European communist parties held successful meeting in Brussels against anticommunist resolution to be presented at Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

By Workers’ Party of Belgium
Brussels, 21 January 2006

On Saturday, the 21 st of January 2006, a Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties was held in Brussels to expose and oppose the anticommunist draft resolution, entitled ” Need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes” , that will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at its plenary session on the 25 th of January in Strasbourg.

The meeting was attended by delegations from 15 communist parties, 13 of them from Europe. Twenty-five more communist parties were unable to attend or sent solidarity messages to the meeting.

In the introductory session, Annie Lacroix-Riz (Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Paris VII) put the current anticommunist attacks in Europe in historical perspective, while Attorney Jan Fermon (Board Member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers) explained their judicial implications. Cyrille Sironval, the 84-year old former commander of the armed partisans in occupied Brussels during the Second World War, brought a strong and moving testimony.

The major part of the meeting was dedicated to statements and reports of the 15 attending communist parties. Each from their own point of view and experience, they all strongly condemned the proposed draft resolution as an all-out attack on the history, present and future of communism. The participants warned that the resolution minimalized the crimes of Nazism and would open the floodgates for an all-ou!t attack on the democratic rights and further reactionary measures. They also warned that the resolution justifies imperialist attacks against the socialist countries, and could lead to the prohibition of communist parties. They likewise pointed out the danger that such anticommunist measures would entail for trade unionists, student and youth activists and democrats.

The participants issued a call for all democratic and peace-loving members of the parliaments of the different member countries of the Council of Europe to clearly reject the anticommunist draft resolution. They vowed to organize the broadest possible protest movement against any current and future anticommunist attacks. As a case in point, they expressed their solidarity with the Communist Union of Youth (KSM), which the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic is threatening with prohibition, and they registered their firm protest against any such threat or measure.

Several of the delegations called for a protest demonstration on Tuesday, the 24 th of January in Strasbourg at 11:00 am, marching from the ‘Place de la Republique’ – in front of the Opera – to the ‘Palace of Europe’ where the PACE will meet to discuss and vote on the draft resolution. A press conference will be held there at 12:00 am. Democratic forces and personalities as well as communist parties from Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France will take part in the protest action. They will join a delegation that will hand over protest declarations, resolutions and motions with thousands of signatures to Mr. René Van der Linden, President of PACE.

The following parties participated in the Brussels’ Meeting:

Workers’ Party of Belgium

Communist Party of Cuba

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM, Czech Republic)

Communist Party of Denmark

Pôle de Renaissance communiste en France (PRCF)

Union des Révolutionnaires-communistes de France (URCF)

German Communist Party (DKP)

Communist Party of Greece (KKE)

Rete dei Comunisti (Italy)

Socialist Party of Latvia

Communist Party of Luxemburg (KPL)

Communist Party of the Philippines

New Communist Party Netherlands

Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)

Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (United Kingdom)

Netavisen 23. januar 2006