Communist Party of Bohemia Moravia
by Doc. Ing. H. Charfo, DrSc.

Dear Comrades,

After the collapse of the European socialist camp, the
international balance of forces was seriously damaged. The
USA is trying to impose a �New World Order� and its
hegemony. For this purpose, it uses both its military
strength and its positions in the International Monetary
Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and the World Trade Organisation. Or it uses
both old colonial methods or neocolonialism.

What is the USA's aim? It seeks to further the interests of
the transnational monopolies and the financial oligarchy,
preserve the capitalist system, prevent states from making
political and economic choices which conflict with the
interests of the transnational monopolies, and liquidate
the socialist system in various parts of the world. The war
in Yugoslavia was a dangerous blow to the legitimacy of
international institutions, especially the United Nations
Charter and the Security Council, which were excluded from
playing a role in solving the crisis. None of NATO's
members approached these bodies before the start of the
military operations. The war in Yugoslavia is part of the
USA's efforts to reconstruct the rules and institutions of
international legitimacy, so that the imperialist powers
can take over the keys to international decision-making. It
is with alarm that we follow the attempts of the USA to
change the United Nations Charter. Its aim is to diminish
the principle of the sovereignty of the state.

The political leadership of the alliance, notably the
leaders of social democratic and socialist parties,
justified the war on Yugoslavia with moral but not legal
arguments. The aggression was ordered by NATO, and Solana,
then general secretary of this criminal organisation,
called it �a moral duty�. Previously he had been a
prominent leader of the Socialist Party of Spain. The war
was also supported by prominent leaders of the Socialist
International, like Schroeder, Jospin, Blair and D'Alema.
Naturally, leaders of the Czech Republic's social
democratic government were not missing from this chorus of
yes-men.

Before the bombing the human rights of the Kosovo Albanians
were not in any way under threat. They had rights which no
other national minority in Europe has: the opportunity of
education in their own language and the right to use their
own language in every sphere of public life, their own
university and academy of sciences, their own media and
cultural facilities, and the right to take part in public
administration within the framework of their region's
autonomy, and also in parliament and the republic's
government. It was their decision not to exercise these
rights.

Everyone who really stands for moral values and objective
truth could see that the reasons given for the aggression
had nothing in common with the truth. I must therefore
ask: Don't the aggressors care about the Israeli occupation
of Arab countries, especially Syria and the Lebanon? Should
not NATO force the USA's ally Israel, which has driven
millions of Palestinians from the country in which they
lived before 1948 and occupied Arab land since 1967, to
implement UN resolutions and the agreements which it has
itself signed with the Palestinians? What is NATO doing to
force Turkey, a NATO member, to respect the human rights of
the Kurdish national minority? Doesn't NATO care about the
totalitarian regime in Saudi Arabia?. These realities show
that it always acts in accordance with its own economic,
political and military interests. Human rights and
humanitarian questions are of no interest to the countries
which are members of the alliance. On the contrary, it
directly supports regimes which violate them, but they
protect the economic, strategic and hegemonic interests of
the transnational monopolies based in NATO's member
countries. For NATO, human rights are only a veil for the
pursuit of its hegemony. The Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia (CPBM) demands suspension of the Czech Republic's
membership of this aggressive pact, followed by its
withdrawal and the abolition of NATO, which is a relic of
the cold war.

The USA is continuing the policy of cold war in other
parts of the world, notably against the Chinese people's
democratic republic. The provocative attempts of some
foreign anti-Chinese forces to cause problems over the
autonomy of Tibet are condemned to failure. The Communist
Party of Bohemia and Moravia supports modernisation of the
approaches to the socialist road in China. It views the
policy of two systems in one country as a rational and
realistic policy, and it is in this context that the
question of Taiwan ought to be solved.

The division of Korea is a continuation of cold war
policy. We support the struggle of the Korean people for
national unity on the basis of a peaceful way forward,
independence and the principle of confederation.

The division of Cyprus 26 years ago demands that the UN
Security Council step up its efforts to solve the crisis on
the basis of the negatiations wich led to the agreement of
1977 and 1979. We support a solution which would include a
federation of both cypriot territories based on the
independence, sovereignty, international status and
citizenship of Cyprus.

