
Workers' Party of Korea; Nicaraguan National Sandinista Front;
Movement for National Liberty of Paraguay; Communist Party of
Venezuela; United People's Bloc of Venezuela, Party of Labor of
Mexico.
The Seminar agenda dealt with the following themes: 1) The
Balance Sheet of Socialism; 2) Historic Foundations; 3) Forms of
Organization; 4) Forms of Struggle; and 5) Contemporary Tasks of
the Socialists. The Seminar generated a lot of discussion on
these issues, starting with an important intervention by a
representative of the Cuban delegation who presented an overview
of the different approaches being taken by various political
parties which consider themselves left-wing, socialist and
progressive in Latin America. This was followed by several
interventions presented by Cuban professors and Mexican delegates
on causes for the collapse of the "Eurosoviet model" of "real
socialism," following which a vigorous exchange of opinions took
place. In the evening session of the first day, the delegation of
the Workers' Party of Korea made an important presentation on the
experience of socialist construction in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
Some of the participants approached the collapse of the
Soviet bloc to a crisis in socialist theory and ideology, rather
than its abandonment, to the failure of a particular model of
socialism, the bureaucratization of the state, and so on. In the
course of the discussion, the CPC(M-L) delegation pointed out
that the notion of models of a particular economic system cannot
override the fundamental fact that if something is sound in
theory it will also be sound in practice. For instance, no matter
what "model of capitalism" is in place, it will suffer from the
objective contradictions of the capitalist economy. A system,
whether political or economic, as applied to the concrete
conditions of any country creates its own model. Instead of
sorting out the problems which arose in the course of the
construction of socialism, by the 1960s, the Soviet Union
presented itself as a model of "real socialism" or "developed
socialism" and demanded that this was the "model" to emulate.
This confused many of the parties and organizations which were
not standing on their own two feet. As a result, when this
"model" collapsed, a deep crisis set in amongst many. As concerns
"models," the CPC(M-L) delegation pointed out, in similar fashion
Canada is presented as the "model" of democracy, Rule of Law and
"free and fair elections." The people of many countries,
especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America where corruption and
fraudulent election processes are common manifestations of
bourgeois rule, are made to believe that they will acquire
democratic rule if only they concentrate their attention on
getting rid of what are called "aberrations" to the "model." They
fail to see that all systems of representative democracy, no
matter what form they take, are their own models and that
corruption and fraud are inherent to the system of 19th century
representative democracy which reduces the right of the people to
elect and be elected and to govern to the right to vote for this
or that party.
Quite a few of the interventions addressed the issue of
opposing dogmatism. It became apparent during the discussion that
the content of opposing dogmatism is to analyze the concrete
conditions of the present and mobilize the people to provide
solutions to the problem of opening society's door to progress. A
vigorous exchange also took place on the relation between the
state and the economy and the state and the popular masses. The
participants shared the common political aim of reaffirming and
defending socialism as the next stage of social development and
the future of humankind and working to defeat the anti-social
offensive which has found ideological and political justification
in the declaration of the capitalist ruling circles that
"socialism is dead." They also shared a common political aim in
the need to advance a pro-social agenda as the alternative to the
anti-social offensive of the financial oligarchy the world over.
In this regard, the participants examined various questions such
as the nature of political power under capitalism, the need for a
new people's power to be created in order to build a new society,
and the responsibility of progressive parties to act as
mobilizers of the working class and people towards this aim. The
CPC(M-L) delegation presented a paper entitled "What Kind of
Party?" which was greatly appreciated.
A summation of the discussion of the Seminar expressed
several objectives, such as continuing the discussion on the
evaluation of the reasons for the collapse of the former Soviet
Union and the countries of Eastern Europe and the other themes
taken up by the Seminar. In this direction, the participants
approved four themes to be examined in future seminars: 1)
political power as the necessary instrument for the construction
of socialism; 2) the relationship between the party and the
masses and between the party and society in general; 3) the
formation of cadres to carry forward and guarantee the socialist
cause; 4) economic, political and social proposals of the left
for a new society.
A commission comprised of the Communist Party of Cuba, the
Workers' Party of Korea, the Party of Labor of Mexico and the
Dominican United Left Movement was struck to organize a second
seminar on these themes within the next year.
In the course of the Seminar, participants also signed a
declaration condemning the imperialist interference and threats
of aggression against the people of Korea and expressing support
for the peaceful reunification of their country. Another
resolution condemned the U.S. imperialist blockade against Cuba
and the Helms-Burton law and reaffirmed Cuba's right to
self-determination.
The Seminar was conducted in an extremely fraternal
atmosphere. Besides the formal sessions, a lot of discussions
took place on a bi-lateral basis enriching the exchange of
opinions between delegations. A press conference was convoked on
the last day of the seminar at which the Canadian delegation
referred to the profound friendship and common interests between
the Canadian and Mexican working class and people and thanked the
PT for hosting the Seminar. The Mexican press expressed
particular interest in the results of NAFTA in Canada and paid
specific attention to the struggle of the Canadian working class
and people against the implementation of the neo-liberal agenda
in Ontario and nationally.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
