By Nikola Stojiljković

Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of New communist party of Yugoslavia

Dear comrades,

We wish to express our gratitude to the Communist Party of Turkey and The Communist Party of Greece for the hosting this meeting, to preparatory working group for the organizing this year meeting and important platform of changing ideas, and we salute the representatives of the all the CPs, which participate in the 21st International Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties.

Of particular symbolic importance to us in the Balkans is the fact that the communists of Turkey and Greece are organizing this meeting together. This reaffirms the avant-garde role of communists in our societies, who are the only fully capable of overcoming all the negative legacies of the past and opening up the true perspective of progress and solidarity.

Dear comrades, regarding the topic of this year meeting, we want particularly to stress the fact that the great historical merit of the Comintern lies primarily in the fact that it defended the teachings of Marxism-Leninism against banalizing and perversion both from the right, of opportunists of all colors, and from the left, and realized the strengthened ties between the workers of various countries, which were broken after the collapse of the Second International, it elaborated theoretical questions of the labor movement in new conditions, established general principles of propaganda and agitation of the ideas of communism, sought new cadres of communist parties which created the conditions for the conversion of the young communist parties into mass workers' party.

The vibrant and rapid development of the communist movement worldwide influenced also our country Yugoslavia, and in doing so it made real contributions to practical and theoretical efforts of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ).  

Without   timely attention of the Communist International, it is unlikely that the deep divisions that existed in the Yugoslavian communist movement during period of 1921-32 would have been overcome. Overcoming those differences  led to the establishment of a unified communist party on new organization principles and Party was ready for new and battles and anti-fascism resisting during World War II.

Therefore this is of the great importance to us, especially considering that the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was founded in the same year that the Comintern was founded. So this year we also marked the centenary of the establishing of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and recently our youth organization - SKOJ also marked the centenary of the founding of the union of communist youth.

We want to use this opportunity to point out that we have marked another anniversary this year, unfortunately tragic one. It is the 20th anniversary of NATO aggression against our country. Two decades ago, on March 24, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was attacked by the most powerful military machinery implemented in NATO. The FRY has been attacked by 19 most developed countries in the West - a member of the NATO pact, led by the United States. It was a totalitarian war - military and propaganda that had been triggered in Europe since the fall of the Third Reich. At the same time, NATO's aggression, not intervention, or the measure of bombardment as the media describes this illegal war today, was a direct blow to international law and the UN.

As a result, we have a terrible humanitarian disaster that claimed over 4,000 innocent lives and caused over $ 100 billion in material damage to Yugoslavia, as well as the occupation of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, which are the subject of further political and other pressures on our country.

The current authorities in Serbia are trying to solve the problem permanently through a supposed long-term solution announced through the possible partition of Kosovo, that is, to acknowledge and reconcile with the results of imperialist aggression. Not only is government in Serbia in this sense an ally of the imperialists, but it is also so called opposition from the ranks of so called “Union for Serbia”, which is noisy against the government but represents nothing but another side of the same coin. Both advocate the same exploitative anti-labor and anti-peoples economic policies. Both are in favor of Serbia entering the dungeon of the people of the European Union, whose goal is to make the rich even richer and the poor even poorer. Both are for close cooperation with NATO, fulfilling the conditions imposed by international money laundering organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank.

It is therefore not surprising that our country is facing the true exodus of the population, especially young people. The policy of approaching the European Union has destroyed our economy and has de-industrialized the country. The implementation of such a policy daily destroys and privatizes our healthcare. A high education system was introduced in secondary schools, in which children are exploited in large companies. Destruction of higher education is done through the implementation of the Bologna Declaration, which transforms knowledge into a commodity. The consequence of such a policy is that 52% of young people in Serbia are unemployed. Due to the huge poverty, 45,000 people leave Serbia annually, a huge number for a country with seven million inhabitants. Each year, one city dies in Serbia, so that in addition to the economic one, our country faces a demographic disaster.

In order for all this to be achieved in our country, it was first of all important to destroy the once massive and strong workers and communist movement, which we have constantly talked about at meetings of the communist and workers' parties of the world in recent 21 years. However, we do not give up our struggle and rely on international solidarity as an important weapon in this struggle, as well as the immortal teachings of scientific socialism, with pride of all the results and successes of our movement in the past.

The centenary obliges, we learn from history and we are inspired by it, anniversaries exist to summarize the results and draw conclusions for the future. The future of the communist movement lies with the class-conscious and responsible people who are able to sacrifice much, neglecting their own needs and desires, in order to achieve the goals of the people's and workers control, to be victorious on the principles of solidarity, equality, progress. That sacrifice, belief and responsibility are the key to new victories, for the new 100 years of successful struggle of the communists.

Long Live International Class Struggle and Solidarity!

Long live Marxism-Leninism!