The blockade which the USA imposed against Cuba in 1962 is
constantly extended, but it has also been consolidated by
various provocations aimed at undermining the resolve of
the Cuban people, especially their commitment to socialism.
The kidnapping of 6-year-old Elian and the prevention of
his return to Cuba is not only a blatant provocation, but
is opposed to all legal norms and has nothing in common
with the human rights which the USA likes to pay lip
service to.

Since the emergence of a unipolar world as a result of the
political and economic changes in the former socialist
countries of Europe, bourgeois democracy has beaten a hasty
retreat. We see daily attacks on democracy. One example is
the PASOK government's attack on Rizospastis, the newspaper
of the Communist Party of Greece. Another is the attack on
the headquarters of the Communist Party of Ukraine, when
the building was burned, workers of this fraternal party
injured and party property destroyed. Discrimination
against the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia in the
media and against members of our party in employment are
typical of bourgeois democracy and a mirror image of the
present social democratic government in the Czech Republic.
It has a contractual agreement on cooperation with the
biggest right-wing party, the ODS, and is committed to
accepting ODS support if it wins the next election.

The documents of the Istanbul summit (Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europ OSCE) at the end of 1999
are worth looking at. They make it clear that capitalist
states influenced by the USA must in future act
simultaneously in both the military and non-military
spheres. They emphasise that the security commitments of
states are not exclusively the internal affair of any
individual state. They are the direct and legitimate
concern all the participating states.

Its verbiage and peaceful phraseology conceals the essence
of the West's aims: to revise the Final Act of the 1975
Helsinki Conference and allow the expansion of
international capital and a policy of dictation to others.
We note this formulation: �We see the human, economic,
political and military dimensions of security as a single
integral whole.� This means in practice a policy of putting
pressure on others, according to the will of the strongest
and according to the choice of a pretext for violating the
sovereignty of other states.

Among the mechanisms of so-called �preventive diplomacy� is
the accelerated organisation of national teams of
specialists ready to intervene rapidly in other countries.
They will perform �civilian and police functions� (REACT)
and �build democratic institutions� in other states i.e.
those where the Rapid Intervention Force intervenes. It is
the export of western democracy and capitalism.

According to the Charter of European Security, no country
�has preferential responsibility for the maintenance of
peace and stability on the territory of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)�. No country
�can regard any part of the territory of the OSCE as a
sphere of its influence.� So how is it that the USA and
NATO intend to dominate the Balkans and are planning its
long-term military occupation? The words of the Charter are
contradicted by their actions. I am well aware of what I am
saying, and I repeat: the words of the Charter are
contradicted by the actions of the USA and NATO. In
Istanbul Russia's policy for solving the Chechen question
was endorsed.

The Istanbul documents are linked to the idea that
Europeans will have a greater say in making decisions about
European security. Yes: the USA has no right to make
decisions for Europe. But the US/NATO aggression against
Yugoslavia speaks for itself. It is also true that the USA
is demanding that Germany assumes greater responsibility
for security in Europe. Do subsequent events indicate that
any of the high-sounding phrases in the OSCE document can
be implemented? The main question what were the reasons
for the OSCE's failure in the period before and during the
aggression against Yugoslavia? has not been answered. If
the OSCE does not publish an analysis of the causes of its
failure over Yugoslavia, then it can only be difficult to
comprehend some of its future intentions. A similar
situation to that in which aggression was prepared against
Yugoslavia can be repeated at any time. And ultimately the
Clinton doctrine also counts on this.

Dear Comrades,

It has to be said nevertheless that the war showed that the
Left was split on this issue. It did not manage to mobilise
its forces against the war. The unity of the
anti-imperialist front in every country is an important
prerequisite for success in the struggle. In accordance
with the old colonial principle, the imperialists
constantly seek to divide the people of every state on the
basis of nationality or religion. Mobilising internal
forces around recognition of the right of national
minorities strengthens the anti-imperialist fronts. It
prevents the imperialists implementing their plans in
various parts of our world.

