Speech of the president of the Hungarian Workers’ Party,

Gyula Thürmer

(IMCWP, 9-10 December 2021)

Dear comrades, 

On behalf of the Hungarian Workers’ Party, I would like to thank the CP of Greece and CP of Turkey taking the responsibility to organise our meeting. It expresses the deep internationalism of our comrades. Thank you, comrades!

Comrades, 

We have not met since 2019. But now we are here. We are together, more than seventy communist and workers’ parties of the world. 

This is our message to the working people. This is our message to our friends, and to our class enemies as well. 

The today’s meeting is a chance for our parties. But we can spoil this chance if we want to do too much. 

We propose to synchronize  our watches! We propose to inform each other and agree on further steps. 

We do not need common political documents now. It is not the time to make declarations. They divide us, not unite us. 

More information, much more consultation and less paper! That is what can move us forward.

Comrades, 

We do not live any more in 2019. We are in 2021. The world has changed a lot during this time.  

Capitalism is in crisis. We know it. 

The question is whether the time has arrived at „overthrow of all existing social conditions” as Marx and Engels taught us, or not yet. This is the question.

Comrades, 

We consider that now there is no revolutionary situation in Europe. But there are concrete processes which can lead to revolutionary situation.  

One, the covid and the economic crisis have opened the eyes of a lot of people. 

Two, there may be a situation where the citadel of European capitalism, the European Union, will collapse. Not today, but in our lifetime. 

Three, there may also be a situation where the peoples of Europe go to war. Not somewhere in Asia, but here in Europe, in Belarus, in Ukraine, in the Balkans. There is no war yet, but there are more and more signs. 

Four, there may also be a situation when migration, like during the Migration Period, will tear Europe apart. We do not know if it will happen, but it could happen.

Comrades, 

The first socialist revolution took place in Europe, in Russia. Russia was the “weakest link” of the chain as Lenin said. 

Where is now the weakest link? Where will the whole chain burst? 

Look at Eastern Europe! The contradictions of capitalism are obvious. We do not know whether the capitalist chain would break here. But here it can break. 

That is why we  should pay much more attention to Eastern Europe than before. 

Now the West wants to destroy the current Belarusian system. We cannot be silent observers. 

We need to understand something! If the EU and NATO succeed in suppressing the independence of the Belarusian people, they can do the same with all of us.

Comrades, 

We are in an extraordinary situation.  

We are in an extraordinary situation because the world is changing. 

Our responsibility is enormous. 

Whether there will be socialism depends on two things. From the objective situation and from us. 

The world situation does not depend on us. 

But if the situation changes, then the responsibility will be ours. 

It is up to us whether we will have the knowledge, the ability to enlighten and bring the masses into battle for socialism. From this moment on, the fate of socialism is in our hands.

Comrades, 

We want a renewal of the international communist movement. We need a renewal. 

Enough of licking our wounds! Enough of talking about how the Soviet Union was smashed and how bad it is for us! Action is needed! 

It is time to finish with crisis-feelings, we should show an alternative to the capitalist forces. 

We need to talk to each other! Not every year, but every month! We can do it if we want to do it. 

We need intellectual openness! We need to trust each other; we need to respect each other’s experiences! 

We have various positions on many issues. We should concentrate on those questions where we have similar opinions. 

We should deal with actual problems. We should proceed from realities, from the concrete analysis of concrete situation.

Comrades, 

Let us speak frankly! We have our difficulties, our shortages. But we are not weak! 

We are still strong. We are a potential challenge to every capitalist force. We represent the future of humankind. 

People will understand that there is only one way to secure the future of humanity, and that is socialism. 

There is no other way! There is no other way to the future. The revolutionary situation will come. Our job is to bring our parties, our movement that far.