MLPD

The masses of workers and other working people in Germany - like in all imperialist countries of Europe - are faced with a program of crisis management which the government tries to implement on the instructions of the international monopolies. They have very wide-ranging repercussions, affecting all strata of the population and bringing about a constant deterioration of the living conditions of the masses.

Significant trade-union struggles as well as independently organized struggles of the working-class have developed in the last years against these policies. The are exerting influence on a wide-ranging current people's movement.

Since September/October 1996 - when more than 1 million workers went on strike in defense of sick pay - an awakening of the class-consciousness on a broad scale can be observed. This manifests itself in a generally increased readiness to fight, in a growing search for clarity, consciousness and a higher degree of organization.

• In March 1997, mass strikes involving 130,000 miners took place for the first time since 1952 and were directly influenced by the MLPD. They were a response to the announced mass lay-offs of 70,000 miners.

• The independent strike of workers at Opel (General Motors) in July 1997 was the signal for the transition to the working-class offensive.

• The organized independent struggle of the workforce of Flachglas company (Pilkington group) in Gelsenkirchen in September 1997 began consciously on the basis of the rejection of the negatively orientated policy of class collaboration. The workers demanded that the MLPD lead the struggle and they elected a strike leadership. The strike caused a great stir, the workforces of other factories declared their solidarity. The strike was brutally suppressed, which was avoided in Germany in the past years. The workers were not prepared for the brutal crack-down. We took advantage of this situation for conducting a campaign of criticism within the trade unions on the basis of the Rotthausen Declaration. We also succeeded in firmly rooting the demand for a full legal right to strike in all matters. In February the political dismissal of the elected strike-leader Peter Reichmann was revoked by a second ruling of the labor court on a federal state level. This success was made possible by nationwide solidarity.

In 1998 all significant strikes took place on the basis of the Rotthausen Declaration and they were essentially triggered and conducted under the influence of the MLPD.

In September 1998 national elections were held in Germany. The monopolies wanted to make use of them to corrode the awakening class-consciousness and to stabilize the Kohl-government.

In the fall of 1998 the MLPD already realized: the time is ripe for a political offensive. The working class must consciously reject the parliamentary deception and the negatively orientated policy of class collaboration in order to go over to the working-class offensive on a broad scale.

In the context of the political offensive the MLPD participated in the national elections on 27 September 1998 by using new forms of an offensive street election campaign and building up voters' action groups. In this campaign the three main goals in connection with the national elections were achieved.

This success is outlined in an interview with the political leadership of the CC of the MLPD: "1. The Kohl government must resign! This goal has been achieved completely.

    2. Strengthening of the new opposition. This second goal has been achieved as well.

... The bourgeois parties did neither succeed in dispelling the idea of a new opposition.

The frank discussion raised the anti-fascist consciousness of the masses, especially of young people, and inflicted a bitter defeat on the neo-fascist parties in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

3. Never before has the MLPD succeeded to such an extent in exerting influence on the shaping of political views as in this election."

(Stefan Engel, chairman of the MLPD on 1 October 1998 in Rote Fahne (Red Flag) number 40/98, p. 4)

In an interview with Stefan Engel on 17 November 1998 some conclusions were drawn from the change of government for the work of the Marxist-Leninists:

"The media give the impression that a change of power has taken place in Bonn. Of course, this is nonsense. In this country some 200 to 250 international banking and industrial monopolies are ruling. These have completely subordinated the state machinery to their rule and have merged with its organs. A new government changes nothing at all in this power structure. ... What we really have is a new tactical starting point in the struggle for winning over the decisive majority of the working class. ... But in any case, with the change of government to one led by a social-democratic-green alliance the social mainstay of the dictatorship of the monopolies has changed. ...

The specific characteristic of the new social mainstay is its dual character. On the one hand, it has to implement the predominant policy of the monopolies, which is inevitably directed against the broad masses of the people, and, on the other hand, it is also an agency within the working-class movement, in the active people’s resistance, in the women’s and youth movement to undermine these struggles. ...

For fear of an uncontrolled development of the contradictions, the monopoly bourgeoisie prefers to avoid the use of sheer force as far as possible and to rule by means of deception. The highest form of this system of deception is the social system of the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking. This system of the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking is aiming at the disorientation, disorganization and demoralization of the people. Because the awakening class consciousness could not be corroded by these means, it is now used as a method of government."

The development of individual initiatives for the transition to the working-class offensive has continued also after the change of government with independent strikes in October/November 1998. It is no coincidence that in all these companies the MLPD is doing a systematic work among rank and file.