The Left cannot be content merely with analyses. It must
identify practical alternatives and take effective action.
This requires political effort, both theoretical and
organisational. As far as ideological-theoretical work is
concerned, the parties of the Left must again act in
defence of human rights. Today it is only the social
democratic parties and the Western states which take up
human rights issues selectively and to the benefit of
international capital.

For several years the parties and forces of the Left have
suffered from generally weak mutual contacts. They have
lacked a coordinating structure and exchanges of
information, which is naturally reflected in their
collective activity. In this context it can be said that
meetings like the Left Parties Conference in Cyprus or like
Euroasia Conference in Istanbul and this International
Conference in Athens acquire great significance, since
they help to improve coordination, the exchange of opinions
and analyses of political, economic, social and ideological
questions in the world of today.

Experiences of international mobilisation against so-called
�private� meetings of the World Trade Organisation, like
the one in Seattle, are important. From the political point
of view, international public opinion has played a major
role in influencing the negative tendencies of
globalisation. These experiences from Seattle have at the
same time also made an important contribution to
mobilisation and organisation.

Our party leads the struggle against anti-communism,
dependence on USA politics and presents a program and
proposals for solving the economic, social and political
crisis in which the Czech Republic finds itself ten years
after the puch of November 1989 and restoration of
capitalism. Its proposals include calls for an appropriate
degree of state ownership in key sectors of the economy
(banking, transport, telecomunications, energy, light and
extractive industriesetc.) and the development of a modern
large-scale agriculture.

The foreign policy of the Czech Republic's Social
Democratic government is in conflict with the interests of
our republic. There are many examples of this:
participation in the embargoes against Iran, Iraq and
Yugoslavia and the involvement of President Havel in
provocations against the Chinese People's Republic over
Tibet and Taiwan. We will pay for all these political moves
in the end.

The resolution which the Czech government initiated on the
alleged violation of human rights in Cuba proves that the
government of the Czech Republic is a puppet promoting the
policy and interests of the USA.

We in the Czech Republic have had very bad experiences with
those who ten years ago played the role of defender of
human rights and who today look out from the windows of the
presidential palace and the government office on half a
million unemployed, reduced living standards,
discrimination against CPBM members in employment and in
the media, violations of the right of assembly, openly
fascist marches, the beating up of anti-fascists, etc., in
which for them defence of the interests of NATO and the USA
is the priority, even in other areas of our world.

When the present government dragged our republic into the
aggressive NATO pact, it was clear to us that membership
would be at the expense of the independence of our country
and of our foreign policy in particular.

The 5th Congress of our party in December 1999 endorsed a
policy of withdrawal from NATO, after an initial stage of
suspention of membership. While supporting the processes of
European integration, the congress declared its opposition
to membership of the European Union in its present
byrokratic and non democratic form.

In the 1998 general election our party won 11% of the vote.
It increased its number of seats in the 200 - member
parliament from 22 to 24, making it the third strongest
parliamentary party.

According to public opinion polls on voting intantion, our
party is currently the second strongest party. Its support
has risen since the 1998 general election to arround 20%.

These realities show that socialism in our country has very
deep roots and couldn�t be killed as Gorbachov, the traitor
thought.

Given the anti-communism in other political parties, the
opportunities for an alliance in our country are very
limited. At the present time, we are concentrating on
winning the support of our fellow-citizens for our
activities. In comparison with other fraternal parties in
western Europe, the CPBM has easier conditions for winning
working people for socialism, since the people know the
achievements of socialism from their own experience and
compare these with what is and what is not essential to
capitalism. Among working people the result of this
comparison is always in favour of socialism. The Communist
Union of Youth has better conditions for cooperation with
radical left-wing organisations, which are not subject to
anti-communism.

In conclusion, dear comrades, allow me to convey to you the
greetings of your comrades in the Czech Republic and wish
this conference every success.

Thank you for your attention.

Athens, 23rd June,2000
Doc. Ing. H. Charfo, DrSc.

Head of the International Department

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia