12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties - Johannesburg, South Africa 3.-5.12.2010

JP Väisänen, Secretary General of Communist Party of Finland – 09.12.2010


Amandla - Long Live the International co-operation!

I bring this meeting two greetings from Finland and the Communist Party of Finland. I want to take up especially two political struggles.

One is a solidarity action and the other is from a political provocation against ruling right wing government. I hope that my greetings inspire us to dear a bit more in our political initiatives and makes us ask what we as parties could do more together.

I wish to thank all comrades in the South African Communist Party for preparing us this international platform for our important change of ideas.

First greetings come from the massive stone stairs of the Finnish Parliament house where we communists did a political provocation as a form of public demonstration.

We (CPF) ordered a truck load of red moving boxes in front of the Parliament house in Helsinki. We offered the corrupted political elite help to move away from the parliament. The right wing government has offered us cuts in labor budgets, cuts in education, cuts in healthcare ect.. The corrupted elite has proposed a huge increase in military budget to fit Nato standards. With this action we said it is enough!

At the same time when we were ready with the red boxes Finnish top leaders were attending NATO summit in Lisbon. Our red protest said that Finland should not be present at any NATO meetings and Finnish and other foreign troops should be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan. In party´s press release we underlined that in this political situation a moving box is a much better option than a sink box. NATO led ISAF- operation has clearly shown that no peace process can take place as long as foreign troops are in Afghanistan.

Second greetings come from a solidarity event held in a public library in Helsinki . 29. th of November is United Nations international day for solidarity with the Palestinians. In the event Finnish psychology activists shared their experience working in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Need for a free and independent Palestinian state was expressed. A cultural event connected new people and activists together, deepened the knowledge of the Palestinian situation and gave new powers to us who struggle with the people constructing an independent Palestinian state and peace in the region.

Communists´Plan of Action

These two political actions could have been done anywhere. Solidarity could have been expressed with the Cuban Miami 5, Western-Sahara issue or with any other humiliated and persecuted subject. More red protests could also have been done because repressive politics can be found almost everywhere. And I am sure that all parties present at this meeting can share experiences of similar actions. These Finnish happenings are not special cases and they don´t need to be underlined. Anti-Nato demonstrations, right wing politics resistance and solidarity are simply in our collective communist´s and worker´s parties’ plan of action agreed in New Delhi a year ago. For our future plans it is very important to share experiences and hear examples of actions well done so that we can learn and strengthen our struggle for socialism and communism.

We still have a lot to do. Capitalism has shown how insolent the system is. In good days there is no money for social security investments and workers mouths are shut down because the only vise thing to do is to save for the future bad days. When the bad days arrive savings must be used in saving the system. Right wing politics guarantee that business and banks get their profits and options.

The role of the state in capitalism is only to function as a first aid when big businesses make their transfers of income and to adjust the system to make it more and more profitable for international monopolies.

Majority of the people have experienced the cruelties of the "all for sale"-system. Capitalism does not guarantee social security. Today Europe is attacked by cut lists and people are thrown into poverty with no vision of new work or any guarantee of social security. Students should graduate sooner with less public support and workers should work longer days and longer careers with less salary. Current situation has created a larger front demanding a radical change. Nobody is safe in this current hunt for neoliberal markets. In Europe we have experienced massive demonstrations organized by all European labor unions. People have shown that there is resistance.

Radical Anti Capitalist Front

CP of Finland works to construct a radical, anti capitalist, red-green front. It is contradictory that Finnish parliamentary left parties have abandoned anti-capitalist priorities despite the growing resistance and dissatisfaction to current politics. Parties attuned to capitalism have become blind to peoples needs and they have agreed even with European Union´s antidemocratic structures and illusory freedoms. Euro has not guaranteed stability in European Union. Capitalism has shown that it is even stronger than Euro. Greedy capitalist system has never aimed to create sustainable social welfare. It has been an aim only in the filthy lies of the bourgeoisie.

Our tasks for next year must grow from a clear and logical thinking based on Marxist analysis and grass root experiences. Regional meetings among our parties play an important role. CP of Finland is happy to inform that there will be a meeting of the Northern polar cap countries in Kemi, Finland this summer. We find the collaboration among the Scandinavian communist parties also very fruitful and we wish to develop it. Work in the European left party has also been an important European wide political platform for Finnish communists and we want to develop this network open to all communist, socialist and redgreen parties in Europe to strengthen the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle.

New Plans and New Energy

In the beginning of my speech I mentioned two public happenings both from our collective action plan. During this meeting a new plan of action will be planned. I wish to keep all of this year’s political topics in the working list and add some new ideas to it too. It makes the everyday political work easier and more credible once you can say that it is not only the communist party of Finland that is campaigning for example against Nato . It is a huge number of other communist and labor parties that are struggling with same political issues with us all over the world.

We should think how to create some campaign materials to make us be more uniting in some of our basic campaigns like right to work, anti capitalism or anti NATO campaigns. It could be a collective leaflet or a poster where every party could add own local information.

Planning protests and campaigns are important and bring criticism of repression into the streets and among people. I believe that all future revolutions start in the grass root level. I want to be there where socialism is constructed from basic human needs growing from the root. I want to work for revolution with people who are aware of their rights and dreams.

I want to be part of a radical team where democracy means a real participation in social issues, where we support workers self determination, where we aim at active citizen’s society and respect people’s basic rights.

Long live solidarity! Long live communism! Long live internationalism!