The nationwide non-affiliated counsel of automobile workers held immediately after the national elections in October 1998 in Cologne gave an important orientation to the militant opposition. Part of this is the international initiative for the 6-hour-day with full wage compensation in the auto-industry and the preparation of May Day activities in 1999.

In November 1998 a very successful second political women's counsel took place with more than 650 participants, which strengthened the militant women's movement. It decided to hold a third political women's counsel with international participation in 1999.

On 8 March 1999 the militant women's movement organized a lot of demonstrations and rallies in many cities in Germany which were intensively supported by the MLPD. The MLPD could thus strengthen its profile in women's issues.

On the initiative of the party and partly under its leadership, protests against the US-aggression against the people of Irak and against the support by the federal government of Germany took place in a number of cities.

In February 1999, the masses expressed their view on the policy of the new government very clearly for the first time. In the federal state elections in Hessen, the new government was not able to consolidate and widen its mass base. On the contrary. The SPD, for example, lost 380,000 or 25.7% of its voters as compared to the elections held only four months earlier. The Alliance/Green party lost even 31,6% or 92,500 voters!

An even more important signal was given by the metal workers who, defying all government recommendations, organized union strikes and demonstrations with more than 1 million participants during the collective bargaining negotiations, thereby insisting upon their wage claims. Only with the help of a rotten compromise and without informing the colleagues could the right-wing trade union leadership avoid a nationwide strike of the metal workers. Especially among the active and militant trade unionists, there is an increasing discussion about the future development. They do not want to be instrumentalized for a government policy that aims at organizing a new version of the "alliance for work", a form of class collaboration between capital, government and trade unions which already failed twice under the former government.

The monopolies are worried because the new government has the task of once again corroding the awakening class consciousness on a broad scale, but it is not being very successful. This strengthens the latent political crisis and led , two days ago, to the resignation of SPD-chairman Oskar Lafontaine (who is also financial secretary) from all party and government functions. This has led to an open crisis of government.

For the MLPD this means that new tactical opportunities have been opened. This not only applies to the flexible reaction to current events, but especially to the party's gearing up for a new upswing of the struggle for genuine socialism after the turn of the millenium.

That is also the entire purpose of the preparations for our 6^th Party Congress which we began at the beginning of February. The center of our preparations is currently the discussion of the draft of the new party program of the Marxist-Leninist party. We translated the draft of the new program and we will give it to all delegations. We would especially appreciate it if the participants of the 6^th International Conference would discuss its content with us in a process of critical and self-critical exchange.

With the decisions of the 7^th plenary meeting of the central committee we set the course for undertaking tasks going beyond the next Party Congress: a massive struggle over questions of the future and for an offensive for genuine socialism which we want to initiate after the turn of the millenium.

Of further importance is the publication of the first part of the "Revolutionary Way 27", our theoretical organ. It is entitled "Class struggle and the struggle for the liberation of women". It is a scientific criticism of the conditions of life of the masses in state monopoly capitalism as an important source of the system of the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking in society. It takes the questions about the special exploitation and oppression of women out of a subjective and biased sphere (which is also common in our day to day work) to a scientific level. This analysis is an important foundation of our work among the masses.

It also continues a debate which was never completed in the old communist movement. The RW 27 was already translated into English and we can present it to all delegations before the end of the conference.

I would like to explain another important decision of our 7^th plenary meeting: we resolved to further reorganize our system of guidance and control. The successful reorganization into districts which made all-rounded rank and file work possible as well as the interrelation between the party and self-run, self-built organizations, practical rank and file work attained a new quality. But at the same time, the defects in the leadership of the districts and in cadre work became apparent. That is why the central committee decided to concentrate the party work for the time being on three levels of leadership, and to dissolve the county and the federal state levels of leadership. We thereby want to especially further party building on a district level and in new cities and regions. At the same time we want to improve guidance and control; this will be organized directly from the level of the central committee to that of the districts. It is better to give up one level of leadership for a certain time, but to get a higher quality in cadre work!

The ideological-political offensive for the preparation of the 6^th Party Congress is a process of the unity of theory and practice. In Germany, we are in the middle of an astoundingly rapid and intensive process of the new orientation and development of the militant opposition which has been taking place since the change in government. Our rank and file work is dealing with this.

It was undoubtedly the deepest process of self-transformation that took place in the entire history of the MLPD between the 5^th Party Congress in 1996 and our 6^th Party Congress in 1999. The further self-transformation of the MLPD and the gaining of a new influence among the masses is the decisive contribution that the MLPD can make for the preparation of the international revolution.

The political situation has given us new tactical opportunities. We will make optimum use of them.